The Joys of Homeownership

Our upstairs air conditioner is on the blink. It went out today sometime between The View and the 5:00 news.

Great. Just great.

Luckily we have two units...one for the upstairs and one for the downstairs, so at least we can still be cool in part of the house. Still, it couldn't have gone out earlier in the week when Hubby was in town. Heck no, that would have been too easy. Nope. It had to go out TODAY when Hubby is in New York...at the U.S. Open...where cell phones are strictly forbidden on the course.

So tomorrow, if the AC guy tells me our unit is totally blown and we need a new one, I won't be able to call Hubby and run it past him. You see, we kind of have this deal where we consult with one another on any major purchase over $2oo. Something tells me a new unit falls well above that range and I'll have to make the call.

I hate making the call.

I don't like the responsibility. I like to be able to blame Hubby when stuff goes wrong. It's kind of how we do things around here and, well, it works for me.

Also, this kind of stuff makes me edgy and nervous because I've seen too many episodes of Dateline NBC where companies send out technicians who are given incentives to "up-sell" you on products and services you don't need.

It's true. They did one of those hidden camera things with Chris Hanson where they called out a guy for a broken garage door. It wasn't broken, of course, the sensors just needed to be adjusted, which the guy did, but then he went inside and told the homeowner that he'd had to install a whole new system and charged him for it. Nice, huh? All I can say is there's a special place in hell for guys like that.

So if AC guy tells me the compressor is shot, I won't know if he's telling the truth or not. I know absolutely nothing about air conditioners. In fact, I don't know if air conditioners even have compressors. I'm just guessing...but AC guy has the power. The whole transaction feels like a hostage negotiation. He's holding my AC unit prisoner and I have to pony up the cash if I ever want my family to sleep upstairs again.

I wish we lived in a world where we could trust that our service technicians, mechanics, congressmen, hedge fund managers, or whomever were truly working on our behalf and not their own...but it's not the world we live in.

Sad, isn't it?