Daniel and I had been married about 6 months and were upgrading from our cramped one bedroom apartment to a more spacious two bedroom apartment(the extra space was much needed for the sake of our marriage and sanity). We also decided it was time to purchase our very own washer and dryer. After lugging all of our laundry to the laundromat for over six months we decided it was well worth the investment to purchase a washer and dryer.
Since we were newlyweds all that we could afford was a used set. We purchased the set and since we were too cheap to pay extra to have it delivered and set up we opted to do it ourselves. This was mistake number one. Daniel with the help of his brothers picked up the set and carried it up two flights of stairs and "installed" it in our apartment. We were so proud of ourselves. Our very own washer and dryer for only $130 out the door! Wow! Were we bargainers or what? Daniel had the washer and dryer all ready to go so that when I got home from work that night I could start on the bottomless pile of laundary that had accumulated.
I got home from work and went back to our utility closet. There they were! My very own washer and dryer. They might be mismatched. They might not be "brand" new. One might be 5 years newer than the other one, but there sat the most beautiful washer and dryer I had ever seen! And they were all mine! No more collecting quarters and lugging laundry to the laundromat for me! I was officially the proud owner of a "new" (to me) washer and dryer!
I had my first load of laundry all ready to go! My palms were getting sweaty with excitement! I pulled the knob out on the washer so it could start filling with water. I saw the water start to fill the machine and I couldn't stop smiling! I added the detergent and then walked away to let the washer finish filling up and I started on some unpacking. I came back in to add the laundry and much to my astonishment...all the water was GONE! The water was gone, but the machine was making the sound like it was churning. "Hmmmm" I thought to myself. "That is strange... Oh well, I will try it again!" Me being the determined person that I am I filled her up again! I returned to more unpacking and came back and...the water was gone again! This time I was really perplexed so I tried something different. This time I tried changing the machine cycle to something else to see if that helped. I walked away and came back and the washing machine was empty again! This was mistake number two. Instead of telling Daniel what was going on I just tried to figure it out myself. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I let the water fill up about 12 times, before I told Daniel that we might have a situation. Now, most prudent people who are reading this are probably thinking to themselves,"Well, if the water is not in the machine..where did it go?" The sad part is that this never crossed my mind. Until..
I was in the living room organizing my bookshelf when I heard a knock at the door. I gave Daniel a weird look like "who could that be?" He opened the door and there was our apartment manager Kim! Now, let me give you a quick description of Kim. She is 40 something trying to be 20 something with the thickest Southern accent and the worst smokers voice you have ever heard. Her skin looks like leather due to way too many hours in the tanning bed. She is blonde and weighs about 115 pounds soaking wet and she is as sweet as pie when she is trying to get you to rent the apartment, but the day you are an official resident of Oak Brook Apartments she turns into the wicked witch of the South!
There she stood. The wicked witch of the South at MY door! Daniel didn't even have a chance to say anything to her. "Y'all havin any water problems up here? The neighbors below you just came home to an eight foot waterfall in their living room." I thought to myself," I think I will let Daniel handle this one. Afterall, he is the one who "installed" the washer." Daniel shot me an evil look and then told Kim that we just bought a new washer and dryer and maybe it was something to do with that. Kim walked back to our utility closet and took one look and said," Oh yeah, that's the problem. The idiot who set this up had no idea what they were doing and connected the hose wrong." Daniel said, " Wow, you think if you pay these guys to set it up they would at least do it correctly!" I tried so hard to keep a straight face. She left in a huff and I am assuming went downstairs to handle that situation.
For the next two weeks the maintenance men at our apartment complex were pretty tied up with the apartment below us. Our poor neighbors had to move out so they could put in new carpeting and paint. They also had to move out all of their belongings so that they could leave the doors open at all times so they didn't get any mold.
Moral to the story? ALWAYS pay extra to have it delivered and installed CORRECTLY!!
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