Yesterday, my builder and I had an appointment to go to David at noon. By 1:00 pm he had not called nor responded to my calls or Yella's. This was the 9th consecutive appointment he has missed. Before I left, Yella asked me if I really thought he would show up and, like a fool, I said yes.
Of course, he never showed or called. So I went to my house to see if anyone was working. He said that people were there working but, this is Panama, you have to check.
No work at the house.
So, I called him up and left a nasty message. This is the first nasty message I have left because I have been warned about Panamanians and anger, but, what the hell, I was so pissed I threw all cultural considerations aside and let it rip.
Then, I went over to his house to hunt his ass down. At this point, I would have driven 2000 miles to find him.
All his vehicles were at his house so I knew he was there. I wandered into the wood shop and talked to Migel, the foreman and, even though he doesn't speak much English and I don't speak much Spanish, he got the message that I was mad.
As I was walking out of the wood shop, lo and behold, my builder was sitting in his truck. I joined him with steam coming out of my ears. He tried to placate me with a trip to city hall to pick up something he said he had 3 weeks ago. Is this typical or what. When I saw what it was, I hit the roof.
It was the building permit.
You know, that thing you MUST have before you start construction. How and the hell did he even get this far in the construction without it? He, of course, had an explanation. So what! I am tired of excuses, reasons, passing the buck and all other forms of not getting anything done!
Now, according to him, we have everything to submit to Union Fenosa so they will just start the process to run electric lines to our house. (This will take months)
We agreed to meet at 7:30 Saturday morning to go to David to Union Fenosa.
Great! Now we are getting somewhere. (Stop laughing...it's not funny)
He is 35 minutes late Saturday morning but hell, at least he showed up on the 10th appointment.
Now, here is some insight into WHY nothing gets done.
Yesterday, the builder was on the phone with the guy at Union Fenosa that we had to see to submit our documents. This is the only guy that takes the initial documents. They ONLY one.
My builder asked him if they were open Saturday and he said yes. This is important. He said yes.
When we got to David, they were closed.
So, what happened. Well, Union Fenosa has 2 engineering and construction offices and about 6 little offices that are used to collect monthly payments. The little offices were open but not the engineering and construction offices. So, technically, something at Union Fenosa was open.
This jerk knew exactly what we wanted, exactly who had to be there, exactly what office had to be open and he knew he was giving us the wrong information.
F@$%??^&!!!
This goes way beyond cultural and language differences. This is just plain old crappy.
This is the first thing we've encountered in Panama that is mean spirited. I hope it is last because it sure was a big one.
So, we have another appointment to meet at 7:30 am Monday morning and start all over again.
I think I will show up at 8:00 am. I will probably be early.
P.S. As I re-read this, it is written in an angry voice. I actually didn't experience that much anger but it makes a better story, I think. Maybe I am going native and, well, someday, I will finish this thought....
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