I never even knew what it was called until it smashed to pieces: a carafe.
My partner uses our coffee machine almost every morning before going to work. It is a vital tool to satisfy her morning caffeine fix. Last week, that all came to an abrupt halt. As she was cleaning our kitchen one evening, crowded with an endless supply of different appliances, I heard a scream coinciding with the sound of glass shattering. I was in the next room over talking to my father on the phone, but the crashing noise brought me over to see if she was okay. Glass was everywhere, but she was unhurt. She was, however, quickly unimpressed that I initially chose to continue on with my conversation instead of hurrying over to her rescue. It wasn’t long before she told me where my duties as a boyfriend lie; it was my job to help her clean everything up and I complied. She was right to be a little upset, so now it was up to me to go the extra mile and find a new carafe for her morning brew. It was the least I could do for her.
Who knew that finding such a simple thing could be so difficult? Initially I decided that Canadian Tire must be the way to go. They had many “Universal” carafes that worked on all sorts of brands and the only sizes were for 12-cup coffee machines, so naturally I figured that must be my size. Naturally it was too tall, too fat to fit in our machine; it turns out we had a 10-cup machine. It was time to return it and try all over again.
After returning the item, problem-free, the next spot on my list was Sears. Oddly enough, they had no replacements for the rare 10-cup coffee pot. They recommended Williams-Sonoma, a place where I’ve had stories in the past. The store was grandiose and beautiful and they had options galore for replacement carafes, but the shapes were so spectacularly different that I really needed to remember my brand name. In an effort to make our kitchen appliances matching in colour, something very important for my partner but not for me, our appliances are all from three distinct brands: KitchenAid, Krups, and Cuisinart. To the educated chef, these brands may mean a whole lot of difference, but to me it just means a whole lot of silver appliances. I made an educated guess that we had a Cuisinart coffee maker, but upon returning home realized I was again wrong. It was Krups. Despite holding the same amount of coffee, this carafe was again too fat. Another solid walk back to the store for the return led me to the unpleasant news that they had no Krups replacements. I was again out of luck.
My lack of research into a product I own was starting to frustrate me. I went to the Krups website and found all the stores in the area that sell replacement parts; two were next to each other less than a half-hour walk away. I called to confirm they had the parts and they answered in the affirmative. Once again, I put on my shoes and got on my way. I got to the first store and talked to salesman only to learn that he thought that I wanted to buy the machine/carafe as the package they typically come in. I had no intention of putting forward another $80 for a second machine and one pot, and he let me know that they actually do not sell the pots individually. I wasn’t too bothered at this news, as the next store was right across the street. I went in to discover that the product they put aside for me was another “Universal” brand, but right there on the back it said it worked on Krups 10-cup carafes. Surely this one would work, right? I bought it, went home, and again found myself disappointed. Though this was the first version I had bought that actually fit inside the coffee maker, this pot lacked a very integral mound on the top of the lid. This mound would elevate a slight knob at the top of the coffee holder, thereby activating the coffee machine. Without this useless mound, the coffee would not even start to drip. This new carafe, my third purchase, was set to be returned once again.
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| Notice the slight mound in the middle of the lid. |
Krups had won: the only way I could get any use out of this coffee maker again was to go to their website and pay whatever price they had for the exact replacement. There was no way around it. I went to the website and found the exact model and put it in my online shopping cart, but there was one final twist. There was no icon allowing me to “go to the checkout”. I could add infinitely to my shopping cart, but there was no place to go ahead and purchase what I needed. I clicked all over the website before eventually settling on calling customer service. The lady on the other end of the line, emulating what I had done, shockingly confirmed my online shopping experience: there was no checkout button. She tried to get a hold of web assistance, but no answer. For all the work put into this website, the single most integral link was missing; there was no place to buy the stuff. Eventually we decided on making the order over the phone instead of online. At this point, after a full day of walking including three product purchases and returns, technically the right carafe is on its way. The only thing left to do now is wait the 5 business days for shipping to see how this carafe isn’t going to work either.
aa.
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