One Giant Complaint

Let me just start by saying, C is doing great. We are home and he is happy and feeling good. Regardless of what you read below, I have not lost sight of my thankfulness for God's care of him and our family over this last week.

That said, I feel like I have settled into a new can't-believe-we-moved-to-china low. There is something truly horrible about trying to get something done here. It's like nothing I've experienced before. At least not on this level.

It's about the refrigerator - and really it applies to everything else. The first time the repair man came to look at my frozen refrigerator, he told me I had it on the wrong number. It didn't matter to him that I have an engineering degree and have had problem-solving beaten into my brain. It didn't matter to him that I have tried all of the numbers. It didn't matter to him that I wasn't happy with his solution. That was his assessment and that's all I got. At that point, I knew I was in for the 4 visit rule.

Here's where things start to get bad. You all know that C was in the hospital all week (which means I was too). I'm tired. I'm emotionally spent. I've run out of gumption for the time being. Sigh. When you're out of gumption is absolutely the worst time to try to get something done in China.

I stopped by the office on Friday afternoon when I was home to pick up K from the bus. I asked them to have someone come on Saturday afternoon and look at the fridge. Saturday rolls around and a neighborhood worker comes by, not the GE (maybe?) repairman that came before. This is a bad sign. I call the office and explain that we do not need to start from square one. I need the supplier to come. They say he will come Sunday between 3 & 4pm. Fine. (Side note: this 1 hour time frame is pretty shocking as most repair appointments around here seem to be very vague: i.e. "tomorrow morning", "later today" - worse than the cable company!)

Sunday rolls around. It's after 4 and I'm at a birthday party with K. Matt calls the office to ask where the repair man is. I'm not sure they gave him an answer about that, but they did tell him the guy would come today before noon. I bet you can't guess where this is headed...?

About an hour ago (around 10am) I called the office to ask what time I should expect the repair man. HE'S NOT COMING TODAY. HE'S IN PUXI (the other side of the river). I absolutely went ballistic. We have waited at home for 3 days for this guy to come and nothing!!! I had an extensive argument with the office girl. I told her they were going to have to work this out for me. If the repair man can't be here when they say he will be, then we need to forget the repair man and the office needs to buy me a new fridge. (Of course, as I was saying these words, I knew it would never happen.) She tells me he can come tomorrow and I say - I WON'T BE HERE!!! I CAN'T WAIT AROUND EVERY DAY FOR SOMEONE WHO NEVER COMES!!! She says, "He came yesterday and no one was home."

More ballistic. I know some of you are wondering at this point if I swore at the girl (admit it, you wanted me to). I didn't. But I can hardly say that I kept my cool. After shouting at her at least 7 times that HE. DID. NOT. COME. TO. MY. HOUSE. I finally get out of her that after Matt called to ask where the guy was, he showed up at the office and THEY SENT HIM HOME. They thought we didn't want him anymore.

REALLY????

REALLY????????

I'm not sure what the worst part of all of this is. That my fridge still doesn't work? That after 3 supposed appointments today would have been the 4th visit if they had all happened and my fridge may have been fixed today? No, I think it's the completely beaten down feeling that I have right now. I think there are 8 more things wrong with our house right now that I am terrified of asking to be repaired because I can't face any more of this. Yes, that's the worst part. I'm not generally a fearful person. Sometimes things intimidate me and I have to work up the gumption to give them a try. But I'm out of gumption for now. And I'm not sure how to fill up when I keep getting beaten down.

Somebody please throw me a bone...