Early yesterday morning I eagerly awaited the arrival of the Thermador technician and repair of my oven. After ringing my bell, he stood outside 6 feet away from my door and proceeded to ask me many COVID questions to protect himself. He then listed measures he would take to protect me. When that protocol was finished, he entered. Once in the kitchen, he said the work order stated the issue involved the fault code F24 and asked if that was correct. I responded with a no, that F34 is what’s displayed when my oven turns itself off. He then told me if that was the case, he did not have the part (cooling fan) and would have to come back. Sure enough! I then asked if he could book the follow-up appointment ASAP. After waiting on hold, the only appointment he could get was in 4 weeks, with the window of time for a whole day.
(Most likely due to companies not operating at full capacity, I had spent an hour on the phone being transferred from department to department in order to secure this initial two-week appointment with a 2-hour time frame. I had been quite explicit that the fault code displayed on the oven was F34. The customer service representative gave confirmation and said the problem was the cooling fan.)
I felt upset, disappointed, angry that my oven was still on the blink and, to make matters worse, I went to the back of the line for service appointments. Admittedly, there were also a few moments when humor crept in as this was classic. In looking at the technician and recognizing his humanness and the fact that this scenario was not his fault, I immediately thought of what the Dalai Lama said, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” And so I was.
