My landlady had claimed the plumber would be around at 2pm today to look at the problem with the shower leaking slightly into the next room. My landlady doesn’t have a great record with any kind of tradesman. While they seem to mostly know what they’re talking about when they turn up, most of them don’t turn up.
So you can imagine my surprise when just before 2pm, there was a knock at the door. Shock and surprise quickly faded when I realised it was the landlady herself, come to check if I was home. My being home wasn’t the risky part of the scenario of course. I am always here at the appointed time, so I can tell her later that her tradesman wasn’t.
She went down to wait in her car. Half an hour later, the guy still hadn’t shown up, and she came in to use my phone to call him. As is typical of the people she gets to do work for her, he was off somewhere with little or no intention of turning up to the appointment. Kidnapped by aliens, just discovered he had 24 hours to live, or just couldn’t be bothered. I know where my money would be. She had a whinge at him, then went off muttering about unreliable workmen.
It’s been like this for years, and she hasn’t quite twigged yet that all the ones she gets are unreliable because she pays them a pittance. I bet someone else offered him (pittance times two) to work somewhere else, and he did that instead.
But I’ll give her points for dragging someone along pronto when there’s an actual urgent need.
