Calling in the professionals
The unmistakable smell of smoke filled the room, signalling my defeat. The dryer had won.
Let me go back to the beginning: when I arrived in America 15 years ago, I inadvertently moved into a neighbourhood where drying your clothes outdoors on a line was not allowed.
(I'll let that sink in for a minute for those of you in the rest of the world. We have what my mother calls perfect drying weather: it's been over 30 degrees Celsius/86 degrees Fahrenheit here for weeks now, and my house has a lovely breeze flowing through the back garden. But no outdoor drying. It's bananas.)
Reluctantly, I bought a tumble dryer. It's had a good life. But a few years ago, it started to fail. First, a starling somehow managed to fly in through the outdoor vent, met an untimely end and caused the heating element to overheat in the process.
Since I have started learning more about the circular economy, I have become more aware of the need to repair and refurbish appliances rather than simply buying new ones, where possible. I searched YouTube videos until I found one showing how to replace the element. One replacement part installation and one back-garden bird burial later, the dryer was back up and running. I am no electrician, but I think I did an okay job.
Last year, the dryer belt broke. I went back to YouTube again, watched two videos and learned how to dismantle the entire machine and put it back together again. It took a lot more time and a lot more frustration this time around. But it was fixed. The dryer was a bit noisier than before, but it worked – and I consoled myself that I had saved money on calling in an electrician.
A high-pitched squeaking noise started coming from the laundry room last weekend. A few Google searches later, I had identified the problem. I thought. Three hours and four cuts on my arms later, I had removed enough lint to knit a jumper and installed new drum rollers.
I put the final screw back in, turned on the power, and it was no longer squeaking.
Instead, the room filled with smoke.
I unplugged the dryer and admitted defeat. I don't mess with fire. It was time to call in a professional.
The whole situation reminded me of a conversation I had with a potential client a few weeks ago.
The company had been using DeepL to translate their internal memos into English for a while now, but the communications team had a sneaking suspicion that their message wasn't coming across properly.
Now it was time to translate their ESG report and, as a business trying to attract investors interested in sustainability issues, and the stakes were high. It was time for them to stop dabbling in machine translation solutions and call in a professional environmental translator who could add value.
Taking shortcuts is understandable. Quick fixes are, well, quick, and save money – at least, at first. But it turns out that, in life and in business, some things are more important. Like your image. And your reputation. And stopping your literal and metaphorical house from catching fire.