Awkward can be worth it

Devin spent all afternoon on Sunday making the walls of our house look beautiful. He was busy hammering, puttying, sanding, and painting until midnight. Because I'm the epitome of a perfect wife, instead of thanking him for all the hard work he did, I blamed him when the outlets quit working in the bathroom that day. "You must have screwed up the wires when you were hammering!" I know, he's just SO lucky! I mean, who wouldn't want me for a wife right?

I realized I never apologized for being such a nag (and when I say nag I am adding some extra a's..naaaaaag...Fran Drescher style). I should do that (apologize, not nag some more).

Anyway he tried pushing the reset button on the outlet and tripping the fuse box a few times with no luck.

I gave it two days for the problem to miraculously solve itself (funny, that never seems to work out very well!) and finally called the electrician (Tann Electric). I used them two years ago when our lights were flickering and our power was going out. Eddie put in a new fuse box and saved our house from burning to the ground (seriously). You know things are bad when you hear a sizzling sound coming from the fuse box.

I was happy to see Eddie again (even though he was four hours late) until he came out of the bathroom less than THREE minutes after he arrived saying "ok it's fixed now." Apparently the outlet in the garage is connected to the outlet in the bathroom, which powers the upstairs outlet. He had to push the reset button in the garage and that was all. I felt pretty dumb for not knowing that, but whatever. I was just glad it was going to be a cheap bill.

I got out the checkbook and asked him what the price was. $94. For three minutes. For pushing a button. I waited all day for him to get there and he pushed a button. I begged him for a discount. He said I should just be grateful that it wasn't something worse and told me all his stories about his other dumb customers that had to pay $100 for him to screw in a lightbulb. NOT HELPING.

I begged and pleaded some more and gave him my most pathetic, pregnancy face. He said he had no control over the pricing. I wrote the check, but just couldn't summon the strength to hand him nearly a hundred dollars for pushing a button.

I gave him more sad, pregnant puppy eyes. He said I could try calling his manager and that maybe they could give me a credit for next time. Yipee. Not. I asked if I could call before he left. I told him I appreciated all of his hard work and made double sure he wouldn't be offended. He said to "Go for it" and that he wouldn't be offended in the least and that he knew how ridiculous that price was.

Oh my gosh, it was so awkward! I had to call and leave the details with the receptionist and then wait, with Eddie sitting on my couch, for the manager to call back. Longest six minutes ever. I was offering him drinks, trying to make small talk, feeling like such a friggin' cheapskate the whole time. Finally the manager called Eddie and I overheard Eddie tell him "Man, she's pregnant with two small kids and could really use the money." Thanks Eddie!!

They slashed my bill from $94 to $45. I think the awkwardness was worth it! I have totally turned into that person...the cheapskate that embarasses her kids, but who cares. It put close to fifty bucks back into my pocket.

So lesson of the day, folks: it never hurts to ask!

I think I'm going to start blogging again. My life has been brimming with blog fodder lately, thanks to Addison and Ainsley.

The Addison quote of the day: "Mom, why do you life coffee so much?"
The Ainsley quote of the day: "Addison spit my head!" Devin found a puddle of spit on the top of her head. Seriously. Who DOES THAT?! Apparently my daughter....