TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET

The plan was simple. Get up early, go to city centre to eat a breakfast burrito at Whole Foods, and buy groceries for the following week whilst there. Such was the idea. However, I got sidetracked by the clothes dryer. What was intended as a quick task as I was heading out the door, turned into a three-hour ordeal.

As soon as I was dressed, I walked past the laundry room and wanted to take a minute to see if I could use pliers to remove the hex screw from the back of the dryer in order to avoid having to buy a new tool. It was the green screw holding the grounding wire which I needed to remove. Just as I was about to pull the screw out, I watched in horror as it fell inside of the back of the dryer.

Scanning the back of the dryer, I looked at all of the smaller hex screws without indentations for a Phillips head screwdriver. It turned out I had to go to Home Depot to find a solution for removal of the smaller screws in order to remove the back of the dryer to get to the fallen green screw.

The minute I walked into Home Depot I saw the scene play in my head. The scene where the typical unskilled employee insisted I needed a Phillips head screwdriver in order to remove the screws. The screw I had brought with me was meant to serve as an example as to the size of the other hex screws without ‘x’ markings for the screwdriver. Hesitant to ask for help, I agreed when an older man asked if I needed help. He glanced at the screw in the plastic bag and said I needed a Phillips head screwdriver.

‘No’, I insisted, wondering why I bothered to ask for help in the first place and then once again explained how the other screws did not have the markings. After five or so minutes, he handed me a baby wrench letting me know this was the least expensive option. At less than $3, it would do. Once I got home, I removed most of the screws and was then able to get the green screw which fell to the bottom of the machine.

Painstakingly, I screwed the 15 little hex screws to the back, installed the new 3-prong plug, and turned on the machine in order to test it. At this point, I was hoping all would be good and I could leave to eat my breakfast. No. The universe had other plans for me today. It tested my patience and my resolve and my desire to avoid taking a sledgehammer to everything in my path as the drum of the dryer turned and sent out loud grinding noises. Everything went to hell in a handbasket.

Desperate, I sent a text to my ex asking if he could help. It took a while to get a response, but the answer was that he could not help with the grinding noise as he was at his girlfriend’s house in New Braunfels. I knew he was skilled enough to figure out most anything and knew if it was his dryer he would spend the time troubleshooting it before resorting to a ‘professional’. I let him know I would not be able to wash the children’s sheets, towels, and clothes for next week. He told me to get a repairman.

So be it. I called a repairman after I returned from my grocery shopping, but need to wait until Monday in order to find out the diagnosis. I suspect the movers might have damaged the drum of the machine whilst transporting it. I sent an email to the moving company explaining the situation and wanted to know what they intended to do about it. Not much is my guess.

Though I asked the movers about using the drum stabiliser during transport of the machine, they told me it was unnecessary for a short move. It turns out it was necessary and now I am without a functioning machine. I can only hope for a simple, inexpensive solution to the dilemma of the grinding noise. For now, I wait.