I suppose I should inform you all of why I'm a little -no let me rephrase that- a lot aggravated. It can be summed up in one word- GAS. No my friends, I can guarantee it is not what you're thinking, rather it is the gas company. Our hot water has ceased to be since Friday.
On Friday, I had just finished doing the dishes, and Renee a load of laundry, when I realized as I was hopping into the shower, that we had no hot water. Of course, I thought it to be because we had used all of it by doing these other chores. Boy, was I wrong!! Eight hours later, when Chris came home, ready to get a hot shower, we still had none! We were very confused and frustrated, but it wasn't that bad because we were headed to Hutchinson for the weekend, and didn't have to worry about the hot water for 2 days. After a great weekend at the fair, and in Hutch, we headed home Sunday evening after church to our *cold* abode. It didn't affect us much that night, however because we had all already showered.
Monday morning, bright and early, I decided to call the gas company and see what was wrong. It turns out, the gas had not been put in our name. Our lovely landlord had forgotten to mention that minor detail. I proceeded to talk to a nice lady at the gas company. And as she set my account and asked me tedious questions, I couldn't wait to hear the words, "someone will be out to your house shortly to deal with this problem." As you can tell, with these hopeful thoughts, I've obviously never dealt with this kind of thing before, because she came back on the line telling me that no one could help me until the next day. It was a grim day at the Stivers household. My dishes continued to pile up because of the lack of hot water to wash them with. My hair was starting to look like it could oil a car, and poor Renee was taking below 0 degree showers.
The next day, I woke up refreshed because this was the day I had been waiting for: the infamous day when this house could return to normalcy. Well, little did I know, that that would not be the case. The appointment was set for anywhere from 12-5. I drove Renee to the airport and eagerly awaited the call of the "gas man". Hour after hour passed, and still no call. When 4:30 rolled around, I was becoming anxious, so I called the gas company once again to make sure someone was coming. As I was on the phone with her, an incoming call came through on the other line, and when I picked up, an older man's voice sounded on the other line. It was indeed the "gas man" calling to tell me he had one more house to do, and then he'd be over. During this time, I went to pick Chris up from work and waited.....
The next time I looked at the clock, it read 6:00 p.m. and still no show of the gas man. Now, Chris and I had to be at the fair at 7:30 and the fair is a 45 minute drive from our house, so needless to say, we were getting antsy. I finally had enough and picked up my phone to call the man back to see where in the world he was. He answered, and told me that he had received two emergency calls and would not be able to get to the house until at least 8:30 or 9:00. WHAT??!! I was so mad- I had waited all day to get into a warm shower only to find out that I had to wait until the next day, again! I replied, "Sir, my husband and I have to go the fair, because we have tickets to see a show. I have been without hot water since Friday and was counting on you to be here when you said you would." He responded tersely, "Well, this is business Ma'am. We can't control emergencies. I start work tomorrow at 8:30 so I'll give you a call and you'll be my first stop." I thought to myself many things but simply responded with a lame "Okay, see ya tomorrow." I knew the man was right about not being able to control emergencies but I just couldn't understand what was so hard about having enough people working that they could keep appointments! Needless to say, I desperately needed a shower so Chris started heating up water on the stove, but it takes a lot of pans full of water to fill up a bathtub. As we were working on it, I asked Chris "Are you being reminded of Little House on the Prairie right about now?" All I could think of was in a few years, looking back on this and laughing, but it sure wasn't funny right at the moment. We ended up running late for our show, but all in all, it was a fun night once again at the fair, and tomorrow was another day..(thank-you Scarlet for the inspiration....)
This morning is supposed to be the morning that we get our hot water back..could this really be it?? Could this be the day that I get to remember what hot water feels like? We'll see!
*One lesson I've learned from all of this: I will never take a hot shower for granted the rest of my life.
Oh my. I understood that the gas company couldn't send someone out right away when you called Monday, but this is getting ridiculous. I also will never take hot water for granted again. You should have a "WE FINALLY HAVE HOT WATER AGAIN!" celebration when they turn it back on.
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