FredMcKinnon.Com

(special thanks to Chris Moncus who took me up on last week’s request for a “FreePlay Friday” graphic. If you’d like to make a “FreePlay Friday” graphic header, email it to me, and I’ll plug you right here!)

Hey Everyone, it’s “FreePlay Friday” (view all “FreePlay Friday” Posts) … the day where I post whatever I want, on whatever topic(s) I want, with no regard to whether or not it does (or doesn’t) apply to the main theme of this blog, which is worship, worship leadership, church life, and music. What makes “FreePlay Friday” so much fun is that I want YOU to participate by either commenting on my topics or by entering your own, totally random “FreePlay Friday” thoughts in the comments section of the blog.

Last Week’s FreePlay Friday Comment of the Week:

First, my favorite “FreePlay Friday” comment from last week’s post came from Renee Floyd, a local girl who attends our church, and recently joined the blogosphere. (so new, in fact, that she didn’t even give the correct URL to her blog in her comment last week) She said, “I’m so glad you are doing freeplay friday! It shows a whole new side of you, you are actually not as boring as I thought you were. (Just being honest)”. Um … thanks, Renee.

Austin: My geography is horrible. I’ve been in Austin, TX all week for the National Worship Leader Conference yet if you drew a picture of the state of Texas on a piece of paper and asked me to point to the general location of where Austin is … I couldn’t do it. There are small mountains (hills) here … it’s gorgeous. I thought everything in Texas was flat. Austin rolls with beautiful mountains (some wouldn’t call these mountains, of course, but they are definitely more than foothills). One of the things I am disappointed about is that this week’s conference schedule was so packed, there was absolutely no time to enjoy the city.

Sears: (one of the first rules in Shaun Groves‘ Advanced Blogging class this week was to NOT use your blog as a platform to bash people. It didn’t take me long to break Rule #1 … that’s why it’s called “FreePlay Friday” … here we go)

This crummy company has officially joined “Circuit City” (note to self, not worthy of a link) on my lifetime, banned-do-not-ever-buy-from-them-again list. Long story short … every time we wash clothes in our washing machine, they come out with clear, oily stains all over them. We’ve done all the troubleshooting imaginable. Switching detergents, power, liquid, concentrated, regular. No fabric softener (did you read that … NO FABRIC SOFTENER), period.

Sears sent a repair tech who basically said “nothing is wrong, you are putting something foreign in the machine that is causing this.”. Ok, wise guy … what’s foreign about H20 and soap? He took the entire machine apart, cleaning the drum and way down, and we had no greasy stains for nearly 2 months.

Now the stains returned. Sears tech #2 comes … same song, same story. Nothing is wrong. It’s us. We are putting too much fabric softener in the machine. WE DON’T EVER USE FABRIC SOFTENER. He smiles and leaves. That afternoon we run a load of clothes – we air dry to make sure it’s not the dryer. Clear, oily stains all over the clothes.

Well, now after the 3rd tech says the same thing, we are going to keep bringing them out and get a call from Sears yesterday.

Sears: “We refuse to send another tech. Nothing is wrong with your washer. All three techs have diagnosed that nothing is wrong with your washer. All three techs agree that it’s the fabric softener.”

Fred: “Ma’am, do you realize you are calling me a liar? We’ve told you a hundred times, and every tech that has visited that we don’t put fabric softener in the washer”.

Sears: (like a freakin’ robot) … “Well sir, all three techs have diagnosed that nothing is wrong with your dryer, and that it’s the fabric softener”.

Fred: “If nothing is wrong, why do we get stains on our clothes with every single washing. Why did the stains go AWAY when the first tech 2 months ago took it apart and cleaned it where it must be leaking something. If you are going to call us liars, send your tech back and let him stand there while we prove to you we are not putting anything foreign in our washer”.

Sears: “No we will not send another tech. There is nothing wrong with your dryer”.

It goes on and on.

We paid a flat-rate of $220 for the visit. The visit included all repairs, labor, and a one-year warranty. The “selling point” of the flat-rate was Sears’ promise (which Sears won’t honor and doesn’t intend to keep) “if we don’t fix your machine, we’ll give you a $500 credit towards a new machine”.

Guess what … not only do they refuse to refund our $220 … they refuse to give us the $500 credit because “all three techs confirm, it’s the fabric softener”.

WE DON’T USE FABRIC SOFTENER!

So much for the light-hearted FreePlay Friday today, but this is life. What’s happening with you?

(PS:  “FreePlay Friday” gets moving along pretty good, so I’d recommend that you check the box that says “subscribe to comments”, because I will likely respond to some of the comments, and you don’t wanna have to remember to keep coming back .. you can turn this off anytime).