Common Courtesy & The Fridge Fiasco

Common courtesy it seems has gone the way of common sense.

Case in point, the great refrigerator fiasco of 2010.

My best friend recently lost a refrigerator to an untimely demise. (That's another rant for another day - the fact that things are not made the way they used to be.)

So, $650 to replace the condenser that "shit the bed." Or $800 for a sparkly, shiny, brandy new one. Hmmmm. Might as well be $8 million as her pocket doesn't even contain $8 let alone $800. So The Friends come up with a plan to get her one to get her by. For $100 bucks. Again, might as well be, yadda yadda yadda - same story as above.

No one's using it, you might as well.

Nope, don't need to measure it, it's a cubic foot smaller than yours was, it'll fit. And it's been sitting around for a while and it's a little dirty but don't worry. I'll clean it before we bring it to you.

Well, The Friends didn't get a chance to clean it. And just how LONG it had been sitting around is anybody's guess. And whomever had emptied it didn't bother to clean it out, either. So, along with the extra 10 pounds of construction debris coating the outside, the inside was covered with soy sauce, dried blood, and the remains of rotting vegetables. Just lovely!!

And it's about 1/4" too tall. (NO, we don't need no stinkin' measurements!!) So, now it sticks out about 3 feet from where it's supposed to. Not to mention the gigantic scratch in the brand new hardwood floor. (Only a week old, by the way.)

Really? Who does that? I mean, bless their little hearts for wanting to help. But who brings a fridge (or anything else for that matter) to someone's house without, at the very least, dusting off the inch of dust on the outside? Or, after finding out the inside was disgusting as well, saying "I know it's dirty. Let me help you clean it out."

Common courtesy, and common sense for that matter, dictates to me that these things should be done.

I told her not to worry about the fact that it sticks out 3 feet from the wall. That will make it super easy to retrieve anything that falls behind it. And, when it comes time to clean the coils on the back again, you can drag the entire vacuum cleaner back there with you.

Oh yeah, and the frosting on this entire cupcake? No one had actually plugged the monstrosity in to make sure it actually worked. Yeah. Perfect. (I am happy to report that even though it took a while, it did finally get cold and my friend is no longer living out of coolers.)

And The Fridge Fiasco was just one more thing on top of a heap of crap that "shit the bed" for my friend last week. Just one more thing to make it a really super-duper sucky dog-licking-ass-face week.

So, tonight when you are thanking your God for all your blessings, be especially glad that your fridge is nice and cold and purring along quietly, that all the electric windows in your car work properly, you don't have piles of homework or laundry, or a sick baby, or a teenager with a bad attitude.

And if you do - or if you've been there - say a little prayer for my friend. Ask God to lift her up and help her trudge through all this crap. Ask Him to remind her that it's all temporary - that it will all be okay in the end.

And if you don't have all those things I mentioned a couple paragraphs ago, or if you haven't been there, thank your God for all your blessings.