Communication Panama Style

Or, maybe I should say, lack of communication Panama style.

This is an example of the way contractors communicate here.

Monday, Toto told me the final Bombers electrical inspection would be done on Wednesday or Friday.  I said great, that would work.  (You already know how important this inspection is to us...without it we can't even apply for electrical power)

Stupid me, I thought I knew what he was really talking about, BUT NOOOOO!

I called him Wednesday morning to follow up on the progress or more accurately, the lack of progress. 

Now it gets interesting and the torturous path of information is revealed.

He tells me he is picking up the last electrical fixtures in David so they can be installed.  After a few minutes, he says, "well, I don't really think they will be there because the store manager told me the truck from Panama City doesn't get here until Saturday."

All along, since Monday, he knew what the store manager had told him.  Do you think he would tell me the facts!  No!  Why tell the truth when you can lie...or in their experience, tell the gringo what he wants to hear.  So he tells me on Monday that all will be completed this week when he KNEW it would not be done until next week...if we are really lucky.

This crap infuriates me.  I would much rather have the truth and deal with it, than be lead along like some idiot.

I am still pissed.  You would think I would learn how it goes here but I am a slow study, real slow.

I met another couple who are using our builder on their house.  They live in the USA and come down here for a week every month or two.  They contacted me by email and wanted to talk about the situation, of which you are now very familiar.

They were 30 minutes late, clearly indicating that they were integrating into the Panamanian culture.  There were still some USA vestiges left because he apologized for being late.  

Their experience with our builder has been significantly worse than mine.  They are building a small 800 sq. ft. house which is architecturally complex with a lot of USA style finishes that are unusual down here. So we spent a hour trashing our builder but acting like we weren't really trashing him.  A sophisticated yet shameful way to talk about anyone.  I was left with a slightly disgusted feeling about the whole conversation.  Hey, I was there and share a good dollop of the responsibility.

When are we going to get through our heads that nothing and I mean nothing here is like what we are used too.

Maybe another year or two.