Oh, there are lots and lots (and lots) of these valuable service people around town. You see them everyday working on people's property. Some are employed by service companies and drive around in big trucks that block the streets. Many others work for themselves, and some of them even have their own business cards they proudly hand out to any interested party.
It's not hard to find someone to unclog a drain or replace a circuit breaker or tend to your garden or retile a bathroom or brush your floor. All you have to do is ask another expat. Trust me, he or she will be more than happy to pass along the name of somebody who has been really, really useful.
"Useful" usually means reasonably knowledgeable and reasonably priced.
Mysteriously, this really useful person will turn up at your door completely unannounced one evening. (Clearly the work of some mysterious grapevine among expats and maintenance staff, something I'm still trying to figure out.)
Eagerly you'll show this really useful person the job that must be done. He or she will look it over slowly, grow very pensive, and then give you a price that is quite reasonable. Just think what this would cost in the States! You'll even shake hands on the deal. Finally you'll set a date and a time for this person to start the job. You couldn't be happier. That night, you'll sleep like a baby.
However, some time before the appointed hour--that's when Professor Moriarity (or some other arch villain) steps in and snatches your really useful person. Who knows where they're taken? You wait and wait (and wait) and nobody appears. That night, you toss and turn, trying to figure out what could have happened.
I know what happened. I really do. This really useful electrician, plumber, gardener, stone mason, or housekeeper has vanished for good. He or she has disappeared into some other world--some special heaven--where such really useful people lead lives of quiet contemplation, riding pretty little ponies and watching sunsets over the Presa while licking strawberry ice cream cones. That's the way I imagine it, anyway.
Oh, and by the way, do you happen to know a good plumber?
© 2014 Tony DeCrosta
Contact me at adecrosta@gmail.com
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