A Tale of Two Repair Men

Anyone who has read my blog knows how I feel about the repair men in China…the water guys totally drove me crazy and the one time we had our lights fixed it took 3 days to change a light bulb.  Today we had to have someone change all the bathroom lights and one of the kitchen lights.  You may be wondering why we need someone to come change a light for us…well they are wired in and not something we want to mess with.  Then we needed someone to come fix our AC which has been leaking water.  Now repairs here are hit and miss…you may get someone who fixes the problem or you may get someone who makes the problem worse.
The lightbulb guy was wonderful.  He took of his shoes when he entered (and he had clean socks on) he looked at each light and wrote down the model we needed. I gave him some money and he went to buy the lights and came back to replace them.  While he was out another light went out so he went back to the store and replaced that light as well.  He only wanted to charge me for the cost of the bulbs but I gave him some money because I truly appreciate when someone does their job and shows respect for me and my home.

The AC guys (there were two) were the total opposite.  They came in and I had to yell at them to take off their shoes (if you saw what is on the sidewalks you would feel the same way…not to mention it’s a typical Chinese custom).  They both had nasty smelly socks.  When I showed them the problem they asked me something in Chinese and I didn’t understand what they were asking so in Chinese I told them I didn’t understand…they laughed and made a comment to each other.  My cleaner came to my rescue (apparently they were asking for a ladder), she explained that I didn’t have a ladder so they weren’t going to do any work.  She carried one of my dining room chairs into the bedroom and covered it with plastic bags (so they wouldn’t dirty it) and moved the bed side table out of the way…all while these two men watched and checked their text messages.  Then they made her stop what she was doing to get something else to help them fix the ac (in my opinion if you are a repair man you bring the tools you need).  Before they left they made her stop what she was doing again to put the bedside table and the chair back (what gentlemen).  After I paid them I asked for a receipt and they laughed again (in a rude way) and my cleaner came to my rescue again.  Since they didn’t have a formal receipt she made them write a note. 

The most annoying part about the repair men here is that they have no respect for women.  They have more respect for a foreign woman (frankly I think they are a little scared of foreigners) but they still don’t believe that I have any idea what I am talking about.  In order for them to fix something they don’t think is broken I need to have Adam tell them over the phone.  I may not know how to fix everything but I do know when the internet isn’t working (a few days ago we had the internet guy come because our connection cuts on and off…they told us that we needed to stop using it because it needed a break).  I know when I don’t have a hot shower.  I know when I have to clean up water spilling out of the ac.