PASS THE DISH RAG

With the dishwasher gone, and #2 son liking to cook, we were in desperate need of a new dishwasher. Off we go to Lowe’s: the land of dishwashers.

There are two places I really hate, Home Depot and Lowe’s, two of the noisiest places on the planet. The intercom with the screechy voices of some gal really invades my head, creating a low level of tolerance.

TLW (The Little Woman) and I decided that we would buy cheap. We decided that nothing too expensive for a dishwasher, since we didn’t want to stay more than a year in our home, opting out for a condo somewhere out east. We also decided we wanted stainless steel to match the stove. Stainless steel is about $100 more than a normal façade. Already we are paying above our plan!

Strolling down the aisles of dishwashers, with Frigidaire’s and GE’s mostly, we looked first in our price range: cheap. Cheap is not good. Cheap is cheap, in fact it is too cheap, even for me. I see a nice model GE that is marked down from $450 to $400, sturdy, well designed in terms of utility, and nice looking. TLW reminds me that we made a pact not to spend too much, and here I am already breaking the agreement!

 

I have a philosophy: you get what you pay for. I hate to buy anything cheap because you wind up buying it again when you could have bought it once only. A little quality never hurts. There is one dishwasher on the floor for $360, rated good but when you go near it, it looks cheap, feels cheap and the insides are all plastic parts, no good in my book. It feels like a toy! We get the one I want.

In the old days, when you bought an appliance, you selected something: the salesman took the order by hand, rang it up and made the usual phony promise when it would be delivered. All this was done at the register. Everyone was happy. Today is a different story. Today we are enslaved to the computer, record keeping and scanners, with sales people who are not that sure of what they are doing. The longest part of purchasing an appliance is paying for it. The salesman probes you with questions, questions and more questions. You want the insurance, you want the warrantee, you want the right to cancel the agreement, you want a kick in the ass? You want us to install it? You do? Then you will need these parts also.What is the last four digits of your social security number, your mother’s last maiden name before she changed it to another maiden name, your address and home phone number, how about your cell phone number? What grade did you get in 4^th grade math? All these questions require time on a black computer screen, then massive printouts, where you sign and then print your name. After that is done, you now travel across this very large store to the checkout. At the checkout are two people, one is a trainee and one is a super-whiz, who can answer questions, zipping through programs on the screen and typing upside down from the other side of the counter. We get the trainee.

Once again the questions come at you, the same questions as before, but by a new person asking. Finally they make progress, asking for I.D. TLW whips out her driver’s license before I can get to mine. More typing into a computer with a black screen and announcement: It will be delivered on Friday. The deliveryman will call to set up the time. I guarantee he will call at 9:00 PM and forget to come until late the day he promises!