lost hours

Why is it that household problems become such a monkey wrench for me? Errgh.

Our washing machine -- our new f'ing machine -- stopped working today. Now, I didn't come home this afternoon planning to spend my time futzing around with the washer, or with anything particularly domestic. I wanted to take care of some bills, do some work, even do some reading that is semi-serious. So I came home, and thought I'd throw some towels into the washer. And then when it didn't work, I lost easily two hours, what with finding the manual, trying to figure out if there was anything I could do, cleaning various parts of the machine etc. I even watched the stupid DVD that came with it (this is why the manuals tell you less and less of any value, because they assume that users don't even know how to read and would rather watch a video.) And then I started looking around on the internet, and learned about all the other problems people have with this machine, but not about my problem.

I know, the machine is under warranty, and I just have to call Sears and get an appointment for a service guy to come out. As if that isn't a huge irritation. And I'm just afraid it will be something incredibly stupid that I didn't know to do or not to do.

And most irritating is that if I were the kind of person who could just shrug and say "oh well, it doesn't work" and go on about my own business I'd probably be so much more productive. But instead, I'm the one who has to try and understand the problem, and find the receipt for the warranty, and make the appointment, and be here when they come. I sometimes wish I weren't the responsible one in our household.