One day last week, I came home from work to discover that the door to our apartment was open. I went in and found that there were a couple of guys installing an air conditioner. This wasn't a total surprise because I had seen them doing it on the lower floors on the preceding days, but it was still quite a surprise because I thought the landlord (who we see multiple times a day) would have mentioned to one of us that the guys would be coming to install the air conditioner that day. Anyway, since we didn't realize that it would be air conditioner installation day, we didn't think to take or put away our valuables or passports, nevermind wash the dishes and put away the dirty clothes that somehow keep accumulating around the room. Or, for that matter, provide our own dropcloth. Who knew we would need to do that?
So I got home and found that they had moved a bunch of our stuff around, and there was a brief period of panic when I couldn't find the Kindle or our passports. It turned out that the landlord had put them in a drawer on our nightstand, which was fine - once I found them, anyway. Furthermore, they were using our bed sheet - yes, really - as a dropcloth to cover the desk from the dust and stuff that falls when you're drilling a hole through the exterior wall of a building.
We complained to the landlord - shouldn't the installation guys bring their own dropcloth? And if they used our sheet, shouldn't the building reimburse us for laundering our own sheet that they used? Turns out no. She did offer us a new set of sheets, but when we opened them we found that it was just a bottom sheet and pillowcases, which was exactly not what we needed, since those were still on the bed.
Oh well, at least that night we had a working air conditioner, right? Well, no. They only got halfway through the project before quitting for the day, so all the construction debris was on the ground, the windows were left out of the place where you would like your windows to be and were instead against the fridge, and the desk was left blocking the door to the bathroom.
So the next day, of course after they finished installing the air conditioner we had working air conditioning, right? Still no. Check this out:
Sigh. We got back too late from swimming to ask the landlord for an extension cord. Finally the next day we asked her for one and she got it for us! Woohoo, working air conditioning! And it does work, so well. It's quiet and it comes with a remote control and it really cools off the room. And best of all, it means that we don't have to leave the (screenless) windows open and get eaten by bugs all night! Here is the final result:
Bummer you got it so late in your trip, but hopefully you will get a few good nights of cool sleep.
ReplyDeleteWe really did, and not only does it help keeping the room cooler, it also means we can keep the windows closed and so we aren't getting eaten alive by bugs every night. A few weeks with an A/C is still a great thing!
ReplyDeleteWe really did, and not only does it help keeping the room cooler, it also means we can keep the windows closed and so we aren't getting eaten alive by bugs every night. A few weeks with an A/C is still a great thing!
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ReplyDeleteI wish I could say, “all’s well that ends well,” but there’s no denying that it was irresponsible of your landlord to put you through that. Imagine if you lost your passports or any valuables. Well, at least your air conditioner was fixed. I hope that was enough to make up for the hassles and worries you’ve been through.
ReplyDeleteMonica Ryan