THE TECHNICOS WILL ARRIVE....
The technicos will arrive at Baia Renella at 8 oclock tomorrow morning. Those thickly accented English words were the signal for mass panic on our part when we lived at Gaspares house, for we just did not know what part we would be required to take. They usually came after a bout of no water, electricity, or toilet or some other major physical disruption in our lives. After the first few times we were not quite as concerned for we knew approximately what to expect. But then again, you never knew what will really happen here, even when you think you do. We became used to privations of one kind or another, and what to do when they occurred.
Now that we have our own house, we have our own set of technicos. These are our guys as in the phrase, My guy will take care of that tomorrow. We have a muratore, Accursio, and his brother-in-law, masons or stone workers who are repairing and painting our sheet rock or gesso walls that are so common here in the Mediterranean. We also have a plumber, a mover, and an electrician. In town, we have our own framer (corniciaio) and our own hardware store consultant (ferramenta). Each of them has their own set of technicos backing them up. For example, we call Accursio the muratore for any odd jobs and he has a friend that is a falegname, a carpenter, who has done carpentry wood work for us. The ferramenta has had screens made for us from another technico. When we had the leaks that ruined the neighbors wall, she called her own muratore and plumber since she did not trust ours. And so it goes. Sometimes they are relatives, sometimes they have just been in the family for years and years. But everyone is anxious to share their guys with you so that the technico sees that you have brought him business, and maybe will then do favors for the person doing the introductions.
We began with these guys by asking Paolo for recommendations. Unemployment is so high here that skilled workers of all kinds are everywhere. Our friend Antoine, the used car salesman, once told us that he was a good muratore so we could call him if we needed any painting done. For proof he invited us for dinner and showed us the walls of his house, each done in a different kind of heather-pastel color. I was not impressed. We thanked him and told him we already had a muratore.
Nor does it cost an arm and a leg. We have been assured that it is much more expensive in big cities to call a muratore. Here, even a weekend house call is not that expensive, although when we had no electricity and were expecting company for dinner one Sunday, and an electrician Paolo recommended came with a helper and the two of them worked all day, replacing parts in wet sewer holes that mice had chewed through, they did apologize for charging us $100.
But we have also encountered people who have ripped us off and we were pretty sure that they did it because we were Americans, or maybe just because they could get away with it. The system is there to be beat, after all. These guys are working class stiffs who will take whatever advantage they can. They will see a problem and talk you into fixing it as well as complicate things just a bit more than they need to be. A case in point is the infamous matter of the telephone wire that could not be found, so new ones had to be laid and then those wires had to be buried. This was not done by our guys, but by technicos sent by the previous owner who were repairing the floor in the kitchen. They overcharged us and for all we know, split the difference with the previous owner. They talked us into doing it because they were there anyway, but could not give us an estimate (I dont even know the word in Italian) because they did not know what they would run into.
Workers here that specialize in fixing certain problems do not usually rely on stock store parts. They will make their own pieces to repair things because buying the parts is not an option. Where did all of these tool and dye makers come from? Well, really, out of necessity, and the fact that time is NOT money as it is in the states. Since manufacturing is not at the same level that it is in the US and developed differently, there are no such things as standardized parts or pieces in, for example, toilets. I have written before about how difficult it sometimes is to find the flush or the water tap controls for toilets in restaurants and public places. That is because they are all totally different. You can congratulate yourself on fixing one only to discover a totally different setup in the next one. Anyway, the frequency for calling repairmen speaks to the shoddiness of many products and the lack of consumer protections here.
The technico guys are talked about and reviewed and passed on one to another. Everyone wants to know what to expect from repair work. They also ask point blank what you paid for certain things. We think Gaspares crew of permanent technicos is unique, and I venture to guess that a way of paying for them is to let them stay at the place we rented here for certain periods of time.
Now that we have our own house, we have our own set of technicos. These are our guys as in the phrase, My guy will take care of that tomorrow. We have a muratore, Accursio, and his brother-in-law, masons or stone workers who are repairing and painting our sheet rock or gesso walls that are so common here in the Mediterranean. We also have a plumber, a mover, and an electrician. In town, we have our own framer (corniciaio) and our own hardware store consultant (ferramenta). Each of them has their own set of technicos backing them up. For example, we call Accursio the muratore for any odd jobs and he has a friend that is a falegname, a carpenter, who has done carpentry wood work for us. The ferramenta has had screens made for us from another technico. When we had the leaks that ruined the neighbors wall, she called her own muratore and plumber since she did not trust ours. And so it goes. Sometimes they are relatives, sometimes they have just been in the family for years and years. But everyone is anxious to share their guys with you so that the technico sees that you have brought him business, and maybe will then do favors for the person doing the introductions.
We began with these guys by asking Paolo for recommendations. Unemployment is so high here that skilled workers of all kinds are everywhere. Our friend Antoine, the used car salesman, once told us that he was a good muratore so we could call him if we needed any painting done. For proof he invited us for dinner and showed us the walls of his house, each done in a different kind of heather-pastel color. I was not impressed. We thanked him and told him we already had a muratore.
Nor does it cost an arm and a leg. We have been assured that it is much more expensive in big cities to call a muratore. Here, even a weekend house call is not that expensive, although when we had no electricity and were expecting company for dinner one Sunday, and an electrician Paolo recommended came with a helper and the two of them worked all day, replacing parts in wet sewer holes that mice had chewed through, they did apologize for charging us $100.
But we have also encountered people who have ripped us off and we were pretty sure that they did it because we were Americans, or maybe just because they could get away with it. The system is there to be beat, after all. These guys are working class stiffs who will take whatever advantage they can. They will see a problem and talk you into fixing it as well as complicate things just a bit more than they need to be. A case in point is the infamous matter of the telephone wire that could not be found, so new ones had to be laid and then those wires had to be buried. This was not done by our guys, but by technicos sent by the previous owner who were repairing the floor in the kitchen. They overcharged us and for all we know, split the difference with the previous owner. They talked us into doing it because they were there anyway, but could not give us an estimate (I dont even know the word in Italian) because they did not know what they would run into.
Workers here that specialize in fixing certain problems do not usually rely on stock store parts. They will make their own pieces to repair things because buying the parts is not an option. Where did all of these tool and dye makers come from? Well, really, out of necessity, and the fact that time is NOT money as it is in the states. Since manufacturing is not at the same level that it is in the US and developed differently, there are no such things as standardized parts or pieces in, for example, toilets. I have written before about how difficult it sometimes is to find the flush or the water tap controls for toilets in restaurants and public places. That is because they are all totally different. You can congratulate yourself on fixing one only to discover a totally different setup in the next one. Anyway, the frequency for calling repairmen speaks to the shoddiness of many products and the lack of consumer protections here.
The technico guys are talked about and reviewed and passed on one to another. Everyone wants to know what to expect from repair work. They also ask point blank what you paid for certain things. We think Gaspares crew of permanent technicos is unique, and I venture to guess that a way of paying for them is to let them stay at the place we rented here for certain periods of time.
posted by Sicilian Mama at 5:36 AM
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