Privacy Wall Repair

Finally. And, no, no one called me like the woman at maintenance said they would. Yeah. Shocking, isn't it? I was on the phone two mornings ago with a friend and actually had a question for her husband - who wasn't home. She said, "He better get home pretty soon - I'm going to be late for work and he needs to give me a ride." No problem - I'll just jump in the truck right now and give you a ride. Why didn't you just ask? So, two minutes later I was in front of her house and she jumped in the truck. She is doing "follow-up" work, part-time, making telephone calls to see if people are satisfied with maintenance. I just happened to mention that I had called about our privacy wall and was told that someone would call me and that I never got a call. Friend told her supervisor about it and lo and behold - I finally got a call and someone came to find out what our problem was. [I've got the supervisor's name and number on speed dial, now.] Here is the problem:

If the gate was shutting properly I wouldn't care about the cracked cement. This isn't our house - we rent it - and if it falls apart it is not a big concern. I do, however, need to be able to shut, lock and latch the gate door. And, right now, because the wall is separating - the gate has shifted and is moving downward. I don't know how else to describe it. I can get the gate shut, but it barely locks now - and only with difficulty. It cannot be latched at all. That is a problem. I want to be able to let The Kids out without having to worry that the gate is going to be opened and that The Kids will have the opportunity to escape. I am not so much worried about The Baby - she doesn't leave my side when we are outside the yard - but The Boy? He'd be off like a shot and wouldn't come back if there was something more interesting - say, a cat, to chase. It scares me to think what could / would happen if The Boy were to get out.

A maintenance crew came yesterday to fix the wall. Another crew is coming Saturday - in shallah - to repair the gate and get it to close properly so that I can lock and latch it, and someone else is coming to paint the repaired cement wall.

The supervisor of the crew that was here yesterday afternoon answered every single one of my questions with "in shallah." Sometimes I think if I hear that one more time I am going to snap! It means, "God willing." Yeah. I know what it means. It means if the sun and the moon and the stars are all lined up properly, if the day of the week doesn't end in "Y" and if whoever is in charge that day doesn't wake up to soggy corn flakes or runny eggs then the matter will be taken care of. I don't want to hear "in shallah." I want an answer to my questions - a simple "yes" or "no" will suffice just fine, thankyouverymuch!