Well, Michael and I moved into a new place recently.  It included a lovely set of “new?” appliances.  Or, so it was purported.  The washer and dryer sitting in our laundry room looked beautiful.  Uber fancy!  Digital.  Lots of controls.  Front loading.  However, the first time I tried to wash some clothes I encountered a frightening problem.  The thing jumped around the room like a raging bull on steroids!!

I mean scary movement.  Possessed. On the spin cycle, the washing machine repeatedly jumped violently–smacking the pipes, the dryer, it hit the wall again and again to the point that it gouged out a nice hole in the paint and plaster.  Yikes!  I had set some clothes on top of the machine, they were flung around the room.

I set the spin to “slow.”  Same deal.  My adrenalin was pumping.  I unplugged it from the wall.  What to do?

Michael and I tried to figure it out.  We know NOTHING about washing machines.  The thing was installed on a white plastic tub/liner on top of a linoleum flooring.  We thought “Perhaps it’s that liner that’s sliding, it’s not sitting on a steady surface.”   So, we removed the door to the room so we could maneover around in there and tugged and tipped and pulled to get the washing machine (weighs a ton) off of the liner and sitting firmly on the floor.  We did it!

It still jumped around the room like a raging bull!

The next day we were at one of those large home supply stores and talking to appliance clerks about the problem.  They had no advice for us, except that we should buy a new machine.  Well, we could do that.

When we moved into our place we had found a “handy man” to help us install some blinds.  We called the handy man–he had said he was knowledeable about appliances and could fix them.  He looked at it, played with the feet, pressed buttons, etc. and did nothing at all useful to fix the problem.  We paid him $100 for his time–but nothing changed.  The bull still lived in our laundry room.

We thought:  this is ridiculous.  So we called in a real live appliance repairman to help us.  An expert, someone actually trained in washing machine repair.  Someone who knows what the hell they’re doing.

So, we waited for our appointment, and the repairman came.  He took 5 seconds to figure out the problem, and about 3 minutes to fix it.  Turns out the shipping screws were still installed in the back of the machine, next to plaques reading “remove before use.”  Whoever had set up the appliances in our home had not done that.  Those screws were holding the drum in an unnatural position, so that it couldn’t spin properly.  That was all of it.  He removed the screws and the thing works perfectly!!!  Spins perfectly, sits steady, purrs like a kitten.   And washes clothes like a dream. Yay!!! 

The point:  when somebody is skilled and trained and knows what they’re doing, it makes all the difference in the world.  And they do make it seem so “easy” to fix things.  Because it is, to someone who is the real deal.  Our washing machine repairman was the real deal.

There’s a lesson here, for me and Michael, and for everyone.  Go for quality.  Find someone well trained who can really help you when you have a problem.

This is applicable to the work I do as well.  If you’ve got behavioral “repairs” to make, you can ask your neighbor, ask the butcher at the market, ask Dear Abby, go forever to bumbling talk therapists or take a chance with abysmally unskilled script-readers posing as ”hypnotists” or you can come to people who know what the hell they’re doing and make short work of the problem.  That’s Michael and me.  We’re the real deal.  Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapists and Licensed Trainers of Neuro-Linguistic Programming®

Call us for a free consultation if you’d like to learn more about our professional services:  (425) 564-8608.

Warm Regards,
Connie