Today, a report came out from a consumer confidence research board that consumer confidence was at an all time low of 37.7 (whatever that is). I didn’t know there was such a board but I could have saved them a lot of trouble in their research if they would have ask me. The confidence level was down even more than they had projected. DA!!!

My spouse spent the morning talking to GE and a service company about our broken GE washing machine. The machine is one year old and is now broken for the third time. We used to be Maytag users but we were told, by the people at Home Depot, that Maytag sold out and that GE was now the best. We never had trouble with our old Maytag. Maytag was even my mother’s first washer and was the type where you turned a hand wringer and the clothes were rinsed in three tubs of water with one containing bluing. The Maytag man lived next door. He sold us the machine and if we ever had a problem he would come over and fixed it for a cup of coffee. He was especially nice to us because I feed his chickens. Those were the good old days.

Now we have to fight to get anything fixed on the inferior products made by people like GE. The service folks never have anything in stock. They charge you a service charge and then order a part that takes several days to come from the factory. They then return for instillation and have a giant charge for labor. Meanwhile, you have a mountain of dirty clothes. Or course, the place where we bought the unit, Home Depot, has nothing to do with any of this. Once you buy something from them, it’s your responsibility baby. The customer is on their own in getting a faulty piece of merchandise repaired.

Is it any wonder that places like Home Depot are having massive layoffs and closing stores? Also, is it any wonder that GE and other American companies are in trouble? Consumer confidence is down. What a surprise!!

The main thing that surprises me is that, at my advanced age, I haven’t learned these lessons and keep making the same mistake by buying stuff from places like Home Depot and buying products like GE. One reason is that I have no choice. It just isn’t like it was when I was a kid when people and companies seemed to care.

I guess even the bad stuff and troubles are better than the rub board my mother used when I was a kid. We hung all our washing on clotheslines outside in the sun to dry. Boy, the clothes sure smelled good and it was nothing like those fresh sheets to ensure a good nights sleep. I wouldn’t mind a clothesline in the back yard now and have those hanging clothes block the sight of the deer. However, I don’t think my spouse would go for this idea. She would probably prefer to argue with GE and the service people on the phone rather than hang clothes. She has had a lot of experience with the latter and it has become much easier.