Stovetop Service Call

We've been having problems with our burners for months now - whenever we're cooking something, the burner will beep and shut itself off. We didn't call for service as I thought we were both secretly hoping the issue would fix itself, but after a frustrating experience of trying to cook a meal with all three burners sporadically going out on me, M e-mailed for assistance.

He went through all of the details of the problem with the relocation company that helps us with anything and everything. They said a repair person would arrive in a few days to help fix the issue, and that he wouldn't speak English, but he would know to call them if there were any additional questions.

The repairman arrived, took apart the burners and started asking me questions. My limited Japanese does not include stove lingo, so he then called the relocation company, and over the next hour I think he called them and passed me the phone about 5 times. Each time the conversation went something like this-

"Well, he says the stove isn't broken."
"Well, it didn't do this when we first moved here, so I think it is."
"He says the sensors are just doing what they are supposed to. They make sure your food won't burn."
"It would be difficult for the food to burn if I can't even cook it before the burner goes out."
"He thinks the problem might be with your pots. Could he look at your pots?"



"Sure, but they are the same pots we've used since we've moved here. It's not the pots."
"Yup, you're right, he says the pots are fine. Okay, he's going to just switch the sensors since you only have a problem with one of the burners."
"?!??!!. Um, no, the problem is with all of the burners."
"Oh, well, let's just have him do that for now, and see if that fixes it."

Our stove is still broken.