So it began

Sallie Satterthwaitea has been a resident of Fayette Co. since 1971. She is involved in politics and the development of the community, and now a semi-retired housewife and grandma.

By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
sallies@juno.com

Someone asked me the other day if I still have a copy of my first column. But of course.

Although it’s hard to say which was the first. When Keith Graham, who now runs the international desk at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (I think), was editor of This Week in Peachtree City, we became friends, and he printed a brief essay I did about a late snowfall in the spring of 1979.

It was such a heady experience that I offered another and another, until I was being published at least once a month “guest” columns, researched studies, biographies of local residents old or new.

It was the column that people seemed to like best.

The snow piece was followed by one about my efforts to get a kitchen range repaired. That’s when I discovered the therapeutic benefits of writing. It helped me put things into perspective, getting them “out in the open,” as my mother used to say. Actually, I think writing stories like the following (in 1979) gave me control over the outcome -- although not this time.

Only the name has been changed

“Good performance,” the letter says. “We know that you expect good performance from your Waterspout range, and we aim to see that you get it.”

So I dialed the toll free 800 number.

Waterspout: “Hello. This is Waterspout customer service. Our representatives are busy at the moment. Please stay on the line, and as soon as possible, one will help you. This is a recording.”

Sallie: (Hmmm)

Finally.

W: Hello, Waterspout customer service, may I help you?

S: Well, I don’t think you can, actually. My stove is out of warranty, but I just wanted to find out if I’m expecting too.

W. When did you purchase your range?

S: 1971. It was bought by our builder when he built the house in 1971.

W. 1971? That makes it eight years old.

S: Not really. It was late in ‘71. It just seems like we should get more than seven years’ service from a stove we paid so much for.

W: What kind of problems are you having?

S: Well, the gasket around the upper oven door fell apart the first year. My husband put it back in place, but we’ve always had a lot of condensation around it.

Next the upper element of the lower oven failed, but I could get along without that since I still have the broiler in the upper oven. Then lightning hit nearby and knocked out the timers on the stove and my washer.

Now I know that’s not your fault, but because you’d have to take the oven away from the wall and tear out the whole thing to get at it, my husband couldn?t replace it like he did the one on the washer. Well, I could live without the timer, but then, one by one the burners went haywire until I have only one I can depend on.

W: What’s wrong with them?

S: The left rear one is either completely off or on. There’s no in-between. So I use it to heat water and I can put up with it. But recently it began not to come on at all unless you jiggle it and look for a little glow inside the plug-thing. Right after that the front one started doing the same thing. It would cut off unexpectedly if it got moved, like by stirring something, and then the right rear one caught it.

And the drip-pans! They’re like black lace. Completely rotted out.

W: Well, ma’am, have you had it serviced?

S: No. I told you, I just sort of put up with each problem as they came along, but now I gave to decide if it’s worth having it repaired, or should I buy a new stove. And I guess I just wanted you to know that when I do buy, it sure won’t be a Waterspout.

W: Ma’am, if you had had a serviceman come out and take care of it when you first had problems, I’m sure.

S: Wait a minute. Are you telling me that if I’d had the gasket in the upper oven replaced, the element in the lower oven wouldn’t have gone out? Replacing the gasket would have saved the burners?

W: Maybe. When our servicemen are called, they check other parts of the stove, and they might have been able to head off trouble before.

S: Oh, come on now. I can’t believe I should have this many failures in seven years of reasonable use. If I were using the stove in a short-order diner, that would be different, but we’re a small family and we don’t abuse ours.

W: Ma’am we really can’t do anything for you without a history of repairs. If we had a record of more than the normal number of service calls, maybe we could help you, but.

S: I really didn’t expect you to help me. I guess I just called to register my protest.

W: Well, that’s the trouble with people today. They just expect too much. You want all that sophisticated equipment ? Is it a self-cleaning oven?

S: No, sir, it is not.

W: Well, anyway, you want special features and you just don’t understand that these things don’t take hard use as the simpler things used to. With the old wood stove, there wasn’t anything to go wrong and they lasted for years. But now people want all these fancy gadgets to work the way the old wood stove did.

S: Fancy gadgets? A rubber gasket? Surface burners like we’ve had for years? Now the timer is something else, but I wouldn’t classify drip-pans as fancy gadgets!

W: Well, ma’am, they just don’t make things like they used to. People expect too much these days. Where are you calling from? I’ll give you the name of the nearest authorized Waterspout repair service.

Good performance? I guess it was. The above account is true. Only a name has been changed to protect the guilty.