Servicepersons

Okay, bite the bullet, call the repairmen – or should one say repairpersons?
The garage door openers don’t work right.  They’ll open the door but the remote won’t lower it.  I have to drive off leaving that gaping invitation to passing squirrels, raccoons and who knows what else, to come in from the cold,  go up in the eaves and settle down in the crawl space.

Then again – and this one is really serious – the bedroom tv remotes don’t work either. Same problem with both of them, so I know it's not the batteries.
So I resign myself to spending a couple of hundred dollars.   I don’t search the Internet – my generation pulls out the yellow pages directory (which is smaller than it used to be) and I call the garage door people with the biggest ad.

I’m sure they’ll try to sell me a new door, so I start right out saying firmly:

“My garage door dates from 1954 and I don't want to replace it. But the remote doesn’t work right.  It’ll raise the door but it won’t lower it.  You have to…”

        “...press the button inside the garage, and hold it all the way?”
        “Yes, that’s it!!”
        “Well, our charge is $68 plus parts, $88 plus parts on the weekend.  But all I’m going to do when I get there is straighten out your sensors.”
            “???”  

 “Those little metal things that stand up at the bottom of your door, to keep it from crushing whatever's in the way?  Just go out and see if the red light’s on and if one of them got knocked sideways.  Then if that doesn’t work, call me back.”
It works.  
So there’s $88 saved, right there.  $68 weekdays.

            Time Warner cable is something else again, though.  I owe them an such an unconscionable amount every month that I’ve set up autopay just to avoid seeing the bills.  And the problem is, I suspect, not with cable anyhow, but just with those remotes.  But as I don’t know who else to call, I bite the bullet again and phone TWC.

            “You’ll have to send someone over.  The screen says I’ve changed to a different channel, but the picture remains the same.  I’m going to be out tomorrow; can we make an appointment for the next day?”

            “I’ll be happy to, but first, why don’t you try unplugging the set and letting it re-boot?  Then if that doesn’t work, you can call me back.”

            It works.

            I could hardly believe it – free advice!  Twice in one day!   Never mind free advice that worked!

     It’s enough to restore one’s faith in one’s fellow persons.