The dryer vent

Last week our dryer dried it's last towel. That dryer is older than Jon, so I figured it was time for a new one anyway. The repair would have been more trouble for me than a 14 year old gas dryer is worth. Tina shopped and found the one she wanted at Lowe's and arranged for a delivery on Friday between 1 and 5 pm. They were also going to haul away the old one. I planned to spend most of the morning clearing snow off the back porch, getting the old dryer ready to travel and clearing a better path to the laundry room through our cluttered basement. I also had a Dr appointment to go to at 11:15. I took Annie to school at 8:30 and came home to start moving snow. After that, I moved the old dryer away from the wall and relocated the baskets of dirty laundry that had started to stack from last week. That's when I heard a truck near the house. At first I thought it was the garbage truck, but it was lingering too long so I looked out the window. I was surprised to see a Lowe's delivery truck backing into my driveway at 9:30, three and a half hours before the scheduled delivery time. In my line of work, things don't always work out according to plan and I often have to go with the flow. I was still certain they would be able to get the dryer down the stairs and into the laundry room without too much hassle. When the delivery man knocked on the front door, I answered and told him he was a bit early but we should still be able to make a go at it. I asked him to give me a minute to move my wife's van so they could get the dryer to the back door where it would be a straight shot to the basement stairs. He seemed a bit annoyed, I'm not sure if it's because I told him he was early or if he thought carrying it to the back door was a bad decision.
When I walked outside with Tina's keys in my hand, I saw the men coming around the corner with my new dryer on a dolly. They decided to carry it around the van. When they got to the door they stopped to look at the back door. The older guy (I'm gonna call him Grumbly Joe) muttered something under his breath and measured the door opening. "This door is going to have to come off." he announced, "That thing will never fit through here." Over the past 20 years, I have moved a fair amount of welders, presses and other bulky objects through crowded factories. I think I have developed a pretty keen eye for what will fit where. I looked at the dryer and looked at the doorway.
"Are you sure?" I asked "The old one went in that door without a problem."
"This ain't the old one." Joe groused.
Now I was starting to get pissed. "I can clearly see this isn't the old one." I replied, "I think it can make it, do you want me to help?"
Grumbly Joe muttered something under his breath and they picked up the dryer and started to jockey it through the doorway. They made it with less effort than it would have taken to remove the door. Then they carried it down the stairs to the basement. When they got to the door of the laundry room, Joe stopped and announced that there was no way they could make it any further without clearing a bigger path.
I had enough. "Just leave it right there, I'll get it myself." I barked.
"Are we still taking one away?" Joe asked.
"Yes, get out of my way and I'll bring it to you." I walked to the old dryer and lifted it up (gas dryers are pretty light) I put the dryer on their dolly and said "There you go, how hard was that?"
They strapped the dryer to the dolly and quietly carried it up the stairs and out the door. I picked up the new dryer and placed it next to the washing machine. Then I went outside and signed for receipt of our appliance.
When I got back in the house, Tina got to listen to me rant for about 15 minutes, I would have continued my tirade for a bit longer but had to leave in order to make my Dr appointment.
I stopped by Lowe's on the way home to talk to someone about the way that delivery went. I had calmed down enough to hold back the stream of F-bombs Tina got to hear. The manager apologized to me and offered to refund my delivery fee. I told her delivery was free but I wasn't there to get anything out of it, I just wanted to share the tale with her. The truth is, the whole incident was probably triggered by the early delivery. In three hours, Tina and her van would have been gone, the route to the laundry room would have been much wider and I would have been less likely to snap.
The reality is, it will be a very long time before I shop at Lowe's and every time someone mentions the store to me, they are going to have to hear this story. The last time we bought anything from Lowe's they screwed that up too and it was a hassle getting it fixed. If Jimmie Johnson screwed up as much as his sponsor, he'd be Kenny Wallace.