Just under a month ago I bought a new washing machine online. I don’t have a partner as you know, so I paid the delivery people to install the new machine. All was well for about 2 weeks, and then the machine failed. I reset it, and off it went. After a third failure, over time, I rang up the manufacturer. Man I was cross! To cut a long story short, the installer had kinked the water outlet hose, and the machine could no longer empty. The hose has melted together and the machine rendered useless. This was on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning the delivery people came and inspected the machine, confirmed the telephone diagnosis of the manufacturer and stated that they’d deliver a new machine on Sunday. My son and I went shopping. In the supermarket, I had a call, and basically the company were trying to weasel out of giving me a replacement. We had a conversation and I stated that I was not happy with their service. My son accused me of being a pushover and not being assertive.

His comment irked me and once we got back home I rang the company up and asked to speak to a manager or supervisor. None were available so I stated that I was very unhappy with their service, having the manufacturer visit was a waste of everyone’s time, and meanwhile I have a new machine that I can’t use. I was assertive without being rude, and moments later she rang back to say that I would have a new machine on Monday. I now have it, so I’m happy, but man it was hard work!

The visit with the ex went quite well, though I thought at one point that his wife was going to cry. She’s really nice and I’ll genuinely miss her. Him, not so much, though I will miss some aspects of him; we’ve known each other for 20 years, share a teenager, and the backup he occasionally provides will be sorely missed. They’re going to give us a nice new TV – mine is 20” and quite a number of years old, a steam cleaner, some lovely orchids, and a vacuum cleaner (mine is crap) amongst other things. We have to wait in Saturday morning for them to drop the items off, then it’ll be hugs goodbye and tears I’m sure. His wife wants us to visit next year, once my son’s exams are all done with so that may be something to save up for. I don’t want him to go on his own as he’s very shy and quiet, and has barely been on public transport let alone gone to a foreign country. She calls us family which is nice, and I’m sure she’ll push for the visit even if my ex won’t. It could be something to look forward to…

So, I had a crazy busy week, a really busy and sometimes stressful weekend, and now it’s Monday and back to work. Good grief! lol