The holidays are supposed to be all about family fun and, of course, eating and drinking too much.
That’s how it all began at our family Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s
It all began with the turkey that was undercooked and put back in the oven. The aluminum foil caught on fire and smoke filled the room. The insurance person I am screamed out “covered, subject to your deductible”.house but it ended up as five separate insurance claims in a span of five hours. A claim an hour—not bad!
Next, the turkey was taken out of the oven and put on the kitchen counter right as the light socket in the soffit above started pouring out water on the now overcooked turkey. Apparently one of the guests had used an upstairs bathroom that overflowed causing the water that went on the floor to leak through the ceiling. Again, I screamed out “covered, subject to your deductible”.
We sat down to dinner without further incident and then after dinner went to the living room to play our traditional game of Taboo. As we all stood up after the game one of the guests spilled her glass of red one on my sister’s white carpeting. Again , I screamed out “covered, subject to your deductible” however find out who did that because it’s covered on their liability policy.
Next, as I was passing by the entrance hall table where a flower arrangement with two candles my son brought as a gift was placed, the candles had burnt down and the arrangement was catching on fire. This one we caught in time and immediately put it in the sink. Beware the arrangements you get with candles in them.
I decided to leave the premises to the safety of our hotel. I called my sister to thank her for the evening and she said it was not over yet. After we left, the pipe broke under the sink broke and the kitchen floor was flooded. I again reminded her covered, subject to her deductible”.
The next day at her house she became the proud owner of a new toilet upstairs and shiny new pipes under her sink. The soot on the walls had been cleaned up and they actually were able to get most of the red wine out of the carpeting. A good ending, I guess but we have decided to do Christmas Eve at our house. I hope your holidays are less eventful!
Laurie Infantino, AFIS, CISC, CIC, ACSR, CISR, CRIS
President of Insurance Community Center