A Perfect Thailand Day
By Talen on Aug 25, 2010 in only in Thailand, Thai life
Last I left off I had moved into the new condo and had a few minor leaking problems and no hot water, but I was satisfied with the efficiency in which it was handled and was just waiting for Tuesday to get the hot water back up and running. Well Tuesday came and the maintenance man didn’t come in to work that day, no biggie the cool water actually felt pretty good. Today I go to the office to report that I still have no hot water and the manger tells me I need to go down one floor to the Juristic office. Juristic office?
juristic [jer-is-stick], juristical
Now, maybe I’m a little off my game today but for the life of me I cannot figure out how juristic relates to building maintenance. Anyway, I head down to the juristic office and one of the Thai ladies who works in the office and a maintenance man followed me back to the condo. 5 minutes later I had hot water “kop koon kup” I say and they are on their way. 5 minutes after that a flood of water comes out from under the sink.
So, I turn off the water and head back down to the juristic office and let them know the hot water is great but there is a large leak again under the sink. They assure me a maintenance man will be up in a few minutes. 5 minutes later a new maintenance man shows up with only a caulk gun…FacePalm. I explain to him he needs tools, he smiles and nods in agreement and then we stand there looking at each other for another minute or two until Pookie tells him he needs tools in Thai.
The juristic maintenance man leaves and comes back in 5 minutes with the first maintenance man and the caulk gun. They asses the problem and come to the conclusion they will need tools. Off to the juristic office they go for tools and 5 minutes later they are back and working on the problem. After a half hour they realize the valve is bad and get a new one installed and just to make sure this one doesn’t leak they made sure to caulk it real good after tightening it down…Facepalm.
Pookie heads off to take a shower and just as I was about to go out and look for a bigger table for my balcony office Pookie walks into the kitchen wearing only a towel and laughing…” Teelac, we no have hot water again”. FACEPALM!
I know the deal, it’s not like I haven’t been to Thailand before but at this point I was getting pretty irritated, I just want to go find a nice table. Instead I head back down to the juristic office. The head lady is in and I tell her my problem, she shakes her head and utters something under her breath in Thai which made the cleaning lady in the office bust out laughing, I can only imagine she had some not so nice words to say about hiring the handicapped.
5 minutes latter the head lady is at my door with tools in hand, she shakes her head and says ” I head lady not engineer” as if to say, why the hell am I fixing things when I pay people to fix things. 5 minutes later I have hot water again but head lady tells me valve still leak nit noi. She told me she would have a real plumber out in the morning.
I decided I needed to go for a long walk down to the open air furniture shop behind Big C…I picked up 2 stray dogs, a stray sunglasses salesman who gave me his pitch for 8 blocks and a very manly ladyboy who escorted me, her arm in mine, from soi 6/1 all the way down to Big C, she assured me that she would boom boom me too good.
Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for table hunting…
Epilogue: While wrapping up this post and getting ready to hit the publish button a welder appeared above my balcony showering sparks and molten metal everywhere, I think when things go well from now on I’ll keep it to myself because things have a way of coming back and biting you in the ass if you know what I mean.
Talen, think positive, at least you have water
Welcome to Thailand…..again
Mike | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
Sorry Talen, but I couldn’t help laughing; I suppose that as least one good thing to come out of your bad day right there – not that this is much benefit to you:-)
Luckily tomorrow is a brand new day and this will be a good story to tell people.I find that bad days are always followed by some good ones.
Paul Garrigan | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
Mike, water I do have…luckily it’s not all over the floor at the moment. I should have stopped while I was ahead because the cool water was actually refreshing.
Talen | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
No problem Paul, I had a good laugh about it too during my walk…I’m really hoping the ladyboy didn’t follow me home though.
Talen | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
Ahh just gotta laugh building maintenance is the same the world over!
When you often live and work abroad for extended periods you soon learn that when a few baht/pesos/dollars changes hands things tend to get fixed the first time. It may not be your expense but paying a little to get a decent job done sure beats the angst of waiting for dodgy repairs.
I think Hommers expression “d’oh” is more apt than Facepalm
Lloyd | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
Comical story and welcome to Thailand. haha
You will be hearing this a lot throughout your stay
– “TIT” – This is Thailand ; )
Joe | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
So it seems as if everything is working as usual in Thailand and you’re getting to flex your “mai bpen rai” muscles now that you’re back
Welcome home once again Talen!
Steve | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
Talen , look on the bright side YOU’RE HERE and things will get better and better each new day, If everything went like clockwork all the time it would be like back home and you’d get bored , which you never will here in the LOS and as everyone has said ” TIT” . Malcolm
Malcolm | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
I think Malcolm hit the nail on the head. You’re in LOS (I’m not) so right there you’re one up!
In my BKK apartment building, the women runs things and men eff things up. Same same previous place. Why is that? Hmmm, sounds like a blog post!
SiamRick | Aug 25, 2010 | Reply
Talen if it’s any consolation here in Wiltshire (UK) there’s plenty of water about at the moment, the rain is chucking it down.
Right now I’d even settle for a long walk in the sunshine with a ladyboy on my arm.
Martyn | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
Lloyd, if I thought slipping them some baht would have made a difference I would have surely done it but I fear my contribution would at most only gotten me another tube of caulk.
Talen | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
Joe, I have been repeating the TiT mantra all day long reminding myself of all the stress I left behind in America for a more pleasurable ,if not comically dysfunctional, life in Thailand.
Talen | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
Steve, and what a welcome it has been…as of this writing I don’t have hot water again
I have resigned myself to cold showers from now on otherwise I’ll be spending my days condo bound with the Thai version of the three stooges.
Talen | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
Malcolm, I am here and it is a beautiful thing…and one thing for sure is that Thailand is never boring…unless you live in Mukdahan and it’s after 7pm.
Talen | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
Rick, you do make a valid point but I bet you also took a warm shower today.
Women run everything in Thailand…the only thing I have really seen the men run are businesses or positions in the transportation industry, buses, trains, boats and taxi’s.
Talen | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
Marty, I had to laugh, even though the ladyboy was quite ugly by Thailand standards….she was really nice and I didn’t mind the company for a few blocks
Rained here yesterday as well…but I get your point, bad day in LoS is better than a good day in falang land anytime.
Talen | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
u didn’t BUY that condo did u ?
Jack Dawson | Aug 26, 2010 | Reply
’2 stray dogs, a stray sunglasses salesman who gave me his pitch for 8 blocks and a very manly ladyboy’
Oh dear. But at least you are not bored! Like, anyone could be in Thailand, yes?
Catherine | Aug 27, 2010 | Reply
Catherine, You warned me…wait till you read today’s post coming up…it has gotten much better
I am definitely not bored and the condo has just been a hive of activity.
Talen | Aug 27, 2010 | Reply