HATS OFF TO THE GOOD FOLKS AT THERMOWORKS FOR A JOB WELL DONE AND A PRODUCT WORTH HAVING
Not too long ago I was contentedly causing some meat to be transformed into manna when it became time to check the level of inner temperature and assess the critical level of doneness as I am oft accustomed to do. So, I pulled out my trusty British Racing Green Thermapen and pried open the probe in preparation to stick the chunk of critter and find out its true state.
No joy. Not even a slight twinkle or warning on the little screen. Dead.
Now, there are cooks who can and do succeed beyond all belief at creating great grub using only time and maybe a toothpick to gauge the unseen insides of things, but I'm not one of them. I need to know where I stand, quickly, and by more than look and smell. Panic, paranoia, and a terrible and overwhelming fear of the unknown set in at once. I was digitally disadvantaged and felt like a teenager without a cell phone. Can anything be more pitiful than being suddenly bereft of a technological crutch without which one cannot participate in life as we know it? I can easily live without a cell phone but life without an instant-reading digital thermometer is something I will not tolerate.
In the depths of my depression and anxiety I made the only logical decision my feeble brain could handle and hied myself to the nearest hardware store for new batteries.
No joy. Not even a slight twinkle or warning on the little screen. Dead.
This little implement on which I had so long relied for its uncanny truthfulness in temperature had breathed its last. Was this to be the end of acceptable outdoor cooked meat for my family, friends, and some frightfully undependable barbecue judges? Could have been, I'm certain, except something stuck in the back of my brain that Thermapens, unlike almost everything else we purchase nowadays, are not disposable. Somewhere, I'd seen something about their potential resurrection in lieu of tainting the trash with their discarded carcasses.
With hope in my heart I dashed off an e-mail to Thermoworks inquiring of the salvation methodology and its driving requirements and cost. Ten minutes later . . .
Joy! I have a case number and instructions on where to send the body. I do a little business at the Post Office for a mailing bag and off it goes.
Joy! Two days later I have an e-mail with bad news and good news. The good news far outweighs the bad and that's why I still started this line with the word "joy" instead of something snarky. The good news is that they'll fix it for thirty bucks -- about one third the cost of a new one -- and my local landfill will not be tainted by the non-organic guts of the thing. The "bad" news is they will have to destroy the case and I must screw up my creative juices and pick a new color because British Racing Green has been relegated to the scrap heap of infamy where "unpopular" shades reside following sales department decisions. I bravely choose Red and say a quick prayer for the someday ultimate return of British Racing Green -- a fast color if there ever was one.
Joy! A few days later and I am reunited with delightful digital functionality of the dutiful little device and once again I am empowered to transform the groceries without undue unknowns. The red is sort of cherry. The display quickly cracks into life. British Racing Green would have been a nanosecond faster, though. My cross to bear.
Through all this suffering and tribulation, all this work and worry, all this heartbreak and misery -- the folks at Thermoworks were wonderful! When I e-mailed, they answered promptly and personally and with a name, not just the facts and numbers. When I called they answered their own phone! No call center in Bangladesh staffed by robots all named "James".
Seriously, there are a lot of companies that don't give a hoot about their old out-of-warranty stuff you bought years ago and that would just tell you to order a new one but this isn't a story about one of those. I don't expect to need any service on my newly refurbished red Thermapen for a long time and maybe never but if I ever do I'm gonna send them an e-mail (and see if British Racing Green has made a comeback while I'm at it).
Hub
