Kindnesses received
Mar. 26th, 2022 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaYesterday was deliciously warm and sunny, in the high 60s F outside, and probably 75F in the bedrooms under the sun-warmed roof.
My heat pump was still set at its lowest setting, 61F, and should have been resting peacefully. Instead it was making a rapid click sound and blowing cool air. At 4:30pm on Friday, I called the folks who installed it and left a message. Not only did the head of the company call me back almost immediately, but he ran me through some troubleshooting that included turning the breaker off and on, and scheduled someone to come out on Monday morning to take a look, explicitly with no charge because it was only installed a few months ago.
This morning I set out to bike to my massage appointment - but the garage wouldn't open. I went back inside and dug out the key to disengage the motor and open it manually - but it wouldn't open. So I gave up and ran-walked to the bus stop, hoping to catch one quickly. It took 15 minutes for the bus to come, but I texted the massage therapist and she could move the appointment 15 minutes later, and it's only a 10 minute bus ride, so I was only a tiny bit late. She didn't charge me extra, but I paid a bit extra anyway.
I called the guy who installed the door 10 years ago. Not only is he still in business, he answered his phone on a Saturday and said someone would come out later that day to take a look. He guessed it was a broken spring. The guy who came out showed me that you have to pull down on the motor-release cable at the same time as you lift the door. I know that sometimes it has worked without that, but hey, his technique worked this time.
Then we were in the garage, and there was no power to the door-close button. Ohhhh, maybe I turned the breaker off accidentally during heat pump troubleshooting? Yep, I did. Embarrassing! But quickly fixed. And when I asked what I owed, the guy didn't charge me even though he came out on a Saturday. ETA: But the company called me back today and charged me half the usual fee, $50. I just paid it without arguing. /ETA
Later I sat down to schedule an Apple Support call to deal with the bluetooth issues with my new(-ish) MacBook Pro. It's been more than 3 months, so I figured they would make me sign up for Apple Care, and maybe someone would talk to me on Monday. Nope! Someone called me back right away, did some troubleshooting with me, and ultimately had me reinstall MacOS Monterey (without deleting all my data, thank goodness). It does seem to have significantly improved the issue, so I can use my external speaker with my new computer, yay!
He had said he would call me back an hour later to check on the problem, and didn't, but since it's fixed, that's okay.
I went for a walk while it was reinstalling, and paused to let a car go by before I crossed a neighborhood street. The car stopped, so I crossed with a wave and a "thank you!" and the older Black woman driving said kindly out the window, "I'm not in a rush, dear." It made me cry. I'm not used to receiving kindness, and things getting fixed, and not being penalized (financially and otherwise) for making mistakes or running into trouble. Also the bodywork untangled a lot of tightness in my belly and my neck, and that might have had something to do with the tears.
My heat pump was still set at its lowest setting, 61F, and should have been resting peacefully. Instead it was making a rapid click sound and blowing cool air. At 4:30pm on Friday, I called the folks who installed it and left a message. Not only did the head of the company call me back almost immediately, but he ran me through some troubleshooting that included turning the breaker off and on, and scheduled someone to come out on Monday morning to take a look, explicitly with no charge because it was only installed a few months ago.
This morning I set out to bike to my massage appointment - but the garage wouldn't open. I went back inside and dug out the key to disengage the motor and open it manually - but it wouldn't open. So I gave up and ran-walked to the bus stop, hoping to catch one quickly. It took 15 minutes for the bus to come, but I texted the massage therapist and she could move the appointment 15 minutes later, and it's only a 10 minute bus ride, so I was only a tiny bit late. She didn't charge me extra, but I paid a bit extra anyway.
I called the guy who installed the door 10 years ago. Not only is he still in business, he answered his phone on a Saturday and said someone would come out later that day to take a look. He guessed it was a broken spring. The guy who came out showed me that you have to pull down on the motor-release cable at the same time as you lift the door. I know that sometimes it has worked without that, but hey, his technique worked this time.
Then we were in the garage, and there was no power to the door-close button. Ohhhh, maybe I turned the breaker off accidentally during heat pump troubleshooting? Yep, I did. Embarrassing! But quickly fixed. And when I asked what I owed, the guy didn't charge me even though he came out on a Saturday. ETA: But the company called me back today and charged me half the usual fee, $50. I just paid it without arguing. /ETA
Later I sat down to schedule an Apple Support call to deal with the bluetooth issues with my new(-ish) MacBook Pro. It's been more than 3 months, so I figured they would make me sign up for Apple Care, and maybe someone would talk to me on Monday. Nope! Someone called me back right away, did some troubleshooting with me, and ultimately had me reinstall MacOS Monterey (without deleting all my data, thank goodness). It does seem to have significantly improved the issue, so I can use my external speaker with my new computer, yay!
He had said he would call me back an hour later to check on the problem, and didn't, but since it's fixed, that's okay.
I went for a walk while it was reinstalling, and paused to let a car go by before I crossed a neighborhood street. The car stopped, so I crossed with a wave and a "thank you!" and the older Black woman driving said kindly out the window, "I'm not in a rush, dear." It made me cry. I'm not used to receiving kindness, and things getting fixed, and not being penalized (financially and otherwise) for making mistakes or running into trouble. Also the bodywork untangled a lot of tightness in my belly and my neck, and that might have had something to do with the tears.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 04:15 pm (UTC)I would say it's important to trust the people who install it to help if needed, and that heat pumps are expensive to install and then much cheaper to run than I expected. I'm seeing less impact on my electric bill than I did from starting to run a dehumidifier in the basement, so less than $10 per month.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 11:05 pm (UTC)I forgot to say yesterday, also--such a great confluence of kindnesses.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-28 07:25 pm (UTC)And yes, a great confluence of kindnesses!
I had planned to make muffins with the last of my frozen garden-grown zucchini this morning, and he was here longer than expected waiting for a callback from tech support to make sure he cut the right jumper, so he got a warm gluten-free muffin on the way out for his trouble. I try to hand out kindnesses too.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 05:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 04:16 pm (UTC)