Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Costs of Stupidity

Last week, my Dad was visiting from my home state. He stays about a week for his yearly visits. He normally makes his trip in July, when the weather is sweltering hot. The temperature is comfortable for this time of year, but the thermometer is gradually climbing which means turning on the A/C switch.

One morning, I walked out of my bedroom. "Does it seem warm in here to you Dad?"
The temperature control showed the air conditioning was running, but the thermostat reading did not confirm that it was doing any good. I started to investigate.

Circuit breakers - none tripped
Outside unit - running and clean, no debris around or in unit noted
Wiring - intact
Copper tubing - not stolen, no ice
Attic thingamajig - switch was on and running
Jumped up on the counter to feel the air vents - cool air, but hardly blowing

I called my hubby to tell him that I checked everything I knew to check and couldn't figure it out. I called the A/C people and a time was scheduled for the next day.

The next morning, this kid (20's) showed up and started doing the same checks I performed yesterday.....except for one.

"Did you change your filters?"
"Huh?"
"Your filters? When was the last time you changed them?"

I looked at my husband. "You changed them after the contractors put the hardwood floors in last week, right?"
"No. I thought you did."

Ugh.
I replaced all 3 filters in the house with the kid smirking a bit. He then went around and measured the airflow and temperature.
"It seems all right now. That'll be $____"

I wrote him a check and handed it to him, visibly peeved about the filters.
"Thank you ma'am. Next time you may want to check the filters before calling," he advised with that damned smirk.
I felt like telling him, 'well, yeah - no shit.'

My Dad sat there with a similar smirk on his face. "I don't want to hear it from you too, old man." I said jokingly. The smirk never left my Dad's face.

Perhaps this is a sign.
A sign from God warning me to think nicer thoughts when my patients do really, really stupid things.......

yeah, I didn't think so either.









2 comments:

  1. LOL. No, that is not a smirk I have on my face. Nope, not at all.... it's a grin. Technically, that is different.

    Actually, I'm impressed! You checked all the hard things and forgot about the easy one. Many people don't even think about the outside unit.

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  2. Grin. Smirk. It's all the same with this situation!

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