Monday, March 5, 2012

Baggie has her Cranky Pants on Again!

The Bag Lady has a complaint. (Okay, to be honest, she has far more than just one complaint, but she'll spare you the whining about her personal problems).

Why can't they make things the way they used to? (She knows the 'good old days' weren't really all wine and roses... well, except a few times.... okay, once! And then she woke up with a hangover and the freakin' flowers died.)

She understands that in order for companies to make money, everything they make has to have a built-in "shelf life" - this includes cars, appliances, clothes, etc. - everything wears out (including the Bag Lady, but she promised not to whine about her personal problems.)

The thing that is annoying her today is that even when things are almost new, they don't perform the way she has come to expect, based on previous experiences with similar products. To be specific.... she had to buy a new dishwasher last year when her new flooring was installed and it was discovered that the old dishwasher (which she loved dearly for it's almost mystical cleaning abilities) had burned the linoleum under it. This made her sad (and it also scared the crap outta her and made her look askance at her formerly beloved dishwasher...." all this time I've been trusting you and loving the job you've been doing and you've been betraying me by trying to set my house on fire?? Wasn't I paying you enough? Was I mistreating you? Did you feel unappreciated and taken advantage of? Why didn't you say something?") but she trundled off to town to buy a new one. In her haste to purchase something, she made a bad choice the first time around. She bought a cheap model, which sprung a leak after a short time, but she had also made a good choice in where she purchased it and they took it back and refunded her the entire purchase price (bless them). The second replacement model took her a little longer to choose, and she shopped around a bit, looking for a reasonably priced model that had most of the bells and whistles that her previous model had.

Fast forward to this morning. The Bag Lady has learned that her first dishwasher was exceptional (at least, compared to this one) - she did not have to rinse her dishes and everything came out sparkling clean, regardless of the type of dishwasher detergent she used. This model has been a little different, but she has adapted. She cannot get as many dishes into this one (the racks are not as conveniently configured) and she has to rinse a lot of things that she didn't worry about before (Hello corn, and potato pots).

Yesterday, she made cinnamon buns (and regular buns. And donuts. And discovered, after she had set the buns to rise for the second time that the element in her oven was burned out. But she promised not to whine about her personal problems. Suffice it to say, she now has a greater admiration for her table top roaster oven, which she has previously only used once a year to cook her generally enormous Christmas turkey.)

She filled the dishwasher with the dishes she used for baking, plus supper dishes (and breakfast dishes, and probably the previous nights' dishes) and turned it on. This morning, she emptied the dishwasher and was dismayed to find streaks on several of her white dishes.....
Streaks of cinnamon.
Cinnamon, fer cryin' out loud!
Her dishwasher can't even handle cinnamon.
Sheesh.
She understands the built-in shelf life. She understands that not everything can be perfect but she cannot understand a dishwasher that can't even get cinnamon off her dishes.

She feels better now. Thanks.

17 comments:

Leah J. Utas said...

Ah, Bag Lady. It's so annoying when things wear out.
And damned annoying about the traces of cinnamon. That's plain appalling.

Glad you feel better.

messymimi said...

We can second you over here. A dishwasher should be able to handle cleaning everything off the dishes except maybe the turkey carcass.

Hilary said...

Ugh.. I've never felt the need/desire to have a dishwasher and probably never will. But I sure do understand and share your dismay. I'm dreading the day I need a new fridge and stove. I've had mine for 28 years (I must be old!) and same with the clothes dryer. All were bought at the same time and only the washer needed replacing a few years back. Oldies definitely are goodies. And hopefully that goes for us, too. I mean me. ;)

hilda dada said...

I am to submit a report on this niche your post has been very very helpfull wine bag

solarity said...

When my current refrigerator dies, I intend, now that I have my parents' freezer (c. 1967) to move the refrigerator they bought the year I was born (1953) up from the basement. Still running, never serviced.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, cousin. I have to admit, I was annoyed about the cinnamon. It helped to rant about it, though.

Messymimi - yes, it should! It really should. Without having to rinse the dishes first!

Hilary - I hear ya! Appliances should last forever. And you're not old!

hilda - you'll be submitting a report when you return to your planet? Cool.

Mary Anne - some appliances really do last a long time, don't they? My MIL still has her original fridge she got when they finally had electricity installed on the farm ... and it works fine, thank you very much.

Miz said...

I never took mine off :)
and if something cant handle cinnamon (from the husband to the dishwasher here :)) I rethink it.

the Bag Lady said...

Miz - if I had known the dishwasher was cinnamon-intolerant, I would never have chosen it!

Geosomin said...

I hear ya. We ordered a new stove and dishwasher a while back and I was glad to have a friend who sold them steer me away from the poorly made ones.
As it is, we had to wait 5 times for an undamaged side panel to arrive for our stove and we have already replaced one burner on it (under warranty thankfully). It's sad when you *need* a warranty on things now...and even then...they may not make the parts to fix it.

A dishwasher should clean your dishes.
Period.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

Cinnamon?!? Good grief!

A friend of mine had to replace her oven. Oh, the choices! And of course, now that she has a new oven, she has to look for other new appliances so that when she sells the house, everything has been upgraded and the darn thing will actually sell. Whew!

the Bag Lady said...

Geo - it's frustrating, isn't it?

Karen - I feel for your friend. And I'm on my way to town today to pick up the new element for my stove (and am hoping I can replace it by myself...)

Reb said...

The new dws they are putting in the apts here are crap. (but they are cheap too, so the owner sees no problems) They frequently don't have water run through them, a valve inside the machine sticks so you have to manually lift it and drop it so that it will work again. They also will not handle the Cascade gel packs - that is what make the valve stick and the water stop.

Good luck getting the new element for the oven.

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, sis. I am off to do that right now.
Too bad about the cheapo dishwashers - that's always a pain in the butt.

Crabby McSlacker said...

I have never had a dishwasher that worked well, but I know other people have. Our current one is pathetic! So I join you in your grouchy assessment of the state of the appliance industry. All of ours suck--except the vacuum cleaner, which is supposed to but doesn't.

Grrrr!!!

the Bag Lady said...

It's sad, isn't it? Annoying as hell, too.

Charlotte said...

It's funny - we recently looked into buying a new furnace but the repairman came over and told us that the new ones aren't built to last and we should do everything we can to hang on to the 20-year-old one we have. First time in my life a salesman has ever tried to unsell me on something lol1

the Bag Lady said...

Charlotte - listen to the salesman! Friends of ours installed two new furnaces in their home, and the furnaces stop working when it's cold outside! The air intake freezes up and the furnaces shut down! Absurd.