F*ck Around and Find Out

My grandma used to say, “You get more with sugar than you do with vinegar.” I believe this, so I start all difficult conversations with sugar — i.e., kindness and understanding. (But keep in mind, the operative word in this sentence is start.)

In a similar vein, Michelle Obama is famous for saying, “When they go low, we go high.” I also agree with this — at least in theory. In practice, I believe there are some situations that call for going lower, not higher.

Friday morning was one of those situations: I started with sugar, but it went downhill from there.

If you read last week’s post, you know our furnace broke sometime during the Sunday night before Christmas. Our service company came out Monday morning to inspect the problem. Ultimately, they told us the entire unit needed to be replaced. While not happy to spend nearly $8,000 on a new furnace just before Christmas, we agreed. After all, we had no heat so we had no choice.

We paid a hefty deposit and were told the new furnace wouldn’t arrive until Friday. We were also told that they’d install it right away (read: 8:30 Friday morning). Again, not the best case scenario, but we had no heat and no choice.

Friday morning came and went without a word from the HVAC company. Keep in mind, this is a company with whom we’ve had a preferred customer service agreement since 2017.

When I called at 9:05, I spoke with the company owner. I started out with kindness, curiosity, and understanding (i.e., sugar). He did not. Instead, he met my sugar with salt.

Instead of compassion and remorse, I got vitriol and denial. He staunchly claimed we were never told our new furnace would be installed on Friday. After calling me a liar, he said we’d have to wait until Monday. Maybe. He wouldn’t make any promises.

No apology. No platitudes. No ownership or acceptance that they made a scheduling error.

Keep in mind, one of the supposed perks of being a preferred customer of this business is priority scheduling. When I called, we were on day five of no heat. It was 28 degrees and snowing outside, 40-something degrees inside.

Not having heat was bad (really bad, actually), but what was worse was this guy’s attitude. He was rude and dismissive. Then he became abusive, berating me — loudly and incessantly.

Not scheduling our install was a mistake. But this … Screaming at me and calling me a liar … This was his biggest mistake.

Here’s the thing about me: I can handle misunderstandings and mistakes when they’re owned and rectified. Sh*t happens. No one’s perfect. What I can’t handle — or rather, what I won’t handle — is disrespect. Or wrongful character assassination. Or being yelled at, particularly by an older man.

I do not take the high road in these situations, and I didn’t here.

Needless to say, I am no longer a customer of this business.

Thankfully, I found another company who was quick to respond and easy to deal with. Within 24 hours, we had a new furnace.

I think it’s clear who’ll be getting all my HVAC business from now on.

The moral of the story is: If you speak to me with kindness, you’ll get the same. If you speak to me rudely or violently, the gloves are coming off. Don’t try me — or as the kids say, f*ck around and find out.