There is a cavalier attitude towards electricity here in Mexico that I'll never get used to. I'm a weenie about electricity anyway, it friggin scares me and I want all the safety procedures there are in place. I know that isn't going to happen. Really, I would just be happy if they would do some basic stuff like flip off the breaker before cutting into the line.
Friday was the worst day of a long bad week. Again there were a half dozen guys here working and 2 of them, I've named them los payasos, the clowns, were upstairs installing the plug that they forgot to put in the guest bathroom. I'm downstairs with the rest of the crowd trying to hide out in the office. Suddenly one of the painters comes and gets me and points to the ceiling in the living room just as one of the lights explodes in sparks. The thing went off like a firecracker! Then another one did the same.
The clowns came trundling down the stairs and started trying switches. I realized that the power was out in the office so I ran and unplugged the surge protector the laptops were on, then I started trying to unplug anything else I might care about like the friggin expensive refrigerator, the wine cooler, the microwave. Gabi ran upstairs and unplugged the washer and dryer. I'm calling Alan and as always he says he is "on his way and will be there in 6 minutes", he always says 6 minutes and I don't want to speculate on whose house is 6 minutes from mine. Anyway, it always takes him about 12 minutes.
The thing is, no one on site speaks English, my Spanish is not up to electrical disasters and I have about zero confidence in these clowns anyway. I call Henry and he says Alan is on his way, not to worry. Well, sorry, I am worried.
Alan arrives and tells me that the payasos got their drill across 2 wires and blew out the circuit breaker, he kindly says that it did what it was supposed to do. OK, let's see it then. Nope.
Next thing I see are the clowns heading outside with the long metal ladder and putting it up against the CFE electric pole. Up they go to fuck with the transformer on the pole. Holy Friggin Shit! This really freaks me out and I call Henry again. He says he called the electrician and he will be here in an hour. An hour? By that time we could all be fried and I could have crispy critters laying all out in front of my house. Henry tells me to tell them to wait for the electrician. Yeah, well, I have not had very good luck telling these bozos anything. They don't want to hear it from a woman. More on that later.
About then, they come walking back inside turning on breakers and lights and fans and saying everything works it is all fixed. I'm not really satisfied with that answer and want to know what is fixed, what was wrong and how did they fix it. Alan says that there was a bad wire up on the CFE pole from the transformer to the house and when they shorted everything with the drill bit it broke apart so they "fixed" it.
Yeah? No one went up that ladder with any new wire so I am positive that they twisted the ends together and maybe, maybe, used a little tape too. Overkill you know? Now I'm told that CFE will come out on Monday and check it. Another thing, if it was the wire on the transformer and the circuit breaker is fine then, hey? maybe it didn't do its job eh?
Eventually the electrician comes with a multimeter and checks all the sockets and says they are all fine with 127v and a ground. Now we have to push the refrigerator back into the cabinet, take the wine cooler completely out and put it on a chair in order to plug it back in. The good news is that I told the electrician I want it to be a whole lot easier to unplug all these things in case of an electric storm or whatever - like more clowns.
There are several lights that no longer work but other than that, it does all seem to be fine. I'm not fine though, I'm irritated and angry. All I can say is that they are lucky that I was here and not Mimi, she would have been yelling at them. All I did was get a beer and walk in circles and wish someone with some real authority would come and deal with it.
About me telling the clowns anything? I told them that I wanted something put up on the roof and they acted like they didn't understand my Spanish. Problem is, Gabi understood it and when they walked away she said it back to me and kind of rolled her eyes at them. So, I said let's go back upstairs and YOU tell them the same thing. and we did. The clowns got to take the same directions from another woman and a maid, and they couldn't say they didn't understand her. It was a good moment, when they left Gabi and I did a high 5.
Oh, and the drill that started the whole thing? The fool didn't throw a breaker before installing an electric plug and his drill was "plugged in" via a very long, skinny, lamp cord that just had the wires stuck in a socket downstairs (he was working upstairs) instead of a plug or even a real extension cord.
Bloody fools could have died and I would have probably lost my house over it. Can you tell I am over the edge? I told them I had to have the weekend off and for no one to come today to work. I'll start again on Monday if I don't just run away.
Friday was the worst day of a long bad week. Again there were a half dozen guys here working and 2 of them, I've named them los payasos, the clowns, were upstairs installing the plug that they forgot to put in the guest bathroom. I'm downstairs with the rest of the crowd trying to hide out in the office. Suddenly one of the painters comes and gets me and points to the ceiling in the living room just as one of the lights explodes in sparks. The thing went off like a firecracker! Then another one did the same.
The clowns came trundling down the stairs and started trying switches. I realized that the power was out in the office so I ran and unplugged the surge protector the laptops were on, then I started trying to unplug anything else I might care about like the friggin expensive refrigerator, the wine cooler, the microwave. Gabi ran upstairs and unplugged the washer and dryer. I'm calling Alan and as always he says he is "on his way and will be there in 6 minutes", he always says 6 minutes and I don't want to speculate on whose house is 6 minutes from mine. Anyway, it always takes him about 12 minutes.
The thing is, no one on site speaks English, my Spanish is not up to electrical disasters and I have about zero confidence in these clowns anyway. I call Henry and he says Alan is on his way, not to worry. Well, sorry, I am worried.
Alan arrives and tells me that the payasos got their drill across 2 wires and blew out the circuit breaker, he kindly says that it did what it was supposed to do. OK, let's see it then. Nope.
Next thing I see are the clowns heading outside with the long metal ladder and putting it up against the CFE electric pole. Up they go to fuck with the transformer on the pole. Holy Friggin Shit! This really freaks me out and I call Henry again. He says he called the electrician and he will be here in an hour. An hour? By that time we could all be fried and I could have crispy critters laying all out in front of my house. Henry tells me to tell them to wait for the electrician. Yeah, well, I have not had very good luck telling these bozos anything. They don't want to hear it from a woman. More on that later. About then, they come walking back inside turning on breakers and lights and fans and saying everything works it is all fixed. I'm not really satisfied with that answer and want to know what is fixed, what was wrong and how did they fix it. Alan says that there was a bad wire up on the CFE pole from the transformer to the house and when they shorted everything with the drill bit it broke apart so they "fixed" it.
Yeah? No one went up that ladder with any new wire so I am positive that they twisted the ends together and maybe, maybe, used a little tape too. Overkill you know? Now I'm told that CFE will come out on Monday and check it. Another thing, if it was the wire on the transformer and the circuit breaker is fine then, hey? maybe it didn't do its job eh?
Eventually the electrician comes with a multimeter and checks all the sockets and says they are all fine with 127v and a ground. Now we have to push the refrigerator back into the cabinet, take the wine cooler completely out and put it on a chair in order to plug it back in. The good news is that I told the electrician I want it to be a whole lot easier to unplug all these things in case of an electric storm or whatever - like more clowns.
There are several lights that no longer work but other than that, it does all seem to be fine. I'm not fine though, I'm irritated and angry. All I can say is that they are lucky that I was here and not Mimi, she would have been yelling at them. All I did was get a beer and walk in circles and wish someone with some real authority would come and deal with it.
About me telling the clowns anything? I told them that I wanted something put up on the roof and they acted like they didn't understand my Spanish. Problem is, Gabi understood it and when they walked away she said it back to me and kind of rolled her eyes at them. So, I said let's go back upstairs and YOU tell them the same thing. and we did. The clowns got to take the same directions from another woman and a maid, and they couldn't say they didn't understand her. It was a good moment, when they left Gabi and I did a high 5.
Oh, and the drill that started the whole thing? The fool didn't throw a breaker before installing an electric plug and his drill was "plugged in" via a very long, skinny, lamp cord that just had the wires stuck in a socket downstairs (he was working upstairs) instead of a plug or even a real extension cord.Bloody fools could have died and I would have probably lost my house over it. Can you tell I am over the edge? I told them I had to have the weekend off and for no one to come today to work. I'll start again on Monday if I don't just run away.
posted by Jonna at 5:54 PM
10 Comments:
Oh wow. If it was me, I would ban those two from the house. Just call the architect and tell him they are fired from the job site. Never mind blowing the house up - they are disrespectful. My two cents worth.
Good luck on Monday.
I say what Joanne said! Don't let those fools back inside your house; next time they might do something REALLY stoopit!
Anne Johnson
It is amazing more of these characters don't die!
The little capilla at the top of our driveway gets stolen electric for it's seasonal lights. You know they hang wires over the wires passing by (a common practice).
Once when they were performing this wire hanging maneuver the electric went haywire on the whole street. In my place a protected power strip caught on fire during the event (literally).
When I went out to see what was up they gave me some song and dance about the previous hombre that had connected the stolen access had made a mistake causing this flame out.
Knowing something about electricity I pressed for details. Without getting technical these guys were full of BS and new wires appeared out of no where as they were all scurrying around like so many cockroaches.
I have learned when you have these guys it is best to let it go - it only gets more ridiculous putting them on the spot.
Yeah - get rid of those two - but don't be surprised when you find their replacements to be the same ;-0
Oh Jonna,
I can't add anything to these comments, except I really feel your frustration.
Take care Sweetie
Kate
cholulared.blogspot.com
Juan, I think a lot of them DO die from electricity. I got an email from a friend in Monterrey and when they were finishing their house they hired guys to put sealer on the roof. One of them hit the electric line with a metal ladder and was instantly dead. He thinks this happens at least once a week up in Monterrey! The legal repercussions are not something you want to think much about either.
Last night I was thinking about this post and that it will probably make a few people mad. I realized that while they may have been lucky Mimi wasn't here to yell at them, I blog - and perhaps that is worse. Hah!
Truthfully, I'm showing my gringa side here and just laying it all out. Not the way things are done. At some point, I feel that the bottom line is that I AM a gringa and I am a product of a culture that likes to lay it all on the table. How about a little cultural understanding coming from the other direction?
Thanks for the support here and in email, things are looking up after a day off. Isn't that always the way?
Extension cords? Why buy one when you can just stick to cables into the socket. Hey it works!
When we finished our house we had to wait for a week for the CFE to turn on the electricity. So we strung an extension cord with two male ends from my neighbor's house to mine.
I freaked out. It worked though.
Jonna, take a deep breath, drink a few more beers and everything will be fine...you sound just like I did a couple of years ago, but I have learned to accept they do not take safety as serious as we do. Now on the other hand not taking directions from a woman is another ball of wax.
Leslie
Jejeje...I'm sorry to see you experience things that stress you out like this Jonna, but thanks for the big laugh I got from your venting about it.
I hope that everybody who is building or remodeling in Mexico is following your story. You do an magnificent job of relating how frustrating (and dangerous!) it can be.
Jonna,
where art thou? hope you did not "fry" any critters with the electrical issues..
Corrinne
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