Retarded Plumbing & Low Expectations

Sorry to keep going on about this (and an extra apology to our British friends who may be caught in the cross-fire) but we're getting a bit disgruntled about a few aspects of British daily life.

For the record, the plumbing in this apartment is absolutely ridiculous. The water pressure is absolute shit and as a result, we don't take a shower. We take a trickle. Adding further insult to injury, we have just discovered that we may very well have to have our central heating TURNED ON to be able to get any hot water from the shower... erm, trickle... and kitchen sink. The way the boiler works is that when you turn on a hot tap, the change in water pressure triggers the boiler to flash heat the water. So, in theory, you get hot water quite quickly. However, the water pressure is so bad in this flat that the boiler does not get triggered by the shower or the kitchen tap (only the bathroom sink manages it) unless the boiler is already pumping heat into our radiators. Therefore, even in the summer time, we will have to have our central heating turned on when we want to take a trickle or wash the dishes. Luckily, we can turn the radiators off individually, but the mere fact that we have to employ such a workaround to accomplish a mundane task like our morning ablutions or cleaning oatmeal remnants out of a saucepan.... well, it is frustrating to say the least. And even more frustrating because I don't think it's a point we can raise with the landlord. Gravity plus shoddy workmanship is hardly his fault and we'd only be seen as troublemaking tenants (putting at jeopardy the renewal of our lease in a year's time). Anyway... on to the next gripe...

As I think I've mentioned in an earlier post, one of the "teething problems" moving into this apartment is that our washing machine doesn't work very well. We reported this problem to the managing company and they said they will have to arrange for two companies to come out to give an estimate for repairs, as demanded by the landlord, who had been burned in the past by unscrupulous repairmen (perhaps the one that installed the plumbing?). That was during our second week of tenancy. We still have not had a single repairmen cross our threshold. K had to place another call to the managing company, who suddenly seemed as though it was the first time they had heard about the problem. She said she would get it sorted. A week later, she told us a repair company would visit this past Monday. K stayed in all day, but no one showed. No one called. She phoned the company to find out what was going on. They were, of course, apologetic and said he would be out the next day for sure. So, K stayed in all day yesterday. Same thing. No show, no call. This morning she called the managing company again, also apologetic, who said that they will now find another company instead. Now we're waiting for a call about when someone might come out to give an estimate for fixing the washer (which will then have to be forwarded to the landlord in Spain for approval). All the while, our laundry is piling up. Judging by how long this initial step has taken, we'll have a working washing machine by mid-July.

Those of you in other countries, most notably the US, are probably appalled at this level of service. Well, see... the thing is... from what we can tell, this is normal in England! A lot of people we have talked to just nod knowingly, "Yeah, that's repairmen for you, etc." This obviously means that this is accepted behaviour. People expect to have to go through this when they need something repaired, so no one does anything to change it. Hello!? The power of the consumer!? If a repair company in the US conducted business this way, they would go out of business very quickly. Or at the very least, the repairman who didn't turn up for his appointment more than once without calling the customer would have been fired. But over here it seems like everyone works in a consequence-free environment. It's near impossible to get fired, so there's no motivation to be a good employee. This attitude is fostered by the low expectation of the British consumer. People don't seem to understand that if they demand higher quality and better service, the business sector has no choice but to deliver.

If we didn't know some British citizens who are hard-working, give-a-shit employees, we would think that the whole country couldn't care less about doing a job right, efficiently, and conscientiously. But, the fact is, we do know some Brits like this, though they do seem to be a minority.

Sorry, I know this sounds really mean and down-right judgemental, but it's not a snap-judgement. We've been living here for almost three years now and this is an observation that has been slowly building.