October 30, 2004
You Can’t Get There From Here
My oven is rack-impared. It has only one, which makes all my multi-layer cakes just take too long to bake! So I went about today to try to get another one. Oven racks, one would think, must be sold separately from their feudal masters. And they are–I still think–but not to those as uncultured as myself.
First I asked Google, which turned me on to several websites that claimed to sell such things, but only if I gave them a model number, which I did not have because it’s not on the stove anywhere. They did, however, help me out with a nice diagram of the many places on the stove the model number would be listed. If it were. Which it wasn’t.
But aha! One of the websites had an 800 number for help. 7 Days a week! Open Late! I called, and the first question the woman asked me was what the model number of my product was. When I told her that I didn’t know, she told me that she couldn’t do a search without that. So… basically, this website employs people to sit at computers with their website loaded and enter model numbers for people. And it seems to be working out for them.
But not for me. So I next called Sears, and asked about oven racks. Before I could even find out if we could identify the model, the guy told me to call their parts line. Another 800 number. When I called that, the guy helped me not find the model number, and then said there was nothing he could do without it. He was, however, helpful enough to give me the number of my local Sears store.
I think I’ll make one out of alumnium foil…
