One day the Yappy Dog espied a stranger walking along the sidewalk that bordered the wooden picket fence. The fence separated the rest of the world from the property where the Yappy Dog lived. So the Yappy Dog ran to fence and began to yap at the stranger, and leaped up and snapped and snarled at the stranger. The stranger walked on, as the Yappy Dog got louder and louder, with spittle flying and his voice getting shriller and shriller.

Suddenly, both the stranger and the Yappy Dog came to where the gate was, and instead of it being closed and locked, it was swung wide open, and there was nothing separating the Yappy Dog from the stranger at all.

The Yappy Dog, having lived with the protection of the fence, and the gate, was confused. After all, the property upon which he stood was his, and he was entitled to defend it, but without the gate, he had to deal with the stranger on terms he had never considered before.

The Yappy Dog ran away, suddenly terrified, for this event had never occurred to him, and he feared now that he was no longer protected, the stranger might deal with him, with the same threats the Yappy Dog had issued for so very long.

The water spread out from the bottom of the dishwater like the blood of a murder victim, slowly, but horribly, a bladed weapon used in some third rate pulp fiction novel, and this the night before Thanksgiving. Once upon a time, dishes piled up in the sink, an accusation, or a monument to the Gods of Procrastination, before the time of dishwashers. Those Old Gods, like all before them, and all of those who would come, are replaced, in this case by the dishes left for three days in the washer, the Gods of Out of Sight Out of Mind, rise boldly.  

Yet there is no despair here. I have an extended warranty, good for three years past the date when the manufacturer’s warranty dies, which was less than three months ago. I feel smarter for buying it, but at the same time, the idea that an appliance can bleed out in less than eighteen months is disconcerting. There is little to be done about it. Calling on Thanksgiving Day will not be useless for it can always be used as a good example of wasted time. The mountain of dishes is dealt with in orderly fashion, dried and put away, just like it was done for many years before the invention of a metal box used mostly to forget the dishes are clean.

Friday morning, I arm myself. I have the model number, the serial number, DNA from the inventor, a vial of Holy Water, a talisman from a drunken witch, a full cup of coffee, and playlist that will take me into the next decade. The assault will occur on multiple fronts; a call the store, interaction with a chat box, calls to three different numbers who will play wretched music far too loudly, but eventually, I’ll get to some random human being who will either toss me over to another, drop the connection, or actually help.

“Hello, this is Droma in New Mexico, how can I help you today?”

Droma has a thick accent from New York and by the sound of her voice, this is a person who has just about had it with human beings with dying appliances, and extended warranties.

“Hi Droma, this is Mike from Georgia, you have an interesting name, before we begin, let me start out by saying this isn’t your fault, and I don’t expect you to be able to get anyone out here today, and I’m not going to curse the name of Whirlpool just because I have a dead dishwasher.”

There is a pause, the intake of breath, and a sigh.

“How may I help you today?” Droma asks, and she’s not buying into the idea this isn’t going to turn out poorly.

“My dishwasher is leaking from the bottom of the device, and I’d like to schedule a repair,” I tell her. “Some day next week will be okay.” And I say that because, in reality, that’s likely when it’s going to happen.

Droma reads me my rights, those things that she has to read me, to tell me if I’ve taken a hammer and assaulted the machine, the warranty doesn’t cover that, and doesn’t cover me washing a dinosaur fossil in it, either, and by the tone of her voice, this is someone wounded by her assignment in dealing with the public. I can hear it. I can feel it through the line.

“Droma, let’s agree that we’re both human beings, that machines break down, and instant fixes are the purest fantasy, okay?” I say. “I’m not going to be one of those people.”

“You know, that’s the best thing I’ve heard today,” and her voice breaks, “this man calls me and his dishwasher has stopped working, it won’t drain, water is everywhere and he tells me he had thirty guests over, I tell him it’s illegal to have that many people over, and he goes off on me, and tells me he wants to speak to someone in America. I tell him New Mexico is in America, and he’s mad at me because he doesn’t know New Mexico is a state. My people are from Puerto Rico, but I was born in New York, I’m an American, I’ve lived here all my life, and the people in New Mexico make fun of my accent,” and Droma stops. “I’m sorry, I’m not supposed to do that.”

“It’s okay,” I tell her. “I rather deal with a human being with human problems than a chat bot. People make fun of my accent, too.”

“I think you sound wonderful,” Droma says. “I like the way people in the south talk.

We talk accents and dishwashers, and I tell her the Yappy Dog story, and Droma laughs.

We hang up, and I wait for the automatic review of my experience with customer service. Droma gets the highest evaluation I can leave.

My dishwasher is still dead. It likely will be for a few more days. Who knows when or by who the problem will be solved, but I’m sure it will be. Machines die, they are fixed and come back to life. Life goes on either with them, or without them, just like the Old Gods.

I have lived another day without being the Yappy Dog.

You can, too.

Take Care,

Mike