Thursday, June 18, 2009

A handle

The handle ("yadit") of our refrigerator broke some time ago. It is a long plastic handle that came apart at the top. I fixed it with sticky tape, but eventually that came off too. I called the company to see if I could get a replacement, but they said that I would have to pay for a service man to come, minimum charge NIS200 ($50), and then I would have to pay for the handle, if they had it.
I thought there must be another way, so I looked in the yellow pages (yes, we have them here and in English) and I found the address of a Tadiran dealer, and I drove there, but it didn't exist anymore. So I decided I had to take more serious action.
There is a "fix-it" man in Netanya who advertizes for the English community, but he has a bad reputation. Nevertheless he has a shop where he stores lots of old parts. I went there and he went upstairs for a while and came back with a handle that was quite different. Nevertheless, with no other option I decided to buy it, but he wanted NIS 100 for it. I told him it was too much and we bargained and I bought it for NIS 50.
As I was driving away from there I realized that I was just around the corner from an electrical supply place where we buy appliances because the owner speaks English and is very helpful. I went there and he told me that he doesn't have such a thing, but there is a supply store a few shops down and they might have it and might be open.
I walked down to this store and it was open, and inside there was an old man sittting and reading the newspaper. I showed him the handle ("mekulkal" - broken). Without uttering a word he got up and walked to the back of the store, climbed a ladder and took the identical handle down off a shelf. He charged me NIS 80 for it, but it was worth it.
I just fixed it, and it is perfect. I feel as if I beat the system, as if I triumphed in the jungle. A great victory over chaos. One must persevere. Does anyone out there want to buy the extra handle I have, only NIS40?

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