This morning I was faced with a dilemma. My almost-new toaster decided not to pop up my slice of toast due to some unknown malfunction which led me to wonder, what does one do when one’s toaster is toast? As a child I remember the television repairman being a regular visitor to our house. The sight of that sci-fi-looking picture tube he unearthed when he took off the back of the set used to amaze me. And I swear we had the same stereo console for about 20 years.
My mother used to take all of our appliances to the repair shop at one point or another, too. I can still see the toasters, crockpots and radios lined up on metal shelves with their bright yellow tags attached— and the old man with a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he took them apart. Which brings me back to my initial question. Do people still get things repaired or just chuck it out and buy a new one?
Unfortunately, I think most people do the latter for two reasons. 1) It is probably cheaper (or comparable in time and money spent) to buy a new toaster than to have it repaired and 2) there are hardly any appliance repair shops to get things fixed anymore. I have to say, if it were not for the fact that my toaster is less than 2 weeks old, I would probably be shopping for a new one right now. But I am now faced with the task of having to pack it up and send it back to the manufacturer at my own cost and being toaster-less for weeks on end. Whatever happened to the appliance repairmen and their dusty old shops who could fix anything for a few bucks?
I live in a city where people often leave things curbside for others, usually those less fortunate to pick up and take home to fix, or sell or whatever. It makes you feel better than tossing it in the garbage, tho I’m not sure where it ends up exactly. I like to think my last broken TV set ended up repaired and in someone’s little apt. giving hours of watching pleasure:)
Fantastic – really great issue. I am goin to write about it also.