October 20, 2007
One thing about being an empty nester is that I have plenty of time for such stimulating pursuits as waiting on a furniture delivery truck.
Do not get me wrong; I do not mind one teensy-weensy bit helping my son meet the truck. Glad to do it. While he is at work, I can watch TV at his apartment, surf the internet, read a book, or tidy up around his place as moms are given to do.
On the designated delivery day, the furniture guys damaged the sofa while trying to stuff it through a small door without using a furniture pad. I was screaming, "Wait. You are going to scuff the leather. This sofa is much too big to fit through a 31-inch doorway. Don't we need to take the door off?"
My warning went unheeded.
Long story short, the company agreed to replace the torn sofa and scheduled another delivery day.
This time the furniture truck never came. By the time I gave up waiting my son's apartment was sparkling clean.
Having a free maid proved to be such a good deal that my son scheduled me for another day to meet the truck. Once again, the new sofa did not arrive.
Waiting on a delivery truck reminded me of a story since believe me I had plenty of time to sit around and remember stories. Roger Rosenblatt titled the story that I recalled, "Remember the Amana" from the book "Rules for Aging".
It goes like this:
"Did you hear the story of the man who ordered an Amana freezer from an appliance store? The store promised that the freezer would be delivered on a certain day between 1 and 4 p.m., and it wasn't. The man phoned the store and angrily demanded to know where the freezer was. Told that it definitely would be delivered on the following day between 8 and 11 a.m., he remarked to his wife, 'They had better do it this time or else!' The store failed to deliver the freezer again, and the man was livid. He called the store manager and yelled into the phone. He called his lawyer."
The wife got annoyed. He told her to shut up and called the store again, this time threatening to kill the manager.
Rosenblatt continues, "The manager called his lawyer. The wife, realizing that she had married a maniac, called her lawyer. In the end, the transaction cost the man his wife, $250,000 in damages, and the house in which he had planned to put the freezer."
I have no idea if the poor guy ever got his freezer.
Moral: we are still waiting on my son's sofa, but after reading Rosenblatt's story, I will not yell at the manager.
