Monday, December 04, 2006

Broken

I have a plumber over this morning. I hate having people in to fix things. I like things that work; I don't like attempting much home repair myself -- yet I hate the ends to that means. I hate picking and calling a company, I hate waiting on the set day, I hate the inane small talk I make ("you know how old houses are"), I hate the crunching sounds and the murmered swearing.

I know what you're thinking: you think it's the forthcoming big bill that's tying my stomach in knots. It's not. "A zillion dollars? Fine." I just want everything to be okay. Maybe that's it: waiting on repairs is a long ride in the land of "Everything Is Not Okay." Other not-okay things will turn up. It stresses me out.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I've never even thought of this as a phobia, but I sure as heck feel the same way! What's the name for it? Repairophobia? ;)

Lisa said...

Excellent! You've named it, so we can cure it! Or, demand more sympathy for our suffering?

(We are now the proud owners of a new toilet.)

Daniel said...

I need a new toilet. Two, actually. I also need an older bathtub downstairs, and a newer one upstairs. My plumbing has a tendency to explode if you look at it sideways. I won't even mention what must be done in the kitchen. I am a victim of repairophobia.

And today, I noticed that it was getting rather chilly even though the oil-tank was mostly full. Panic ensued; but fortunately resetting the oil burner seemed to solve the problem.

Old houses know these things. They wait until you are a giant wad of stress anyway, AND have exhausted your monthly budget, before letting something go awry.

Just be happy that 1917-ish houses are much more technologically advanced, and less likely to attack, than 1883 houses. I am starting to believe that our Victorian forbears had a fetish for home improvement, and thus houses were designed to periodically go wrong for no apparent reason. My name is Dan, and I'm a repairophobic.

LisaBe said...

i'm just a telephonophobe. i don't mind the actual repair being made, though i, too, dislike the small-talk part. really, though, my thing is just making myself find someone to call (how do i know i'm finding someone good and not a shyster? how do i even go about finding people to call? i don't feel like calling people right now--i have a headache, i'm working, i feel like lunch, i'll call later, it's too late to call people, it's too early to call people). once i find someone, i never seem to reach them right away--it's all phone tag and voice mail. then it's finding a time for them to come.
by the time they're finally here, i'm relieved.
our current repair need on hold because of my telephonophobia: replacing a staircase.

Lisa said...

Dude, it is ALL ABOUT the phone calls. I have been calling tree people for three years, straight. I hate it.