Day 16 - Complaint

I bitch and moan quite a lot, but to effectively complain and stand up for one's self is quite different. I tend to let a lot of things "slide" that bother me because either I don't find them worth the effort of complaining about, or more so, I'm afraid of the reception my complaint will receive. Today I decided to stand up for myself and let my complaint be heard. Granted, the situation wasn't life altering, but none the less I set fear aside and complained.

The day started as I dragged what seemed to be 50 pounds of laundry down 4 flights of stairs, only to find out there was no detergent left in the bottle I had toted with me. I happily walked to the grocery store and purchased more detergent with a lovely Spring scent to perk up my load. Returning to the laundry room, I haphazardly tossed my laundry in the machines, added said detergent, loaded the coin slots with quarters and pushed the handle inwards expecting the machine to start, but got nothing. That's right, no lights, no water, no power, no nothing. This only affected one of the three machines I was using so at first I thought, "whatever", it's just one machine. But then I thought, I just lost 6 quarters and that's at least one McDouble cheeseburger from McDonalds, or an hour of parking in the city and now I want it back!!!

I quickly consulted with my legal counsel, which is really my boyfriend of almost 5 years, to see if I had a case and the verdict was yes. Before I could lose momentum in arguing my case, I ended the call with my counselor and dialed my maintenance man. After a short description of the insubordinate machine's behavior, I was guaranteed a full refund. While it didn't help my laundry get done any faster, it did help my day go much easier! It was great to complain, be heard, and get results. Final ruling in favor of the plaintiff and fear defeated.