The Fridge, cont'd.

Okay, so today, finally, what, 8 days after I first asked someone to look at the fridge, appliance guys showed up. Only one of them could speak - the other stood stock still and didn't even grunt. I'm not sure he was breathing. (I assume he was a trainee, but he wasn't even trusted to go down to the truck and look for the parts they didn't have, so maybe it was his first day.) The one who could speak examined the fridge, took its temperature, confirmed that it's not my imagination and it is running warm, and determined that the part that it needs is the "cold control" - whatever the hell that is. Thermostat? Something else? Isn't "cold control" the entire purpose of a refrigerator?

No, whatever it is, he didn't have one with him. It would have to be special ordered for this rather senior fridge. No, it won't be tomorrow, and it's a holiday weekend, so sometime next week? They'll have to order the part...and....

Not his fault, he was just the guy they sent to fix the fridge and deliver the bad news, but I was not overjoyed with this outcome.

I called the warranty company and told the customer service lady my tale of not overjoyed. She offered what sounded like truly sincere sympathy. She said she would make a note on my file, so when the appliance guy contacted them with his report on the repair (which he has to do to get authorization to proceed with ordering the part) she would call me to discuss the status and my options, but until they checked in with their evaluation and estimate of the repair she had no alternatives to offer.

I suspected the fridge was not keeping things properly cold almost from the start, but because it's a weird problem (fridge dying of old age?) sometimes things would be properly cold/frozen, sometimes not. It runs, it's just not right. I have been living with this for 3 weeks, and it's a lucky thing I'm not cooking a holiday meal on Thursday. (I'm going to St. Augustine to dine with Cousin C.) But I can't even think about how much food I've had to throw out already, and how much is still in the fridge but probably kinda suspect.

It's not that it's not running at all - I WISH! That would be a no-brainer, I'd get a new fridge from the warranty company. But it's working, sort of, and they have to try to fix it before they can just declare it not-fixable at all. It's cycling through properly cold and then slightly too warm and then back to properly cold again, so stuff warms a bit, then chills again. It's not healthy. It doesn't just affect me, but Murphy too - he's on his boiled chicken regimen, and he doesn't need boiled chicken with a side of mild food poisoning.

At this point I'd rather negotiate something with the warranty company for a new fridge. I'm not feeling entirely confident that the appliance guy who came out today diagnosed the problem. I had a sense that he was taking a shot in the dark, and I really don't want to live through further weeks of "Okay, maybe it's THIS part!" While it sucks to have a sick fridge at any time of the year, it's particularly annoying right now. So, I will generously allow for the shitty timing of the extra-long holiday weekend and give them until Monday to get back to me with an ETA for a fix, provided that it can happen within 48 hours of that call. Otherwise, we need to talk about alternatives. I'm in the next room, and I swear I hear the tiny, high-pitched cries of my food spoiling.

But I'll be doing Thanksgiving at a lovely outdoor restaurant in St. Augustine, so this is just a really tedious pain in the ass, not a holiday destroyed. And I'm shaking my head, because when I looked at this kitchen I bet the stove was going to be the first casualty. Now I'm thinking maybe I should just watch for a good appliance package sale.