Family Matters

The current debate in my parents household is whether it's necessary to call a repair man to fix the broken washer. My dad, who is one of the cheapest men in the world, is instant that he can fix it himself. One catch, he's been trying for 2 weeks and all he's managed to accomplish is taking the washer apart and leaving it in pieces on the laundry room floor. Plus there was so sort of "accident" with water-I didn't even ask-and now the dryer is malfunctioning as well.

My mother of course wanted to call a repair man before my father worked his magic but he was insistent that he could fix it, and not one to argue my mom let him try. While my dad is extremely handy appliances are not his strong suit. I remember when we had one of those upright freezers (which was FULL of stuff) but the seal on the door wasn't working properly-no big deal my dad decided to install a latch on the side. He had placed 2 latches on and was going for the 3rd "Just to make sure it seals" (read: since he bought 3 hinges and wanted to use them all) when all of a sudden we all hear a hissing sound followed by a stream of profanity that would make George Carlin blush. Apparently he'd drilled through the Freon line, which meant we needed to find someplace to store all this frozen stuff, in the middle of summer, mind you...But, I digress.

Whenever questioned regarding "Are you sure you can fix this? Shouldn't we maybe just call a repairman?" My dad offers the same response:

I took my tricycle apart when I was 2, I think I can handle this.

Here are the problems with his argument:

1. Nowhere in the argument does he mention putting it back together.
2. A tricycle is a bit less complex then a washer/dryer/vacuum, whatever.
3. Everyone who he's trying to reassure with this story knows about the Christmas Eve that he and my next door neighbor got drunk and tried to put together my brother and the kid next door's new bicycles and when my dad got done with my brother's there was one piece left over-at which point he had to start over.

The point is my dad is one of those "do it yourself guys"-even if it ends up costing everyone else more hassle/inconvenience/money in the long run he has to take a shot at the project himself.

I, however, am the complete opposite, if you can pay someone to do it-then why not? is my general school of thought. It helps support the local economy and moreover-it keeps my hands clean. To this end my dad gets pissed when I go to the "Full Service Car Wash" or when I pay to get my oil changed. Yesterday when he flipped out about both of these I calmly pointed out that:

1. It's freezing outside and I didn't want to clean the inside of my car, nor did I have the facilities (outdoor water) to clean the outside.
2. My car is a Honda, and he's only worked on domestic cars so I'd much rather not void my warranty by having him attempt to change my oil (which he would undoubtedly screw up-no I didn't say this) and then have no documentation of even having had maintenance done at all.
3. I'd be happy to pay him the $20 I paid the car wash to clean my car if he'd be so kind as to clean the inside-ohh and the car wash gives you another free wash in 5 days so I'd be back to collect that too.
4. Maybe he should be focusing on the washer which is in pieces on the laundry room floor and in the alternative looking for a good repair man because I was sick of listening to my mom bitch about it.

Needless to say, he hung up on me.