Workaround yourself happy

This title needs explaining.

I have been working in support for 20 years and the job has taught me many, many life skills. Patience, how to talk to people, perseverance, to deal with stress, etc. One of the most unusual things I have learnt from doing this work is the power of the workaround.

The workaround!

Music to the ears of a support expert working with a customer facing technical difficulties. As long as there is a workaround the expert can breathe and work to find another solution or to fix it. If there is no workaround, then it is a lot of pressure and a lot of scrambling.

This has taught me not to be so demanding in my life and accept that, sometimes, a good workaround is as good as the fix itself.

You can get all strict and demand that things work as they were meant to, or you can let go of all the stress and accept that sometimes a workaround will do.

I will share something very personal now.

I love washing stuff, therefore I love my washing machine, my dishwasher, anything that cleans stuff for me. I have been known to refer to my washing machines as my crew or squad. Creative minds!

For this reason, I bought a really good washing machine, sturdy, capacious …precious. Recently, for some reason, most likely the very hard water, the washing machine has started to lose water, not much, just enough to drive me mad and force me to clean the floor after it.

After a lot of observation and research, I have found that the water comes from the detergent drawer, most specifically when it takes the rinse water. OK, good to know! Now what? After the customary Google research I have found the drawer must be clogged with something and to clean it.

Needless to say the drawer and the washing machine have undergone numerous cleaning projects. Backing soda and vinegar, salt, descalers etc.

A few weeks later and a sparkling washing machine and water still comes out, a lot less than before, but still. Enough to drive me insane!

One nigh, before going to sleep I was thinking about it, what to do, what to do, and I had a light bulb moment, masking tape. I can put masking tape on the drawer and the water will just drain at its pace without over spilling!

I have tested and it works, now I am the proud owner of a fancy washing machine patched up with masking tape.

You might wonder why am I not getting a handy man.

I think it is a cultural thing, in Romania you call a handy man when the proverbial saw has hit the bone, and never before you try everything under the sun to fix it yourself. I think it comes from all those years where everything needed to get fixed as new ones were not an option.

Plus, in Ireland, everybody is obsessed with replacing things, they seldom repair stuff. And if you mention repairing they look at you as if you lack a few marbles.

Anyway, the workaround of the masking tape has made me very happy. I will keep trying to figure out how to clean that drain thing, but till then … I have a workaround!

Sometimes having a workaround is all you need to be happy! And this made me want to write about it and the freedom it can bring you, helping you to let go of false expectations and helping you accept life with all its colors.