Savage Love ...

I was having a Savage Love moment today, actually it was a whole day, and it kinda started yesterday, actually a few weeks back, more precisely last year, but I digress. For those of you who don't know Dan Savage's weekly column Savage Love, read it at http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove.

How do you tell your oil burner service man that you love him, that he has a warm space in your heart, that he's the only guy for you, and that you can't do without him?

After we bought the Gunk Haus, we wanted to have the oil burner serviced for the cold season. Our oil man, Larry, gave us the numbers of two guys he knew. That's how we got to know Matt. He showed up, he was very friendly, very thorough at what he did, and forthcoming. I loved him right from the beginning.

Then we had some trouble with the heat on the third floor in the midst of winter. Panic. Our first call was to Matt, but he didn't call back. So we left another message, underlining the urgency of our situation. He finally called back, and showed up the next day. He was there for a good hour bleeding our five zone heating system, at the cost of zero dollars. You just have to love this man.

Well, it seemed that the fill valve for the boiler was broken and needed replacement. Matt said: You can do that yourself. Here's what you do. And he started explaining what to do. Why wouldn't I love that man? He teaches me how to take care of the boiler, and it doesn't cost me a dime. It took me a day, but I did it.

Then a few months back we decided to do the air conditioning in the beer hall. Our first call was to Matt, he does heating and cooling. Our second and third call were to him as well, until he finally called back. He showed up, we went over the scope of work, and he promised to provide an estimate. It never came, but we were busy, and therefore didn't follow up on it either.

At the beginning of October we tried again. It took several calls, until we finally got a hold of him. He showed up, and we went over the scope of work, and he promised an estimate for two days later. It never came. So we started leaving voice mail after voice mail. No response.

Yesterday I started the oil burner for the cottage, because a new tenant was about to move in. All I got though was some smoke coming out of it. A case for Matt. The voice mail I left went unanswered.

Today I called another oil burner service guy, I needed the problem taken care of. In addition, E! called Matt again, and left another voice mail. At last, he called back and promised to be there in an hour. It was three hours until he showed up, but I was happy as can be. He fixed the problem, as usual, and explained everything to me. Cost: $20. Gosh, I love the man.

All day today I had these visions of what Dan Savage would have to say about my relationship to Matt, which I knew would be DTMFA (if you don't know what this means, google it, this is a PG-13 blog), and I was ready to do just that, but that was before he showed up. Right now, I am in heaven, and hope that Matt shows back up next week as promised to service the oil burner in the main house.

Dirk