It’s Been a Couple of Interesting Months Around the Old Johnson Farm
By Pam (“Gates”) Johnson
I’ve been slowly going out of my mind with inactivity since my spinal surgery in early December. A couple of friends are also going through some recovery. One had a shoulder replacement, another badly broke his leg. When the Super Bowl was looming, we tossed around the idea of having a broken-person party to break up the monotony of our recoveries.
I have enough recliners for all of us, so the idea was to have we three reclining and watching the game, while having unpaid waitstaff bring us frosty beverages and tasty snacks (friends who drew the short straw). It was a good idea but didn’t work out. At least it gave us something to think about instead of our aches and pains.
While sitting around for the last couple of months, I decided it was a good time to update my kitchen. I lucked out and got a great contractor who takes care of everything. All I had to do was pick out a few things, then sit back and write the check.
Having never done a big remodel with a contractor, I didn’t know what to expect. There was the countertop guy who came out to measure with a really cool laser thing on a tripod. There was the plumber to install the sink and faucet. There were the electricians who installed lights and added GFCI outlets. There was the painter who painted the ceiling and refurbished the cabinets. And my contractor, who did a little carpentry work here and there and oversaw the whole project. I had no idea it would take that many guys to do the work.
The plumbing went in with only a minor hitch. The counter and backsplash were installed and look beautiful. Then, there were the electricians. First off, they put in the lights. I love the look of those recessed can lights and was really looking forward to seeing the difference they made in the kitchen. I came home from wherever I was and the guys were gone. The lights looked great, but … when I stood in the living room and looked into the kitchen, one of the lights was not lined up with the others.
That immediately kicked in my OCD. It was all I could see. If left that way, it would drive me crazy. Texted my contractor and he notified the electricians. When they showed up the next morning, they explained why they put the light there, mainly because their boss told them to. When I told them about my OCD, one of the guys said he had the exact same problem. They moved the light and we were all happy.
That is, until the electrician who went up into the attic showed me a couple of wires he had to replace. The wires had gotten really hot, luckily not hot enough to go afire. Now to ease my mind, I am going to have them check and rewire the whole house as needed. Ka-ching $$$.
Part of the remodel is updating the kitchen cabinets. They have been in there for a minute but are good quality and in good shape. Should they be painted or left the natural medium oak like my hardwood floors? I hate the idea of painting over beautiful wood, so I opted for refurbished. There have never been any pulls or knobs on the cabinets, and that seemed like a good update.
I called Island Lumber to see if they had a selection. Nope. I could pick some out and they would order them. That didn’t work because I wanted to see and feel them. Time was short, so I had to go to town.
Next problem: getting to Home Depot. I asked a few people if they could drive me to Tacoma in my Bronco. My car needed gas, I needed some groceries and, of course, Home Depot. Given my recent surgery, I thought riding around in one of those little electric carts would be fun, but needed someone to be there so I didn’t feel incapacitated.
Everybody was busy, so being the hard-ass independent person I am, I drove myself. And to heck with the carts, I walked around the stores, bent over to get stuff, and picked up way more than eight pounds at a time. Not a good idea, but that’s the way I roll. Paid for it with pain the next day, but stuff got done.
Sitting on the boat on the way home, a friend called me. I whined and told her my back hurt and my feet were burning. She said to call her when I got to town and she would come help me unload my groceries. Thank you, Susan!
It’s two weeks into the project. Not sure how much longer it will take to complete the kitchen. Everything that was on the counter is piled on the dining room table. That means no Thursday night family dinners, which I really miss. Once all the work is complete, all the table stuff will have to be sorted, cleaned, and/or tossed.
Once that is done, it will be time to move on to the next project: replacing the deck boards. Sometimes moving into a condo in the city instead of being a home owner in the country doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
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On a final note, I would like to update y’all on the ongoing recliner saga. This is the third time my fancy power recliner broke in less than a year.
It broke, took two months to get a repairman out to fix it. It broke again. My nephew got it working. It broke again and took a month to get a tech out to figure out what was wrong and order parts. The parts came. Tech was scheduled to come out a month later. Tech had an emergency, so the repair was put off for another two weeks. He arrived yesterday, and here’s what happened …
He opened the parts box and realized one of the parts he ordered was not there. There were enough parts to get my chair operational again, but he would have to order the missing piece, have it delivered, and schedule another repair visit.
If it follows the past timeline, it’s one month for the parts to get here and another month to get the tech scheduled. The repair was pretty involved; he had to remove some of the upholstery, bang out parts, and horse the new piece in. He was here about an hour.
One of the major problems with this power chair is, if you are reclined and the power goes out, you are stuck. When I mentioned this to La-Z-Boy, they said I should just climb out over the arm. Yeah, with a bunged-up back. They got tired of hearing me gripe, so they gave me a battery backup. The tech went to install it and discovered there was no power cord. He thought he might have one in his car, but no luck. That was another part to add to his order.
The backup got installed with a temporary cord. Now, it was time to make sure everything was working. I watched as he punched the remote control, then pushed a button on the side of the chair. Of course, something was not working. He said it would kind of work, but he had to order a new remote control and the chair button thing.
It was at this point I lost my sh**! I told him the chair had been broken longer than it had worked in the less than a year since it arrived. I want a new chair! He doesn’t work for La-Z-Boy, just a contractor, but he put in his notes to the company that the owner wants a new chair. I thanked him and he left.
After he left, my blood pressure went up as I thought about all the months the chair wasn’t working, the cost of the chair, the wait time on service, the pain from not having a chair with adjustable lumbar support.
I got madder and madder. So I called La-Z-Boy. They must have known it was me because they didn’t answer. It went straight to voicemail. I started out civilly giving my name and phone number, then went on to list the backstory and all the problems the tech discovered today.
As I explained what the problem was, I once again lost my sh**! Ended up yelling at the phone, “I want a damn new chair or all of my money back! And you better f***ing get back to me NOW!” The call was never returned.
A couple of weeks ago, I was whining to a friend about the chair. She quietly picked up her phone and the next thing I knew she was leaving a message for La-Z-Boy. She was so sweet, said she wanted to buy a chair and would someone call her back. They called her in about 10 minutes. Note: they still had not called me back.
When she answered the call, she immediately started by saying “My friend bought a chair and it is a lemon and she has a back problem and she is a journalist and is writing about your service.” They listened to her and said they would call back. Which they did the next day.
Apparently, after much internal discussion, La-Z-Boy decided I needed a new chair. Corporate called me and said they would give me a store credit of what I paid plus tax. I could come in and pick out what I wanted. Since we had picked up my current chair, I would have to bring it back to the store or pay them for delivery. If the new chair I chose was more expensive, I would have to pay the difference. I asked, if the model of my current chair was now more expensive, would I have to pay more? Yup.
My friend was all happy about the outcome until I told her about my conversation with the company. Then she lost her sh**. She called the store, not corporate, and told them they would give me the exact chair I bought, they would deliver my new chair and take away the old one, no charge. No discussion. The store agreed – no corporate involvement. My new chair should be here in four to eight weeks.
Hopefully, this is the last you will ever have to hear about my stupid power recliner.
