Getting Good at Doing Things Wrong

Virtue, or silliness?

Our faucet and sprayer have been broken for about three years—far longer than they worked. (My parents have an earlier revision of our faucet that is going on a decade; the new one barely worked for more than a year.)

Now, it’s not broken broken; it’s just sort-of broken. The sprayer works, but the button that actuates it gets stuck, so it might take a m…