It should be so simple...

...and yet, it is so difficult. This is my life! You dial a simple number for maintenance. Yes, I know in the States if you want a plumber you call a plumber - not a simple three-digit number - and if you want an electrician you call an electrician. Ditto for a mason. Or whatever type of repairman you need. Here? We don't have the option to pick and choose. Actually, we probably do, but then we'd have to pay for it ourselves. What's the saying? You get what you pay for? Ultimately we do pay though - in the form of rent - and we shouldn't have to pay for repairs to something we can never own.

A couple of months ago the faucet out back started leaking again. As it always goes - starts with a leak - then goes into full can't turn it off mode. I called maintenance. Again. For the same problem that they've been here at least three times to repair, if not four times. The young woman who answered my call said, "Irrigation will call you." They never did. [Big surprise!] I called back four or five days later to get someone to come replace/repair the faucet so it can be turned off. A young woman answered the phone and when I told her I'd called a before she said, "Yes. You have an appointment scheduled." When? "The 21st." Really? What day is today? "The 24th." So what happened to the appointment for repair on the 21st??? No clue. And the young woman on the phone did not want to have to deal with the problem so she argued with me throughout our entire conversation that I had an appointment scheduled and I argued back that no one ever called, no one ever told me about the appointment and that no one ever showed up for the appointment, either. She tried to tell me that I needed to call some other number for a follow-up appointment - and I tried to tell her that I didn't need a follow-up appointment - that I needed a NEW appointment because no one ever showed up for the first appointment. Sometimes Most of the time it is just an exercise in futility and another test of my patience. The faucet finally got repaired on the 25th. It will only last for a few months - and I'll be calling again. Probably not so much a plumbing problem as it is a water problem - salt water. Kills everything.

Our back wall is separating from the end of our garage. What started as a small crack is getting larger and larger. Pretty soon it won't be attached at all. And, I have to have the wall - to prevent The Kids from leaving the yard - and for privacy as the neighbors who value THEIR privacy so much don't value ours and wouldn't be able to resist poking their heads through to see us NOT swimming in our waterless, still not repaired pool... Rev has already used us every last iota of patience I have for him. I refuse to deal with him. He HAS to deal with DH from now on. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Whatever. So I called maintenance this morning to tell them that I need to get the privacy wall repaired. Same young woman answered that I had "difficulty" with last week. She may be the sweetest, nicest young gal in the world but she is totally, thoroughly clueless. "What is the broblem with thee wall?" [There is no "P" in Arabic and words with "P" are bronounced with a "b." There is a comedy clip about this...] "Thee wall is cracked and needs to be repaired." DH does this thing on the phone with people that have strong accents - I can't do it - but DH adopts the accent using English. He doesn't even realize he's doing it and when I laugh at him for it he says, "Hey, they understood me, didn't they?" Yes, Dear. They did. It works for him. So the young woman says," You need a carbenter?" And I responded, "I don't think I need a carpenter. I need someone who can repair the cement brick." "Oh, you need a mason." Good. Send a mason. "Somebody will call you." When? Today? "No. Brobably not today." Great. When?!?

She and I went through how two weeks ago she said she'd have someone call me about the faucet and that that never happened. That whenever she promised that someone will call me - no one calls. "Yes. Madam. Someone will call you." Someone tell me what the point is. Just let me have the number and I will call them myself. That way I know I can get the "broblem" taken care of in some reasonable amount of time and when it is convenient for me. Not that I have a lot to do - or a tight schedule - but I do actually have some plans this week and they don't involve sitting at home next to the phone waiting for it to ring... Let's just see how long it takes to get the privacy wall repaired...