A long time ago, in a pre-baby family far far away, we ordered a crib and a dresser. We did a bunch of research, read all of the reviews, saw an enormous array of options in a Florida visit to see mima and papa (perhaps before they had even settled on those grandparent names?), and were disappointed and/or sticker-shocked by most of the options available in Seattle, but finally found the crib we loved, and a lovely dresser to match. This was in mid-June.The crib itself was available immediately, but the dresser (and the bed's conversion kit) had a bit of a wait time (8-12 weeks). Okay, we thought, no worries; we're not putting baby stuff in the house beforehand anyway, plus the baby wouldn't be able to use it for a month or so. Zoom ahead to after Zachary, where piles of clothes are crammed into a shelf and we're desperate for storage space. My bi-weekly (that's once every two weeks, right?) phone calls to the store asking for an ETA have been answered "2 weeks", "2 weeks", "1 week", and finally "later this week". Finally they have it in stock, but the delivery company they use is "backed up" and it might take a bit longer, "...but you can find your own deliverers if you like". Thankfully, the delivery company actually gets back to me later in the week and schedules us to deliver it between 2 and 5 pm yesterday.
Yesterday I worked from home, and at (you guessed it) 5:40 pm, the delivery folks showed up. They actually did a fine job shlepping everything upstairs, and I was eager to get the crib assembled before Zachary's bedtime. Checking out the manifest, it didn't look too bad - 5 pieces of wood and a bunch of bolts with an allen wrench. I got to work.
Now for some reason, ready-to-assemble furniture has always been fun for me - desks, cabinets, dressers, CD storage carousels, I think the interior of my old townhouse was perhaps composed of 90% pressed veneered Swedish particle board. So, I jumped right in with assembly, noting a few typos in the instructions, but nothing too major. Then, disaster struck: one of the pre-drilled holes was misplaced, by like a half inch. I couldn't believe it -- this stuff has got to be assembly lined, plus it's supposed to be checked by both the manufacturer and the store we bought it from for defects. But sure enough, two pieces that should've been mirror images were not, and the bolts would not be coaxed to make up the difference. Defeated, I had to wait to contact customer support this morning. First, the crib manufacturer: "Sorry, you'll need to get the store to order you replacement parts." What? Why even offer a 1-800 number then? Next, I tried the store: "Hm, our warehouse manager isn't here, we can have him get back to you tomorrow." To which I replied, "Our baby needs some place to sleep. I'm drilling another hole. You'll work out a replacement part ASAP please?"
This evening after work, I bit the bullet, drilled the hole and completed assembly. In the process, I found another pre-drilled hole that hadn't been drilled all the way through. And a third that had been covered up by the lacquer/finish. Oh, and Meredith discovered that the dresser cabinet likes to pop open. But at least the furniture looks beautiful -- and the craftsmanship appears wonderful throughout, just some questionable finishing touches. And most importantly, Zachary now has a changing table that's at a comfortable height (pack 'n plays, while convenient, really get to your back after a bit), storage for his many cute clothes (including a new batch acquired this weekend with friends J & S), and a bed that's wonderfully cute and cozy! He's sleeping in it right now.
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