Pick-A-Day

March 2005
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Heating

Yesterday I got home and I noticed that the radiator in my bathroom was dripping water on the floor. It’s not the first time this has happened, but it seemed to be getting worse, so I contacted the Hausmeister, who said he would come out this morning at 8.

When he showed up a few minutes after 8, he got down on his hands and knees and examined the leaking bit and announced, “Es ist kaput.” Using our mangled English and German he told me not to go anywhere.

I assumed that he was off to buy the appropriate part and would then return and install it in a little while. At 10:00, it occurred to me that the store probably wasn’t open at 8:30 and that he had to wait until it opened.

Finally at 10:30, the doorbell rang, and it wasn’t the Hausmeister, it was a professional. The professional got down on his hands and knees and examined the leaking bit and announced, “It is defect.” Using his weak English and my weaker German, he established that he would be back on Tuesday at 9 to fix the problem.

1 comment to Heating

  • ChrisC

    I’m not sure how it works in Jolly ‘ol Deutschland, but if you have to pay for anything, make sure you tell them that they need to be at their desk between 0800 and 1230 or so and you’ll drop your payment by then. 🙂

    At least they appear to be doing something. Congrats, you don’t have a slum lord!