Our fridge isn’t working right. It’s got a digital display and it only seems to want to work when it feels like it. Everything is still cold but since the only temperature gauge we have is the digital display, I don’t know what temperature it is or if it’s even working right on the days it wants to work. Also, my kids broke one of the door latches. It still closes, just not as tightly as it should. So I called GE and asked them to come take a look. For $80.00 they’ll be here tomorrow between 8 AM and oh… Thursday. (Not including parts and extended labor.)

What peeves me about this is the extended warranty I bought. The major parts such as the refrigeration parts and such are still covered under the 5 year warranty that came with it. But we opted to go ahead and buy the extended service warranty. I swear to flippin’ gawd every time we buy an ‘extended warranty’ our stuff breaks… AFTER the extended warranty period is over. If we don’t buy an extended warranty our stuff works forever. I swear it’s true. I’ll never buy an extended warranty again.

So tonight I get an automated phone call to confirm I can keep the 8AM - THURSDAY appointment tomorrow, and I went through the menu.. pushing 1 to confirm, etc. Then the little robot voice asked if we had pets including dogs and cats. Before you can answer it said,

“If you have any pets, including dogs and cats, in order to ensure the safety of our technicians and to prevent the technician from an extended service call please ensure your pets, including dogs and cats, are properly put away.”

I boggled at this. My first thought was,

“Right. I’ll ensure they are put up on the shelf where they belong. Duh”.

Seriously, what does it mean to “properly put your pets, including cats and dogs, away? It’s the ‘properly’ part that got me. My pets, including my cats, co-exist with us. I have 3 cats. Two live outside exclusively. They are often found lying around in the grass in the front yard, or lounging on the porch. Sometimes they hang out on top of or under our vehicles in the driveway. They have never harmed a single person who’s ever come to our house and I can’t imagine where I’d “properly put them away”. The third cat comes and goes in and out of the house as he pleases. I have no idea where I’d ‘properly’ put him away.

I have three dogs. The two golden retrievers can be left in the backyard… but is that the ‘proper’ way to “put them away?” Ratdog (aka Cassie) could be locked up in a kennel or our bedroom I suppose. But that really doesn’t seem ‘proper’ to me. Especially since the most she’d do is lick the technician to death, or charm his/her socks off, which may result in extending the service call a few minutes. OH NO!