I arrived home very late last night. It was a very tiring day with work piling up on my desk like pancakes, stacked one after another. I was very frustrated because I couldn’t seem to prioritize any one of them, which would have been easy given any other day. I ended up starting all but not finishing any one of them. I was just ready to go home and start work on my thesis, which is the most important thing in my life right now, and the thing that is foremost in my mind. But before I could even grab my bag and leave the office, we were told to stay for an emergency meeting that ended up with us eating dinner at the office, discussing informally our supposedly ‘salary increase’ that is the cause for ‘unrest’ among other employees in the office, and me getting home late. Once I got into the taxi, I just couldn’t wait to get home and drop asleep the instant I hit the bed. But it was never meant to be. It was jus the beginning of another nightmare.
The house, for a long time, had needed a repair on the faucet. It was just my luck to have a landlady that has a compassion for tenants the size of a pea. It had been months since we last requested for a plumber who never arrived at all (calling all lawyers! Can I sue my landlady? I think there are provisions under the law for this aside from our immediate contract). I had to look for one myself and ended up with a plumber recommended by our lab driver. He said this plumber was a certified professional. I don’t doubt his credentials but with the way I am feeling right now? Well, he’s really a professional alright (Beep! Beep! Sarcastic mode). I specifically told my middleman that they were not, as in not, supposed to remove the faucet (as per my landlady’s orders) but to just close off the switch of the faucet that’s loose and install control valves under the sink on the two pipes. But hell, what did I see???? Not only was the faucet replaced by an ordinary one (which was the plan in the first place until the landlady told us not to remove the original), but one of the pipes under the sink was cut-off and closed-off by epoxy or something! The water wasn’t even running yet since the seal had to dry well before we could turn on the ‘newly installed’ faucet. We had to pay eight hundred pesos for the labor and materials (which by the way, we have no official receipt of purchase of) for a job that is not satisfactory to me. Where is the handy boyfriend when you needed one?! If I know plumbing, I would have done it myself and would even have done a better job of it. I even have a picture of the output in my mind and probably the idea of repair, the only problem was in the execution.
Another things that frustrated me was my housemate who was there when everything happened. I didn’t see him when I made the plans for the plumber to do the repair so I personally asked his sister to tell him about the coming plumber and the landlady’s instructions. Apparently, his sister did tell him that but he didn’t remember so he just let the plumber replace the faucet without even thinking, “Hey, wait a minute! Are we even supposed to remove the faucet? Are we allowed to do that? We are only renting this place!” But no, he didn’t ask! So, I ended up with a faucet I am not comfortable with because of the argument I will have with the landlady once she finds out what I have let done. The burden all falls down on me!
Most of all, I was disappointed with myself. I shouldn’t have depended too much on my middleman or my housemate. If I wanted a job done right, I should have been there to supervise the work. I should have put on more effort to contact my middle man before the job, to really make sure that he knows what I wanted done. I shouldn’t have depended on the middleman too much just because I knew him for years now. Oh, oh! And you know what happened to the original faucet? The plumber took it with him! I’ll get that back one way or another just for the spite of it. Professional, indeed (again, sarcastic mode)! It made me realize that we may not be an island but when it comes to things such as this, it’s better that you do it yourself, either the supervision or the execution! I learned a lesson last night but it was not the easy way. All I could do right now is let it go, face the landlady, and never do the same mistake again!
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