Oh no!! The refrigerator...

I was on a night shift that day, so I woke up later than usual in the morning.
I drink a glass of water every morning after gargling, so I opened the refrigerator as I always do.
...Hmm?
Something feels strange.
I have a really bad feeling about this.
So, I opened the freezer compartment at the bottom, and that confirmed it.
The refrigerator is broken!!!

It had been acting up for a little while.
It wasn't cooling quite right, I suppose.
The interior light and such were still working fine, though.
There is a display panel on the front, and that display had flickered a few times.
I checked the instruction manual and tried the suggested troubleshooting steps, but it didn't fix it. I kept repeating the cycle of thinking I might need a repair, only for it to return to the normal display.
Hmm, it seems to be acting up, but it goes back to normal after a while, and it would be awkward if I called a repair person and they couldn't reproduce the error...
That's about all I thought, so I left it as it was.
I took it lightly, thinking it would probably be fine.
After all,it had only been four years since I bought itand Japanese home appliances are supposed to be high quality!

Yet, here we are.
What happened to Japanese quality!?
(It is a Japanese manufacturer, though I don't know if it was actually made in Japan.)
Anyway, some of the items in the freezer were half-thawed, and I turned pale.
After all,my squid fishing catchwas in there, and it would be too sad if that went to waste!
But thankfully, the weather had suddenly turned cool over the last few days.
Furthermore, it was a stroke of luck that I was on a night shift and could move around until about 2 PM.
If it had been a regular workday, I might have left for work without noticing anything.
And if I had come home late at night and been confronted with this reality then, I might have fainted!

While panicking, I searched for things like "refrigerator broken what to do" several times (I tend to repeat the same thing when I'm upset) and decided that the two main options were: 1) have the manufacturer come to repair it, or 2) replace it (since I never opt for those long-term warranties).
For option 1, it seems there's a service call fee just for having the manufacturer come out, and I'm not even sure if they could come right away (or so I feel).
From there, it would lead to repairs, so it's unclear how long I would be without a refrigerator.
This is bad.
Really bad.
So, option 2 suddenly jumped out as the much more favorable choice.
It's a painful expense, but...
But it can't be helped.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I hurriedly got ready.

If I buy a new refrigerator, the question is whether they can deliver it immediately.
Also, I have this image that if I say I'm here to buy one because mine broke, I might get ripped off...
Maybe that doesn't happen these days, but honestly, I don't have any memories of going to buy appliances and gaining an advantage through negotiation.
I feel like women are often taken a bit lightly.
Is it just my imagination?
I really wanted a man to come with me, but I didn't have the time, so I had no choice but toadopt the persona of someone who is "thinking of buying one soon and just came to look for now."My strategy was to act like I hadn't decided to buy yet and was just comparing models so they couldn't talk me into anything!
I don't know if it will work, though.

The strategy was set, so all that was left was to actually go buy it.
However, until I could get a new refrigerator, I had to make the current one work as hard as it could to keep things cold.
I kept the doors closed as much as possible and moved some of the ice packs from the freezer to the refrigerator compartment.
There is a drugstore right near my house, so I bought four bags of ice there.
I threw two bags each into the refrigerator and freezer compartments and headed off to the electronics store!
On the way, I became incredibly anxious thinking about what would happen if they couldn't deliver it right away.
Replacing the refrigerator is already an unexpectedly painful expense, but if all the food went bad, I wouldn't be able to recover...
Should I just buy a small freezer-only unit while I'm at it!?
And should I use that as a stopgap!?
I use the freezer more often, and it might be convenient to have one.
But maybe it would just waste electricity.
Or,when you're anxious, you end up thinking about all sorts of things that you'd realize are "not happening" later on.

A veteran-looking clerk gave me advice, saying things like, "All refrigerators will be going up in price soon," and helped me choose a refrigerator that was impressive in size and performance (and price, of course) by saying, "This area is recommended!"
However, without panicking, I stuck to my persona andclearly and firmlycommunicated the limits of my wallet, and decided to buy a slightly more affordable one.
Unexpectedly, I was able to arrange for it to be delivered the very next day!
It might have been good that it was a weekday!!

It's probably a lower rank than my previous one, but since it broke in just four years anyway, maybe it's better to just buy one that fits my budget perfectly.
I don't know why, but they said if I became a member, I'd get a 10-year warranty, and there was no extra charge, so I became a member and added the warranty.
I usually turn those things down.
It seems this refrigerator replacement really took a toll on my mental state...

The next day, after returning from my night shift, I bought more ice and kept the main food items in a cooler bag until the refrigerator arrived.
I threw away anything I thought looked suspicious, but for the most part, I managed to get through it safely.
In the end, I feel like I managed to keep the damage minimal, but even so, I think it was quite a tough battle.

It is truly terrifying when a refrigerator breaks suddenly.

I just wanted to convey this, so I decided to write it down.