Heard a lady at the pharmacy talk about her mom's old vacuum repairman

I was waiting in line at the pharmacy last week and this older woman was telling the cashier about her mom. She said her mom had this same vacuum cleaner for like 40 years because she knew a guy who would fix it for ten bucks and a cup of coffee. He'd come to the house, know exactly what was wrong, and have it running in 20 minutes. It just hit me how different that is now. I called about my own vacuum last year and the company basically said it was cheaper to buy a new one than to even look at the old model. There's no relationship anymore, just a call center and a shipping label. Makes you miss when someone actually knew their product and wanted to keep it working. Has anyone else had an experience like that, where you found someone who still fixes things the old way?

3 comments

3 Comments

morganm692mo ago

My buddy found a guy who still fixes old toasters in his garage.

hollym822mo ago

That's a pretty specific garage hobby, morganm69. How many broken toasters are people even finding these days? Seems like a skill for a world where appliances were built to last, not just replaced.

dakota_murphy902mo ago

Honestly thought the same thing until my neighbor's kid fixed a 70s sunbeam for five bucks in parts. Thing works better than my new one did. Now I see them at estate sales all the time. It's less about finding broken ones and more about people finally tossing the cheap plastic ones that failed years ago.