Sometimes things happen that we just can’t understand. It is those “why is it” situations we sometimes find ourselves pondering now and then.

Here’s an example. For more than a week, I stewed and fumed awaiting a service representative to check and repair the air-conditioner that cools the bedrooms in my house. I called the service department of the company with which I have a maintenance contract. “The repairman will call you and set up the appointment,” said the nice, helpful person on the line. But no one did. A week later, I made my fourth call to the service center.

With every call was a promise that an appointment would be set up. The latest rep I spoke to put me on hold while he contacted the service man. All of a sudden, an unrelated recording came on. I hung up. I thought he would surely call me back. I had verified my name, address, telephone number, and information about the unit with him, as well as every other person I’d spoken with in the past week.

The company rep did not call. Neither did the service man, but the rep had given me his telephone number. I contacted him. He said he would be at my house around noon the next day. A couple of hours before I expected him, I turned the air conditioner back on. In just a few minutes, cool air started floating over the house. By the time he got here as promised, it had reached the temperature I set on the thermostat. He checked the unit. He said sometimes just turning it off and letting it rest for a while worked. Why is it nobody told me that?

A friend said her car was rattling and bumping. But why was it when she had someone check it, it sounded smooth as velvet?

Why is it that those sticky nametags you get at some event do not hold worth a flip, but it takes something short of dynamite to remove price tags from items?

Why is it that when I reach in my purse for my car keys, my house keys wrap around my fingers? Or vice-versa?

Why is it that even though I search out the shortest checkout lane, I get to the cashier later than somebody in the next lane who lined up after I did?

Why is it that the telephone stays mute for hours, but as soon as I make a call, I get a signal that somebody’s calling me?

Why is it that a driver who pulls his car in front of mine in such a hurry slows down as soon he gets in my lane?

Why is it that when you are driving to an appointment, there is a traffic jam, or somebody is moving a house down the highway?

Yeah, why is that?