Excuse Me, When Did I Join the Repair Team? 👩🏻‍🔧

Somewhere along the way, adulthood quietly added a new responsibility to the list: video repair appointments. And I would just like to know… who approved this?

There was a time—not that long ago—when something broke, and a person showed up, toolbox in hand, ready to fix it. Simple. Clean. Efficient. Now? Now we schedule a video call and suddenly I’m holding my phone like a camerawoman while being gently coached through what is apparently my role in the repair process.

This all started with a bed frame that hasn’t worked properly since day one. So naturally, the solution was not “we’ll send someone out,” but instead, “let’s hop on a video call so you can show us the problem.” Show you the problem? I live with the problem. I am the problem at this point.

“Can you angle your camera a little lower?”
“Can you zoom in on that part?”
“Can you try pressing that again?”

I’m sorry… are we filming a documentary or fixing furniture?

There is something wildly humbling about standing there, phone in hand, trying to follow instructions while pretending you understand what you’re looking at. Meanwhile, in your head, it’s just a loop of, “I don’t know what that is. I don’t know why I’m touching it. And I’m not confident this is going to end well.”

And let’s be honest, there’s always that one moment where you think, “Please don’t ask me to actually fix this myself.” Because I didn’t sign up for a hands-on workshop. I signed up for something to work without turning into a group project.

Sure, it’s probably faster. Maybe even more efficient. But it does raise a very important question… when did “customer” quietly become “assistant technician”?

So now I’m curious—have you ever had to do one of these? Did you feel confident and capable… or were you also just trying your best not to accidentally make things worse?

Because if this is the direction things are going… I have some concerns.