Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

A rat managed to wreck our hardy kitchen stove, which we’ve used for over ten years. She managed to climb into the back of the furnace and urinate in the insulation there. We couldn’t get the smell out; it was so bad it felt dangerous.

We let Bud out of his crate at night and haven’t seen any sign of the rat since. But this was too late for our stove.

Sometimes, living up here, I feel like I’ve moved backward. Many things have changed up here, but many have not.

We kept hearing talk about an appliance salesman named Jim Parisi, who works out of Schuylerville, New York and has been buying, installing, and servicing appliances for decades. Everything about him that we heard was beautiful. People say he is old school in the best sense.

I loved Jim from the second he picked up the phone to answer our SOS; we were in desperate shape for a while. The rumors about him were all true; his notions of service, courtesy, and openness reminded me of the best small business people in past times.

With Jim, you talk to a very human human. He understood we were unnerved and in a rush to cook food again. The smell was unbearable. He got on the phone with me, and we toured some stove websites.

The stove did an excellent job for us. I’m sorry it had such a sad end. Jim and Tom have been friends all of their lives.

Unlike the big box stores, Jim said he would be available to help us choose the suitable model, drive to the farm and install it, show us how to use it, stay as long as we needed, and call him anytime we wanted to.

“I won’t walk away from you,” he said, “you call me anytime you wish,” I asked him to measure the old refrigerator that was making strange noises.  He took some measurements and said we should tell him when the time came.

This is different from the way most people can buy a stove anymore. But more than that, he became an instant friend and a very good one to have up here. Appliances suffer from climate change in many ways. Jim is somebody we will need more than once.

He is proud of his philosophy of sales. He brings an old friend with him when he makes the rounds to deliver his stoves and refrigerators; the two are so lovely. I was sorry to see them leave.

We discussed how the world is changing, and small businesses have been pushed aside. I know many people who love this man, and I’m sure he will do fine. Only small companies and people like Jim can offer the personal attention and support he brought to this small but unsettling drama.

I’m not done with you, Jim, I said as he sat down to make out the bill (checks only). It was a lot of fun to meet and talk with him – he’s a great storyteller – and it makes me feel safer to know he is there.

This is something I intend to remember or let go of.

The installation  was fun, and it was easy. Bud, who loves big, strong men, sat by Jim’s side the whole time. I think he would have been happy to jump in his truck.

When he came into the farmhouse, Jim recognized Maria as someone he met when she was restoring old houses years ago. They talked it all out together.

Maria and Jim went through the mechanics of the stove (he knew better than to trust me), and we all felt close to him, comfortable with him, and lucky to have come across him.

He agreed that I married well, a good and faithful thought on Valentine’s Day.

My SOS call to him was only a few days ago, and the stove came today. It took him a short time to take the old stove out and put the new one in, and his costs were very reasonable.

He scoured some websites until he found what we wanted.

He even found a stove online that was on sale; we saved several hundred dollars—and taught us how to put dryer sheets behind the furnace to keep rats and mice away.

He said he was proud of how he works and cares for people. Home Depot could never match all that. It was interesting to me that Jim sensed our anxiety and confusion and guided us through it. Now that I think of it, the rat assault was trying.

I am always uncomfortable when I need something as central as this, and I am pushed over to a website that pretends to answer questions but doesn’t.

Maria is at Belly Dancing class tonight, and I’m about to use the stove for the first time to make some turkey hotdogs. Even I can figure it out. Jim did as well. We sat and yakked for a long time.

I’d love to spend more time talking with Jim. Maybe that will happen.

This is one of the things I like about the country, for all its troubles. Corporate money isn’t the only thing that makes the world go around. People can still have pride in their work.

Most people still have old and dying values, which is one reason why they dislike our politicians so much. They treat their customers well.