I took some time off this time off the year to clear all my annual leave and also to run some errands wrt to The Boy's schooling matters, the impending arrival of the bundle of joy and also to do outstanding year end cleaning and repairs around the house. Of all those, the one that I dread was calling up a plumber to have a look at a slow flowing wash basin that has been there all the while but never get around to fix it.
You see, plumbers are a different breed than the rest of us. They are in their own world and one thing for sure they will make every job look and sound impossible to do without the help of someone from UTK & some C4. The thing with modern day plumbing is that most of it are concealed into the walls, with only bits accessible. I have looked at it one day thinking I culd DIY but then decided that its best for professionals to have a look at it and bracing myself for the day.
As we know, the white van trade has the most lucrative payrate irregardless the location worldwide. The chap came and looked and starts with, " Bang, this one kena kasi jolok sikit, kasi clear itu sumbat dulu. For that I need to charge you RMXXX. Kalau tak boleh, then kena potong itu paip and kasi tengok apa barang ada dalam. That will cost you a further RMXXX."
I said fine, but managed to bring down the price after some haggling. Hey, thats part of the culture here right? They'll quote you something then you try to reduce with some haggling and at least tried to get some discount off. For one, they know that you mean business and the other reason is that the significant other will see that you seem to be in charge of the situation and you got it under control and that will score you some brownie points.
After some time, he came back to me saying that there was something lodged in the pipes that he can't removed even after cutting the pipes. "Bang, itu lantai mau kena hack, potong itu pipe, kasi keluar itu barang, pasang baru punye pipe, tampal balik itu lubang and siling baru, That will cost you a further RMXXX" I said," Every costing that came out of you seems to be RMXXX? Did your teacher taught you until that amount so that it'll be easy for you to count or is it a prerequisite of being a plumber to quote the magic number of RMXXX?"
After some more haggling, we reached a figure that was agreeable by both parties but then he said that he needed to go and buy some stuff and have his lunch break. His buddies would come around after lunch break to finish up the jobs. Typical, do a halfway job, then cite that you need a coffee/tea/lunch/smoke* (*choose which ever applicable) break and get somebody else to finish up. To cut the long story short, off he went for his break and his buddies came back to finish the job. Where is the true and honest Bob-the-Builder when you need him. " Can we fix it, yes we can with RMXXX!"
In the end, the Mrs got what she wanted, which is a fully functional* (it was functioning before, only the dv/dt of the flow was a little off to according to her charts, love you dear, mwahhh!), the plumber got his dues and me, a burning hole in my wallet. RMXXX, that's the figure I'll teach my offsprings to quote for duit raya/birthday gifts/angpows etc. to patch the hole back.
You see, plumbers are a different breed than the rest of us. They are in their own world and one thing for sure they will make every job look and sound impossible to do without the help of someone from UTK & some C4. The thing with modern day plumbing is that most of it are concealed into the walls, with only bits accessible. I have looked at it one day thinking I culd DIY but then decided that its best for professionals to have a look at it and bracing myself for the day.
As we know, the white van trade has the most lucrative payrate irregardless the location worldwide. The chap came and looked and starts with, " Bang, this one kena kasi jolok sikit, kasi clear itu sumbat dulu. For that I need to charge you RMXXX. Kalau tak boleh, then kena potong itu paip and kasi tengok apa barang ada dalam. That will cost you a further RMXXX."
I said fine, but managed to bring down the price after some haggling. Hey, thats part of the culture here right? They'll quote you something then you try to reduce with some haggling and at least tried to get some discount off. For one, they know that you mean business and the other reason is that the significant other will see that you seem to be in charge of the situation and you got it under control and that will score you some brownie points.
After some time, he came back to me saying that there was something lodged in the pipes that he can't removed even after cutting the pipes. "Bang, itu lantai mau kena hack, potong itu pipe, kasi keluar itu barang, pasang baru punye pipe, tampal balik itu lubang and siling baru, That will cost you a further RMXXX" I said," Every costing that came out of you seems to be RMXXX? Did your teacher taught you until that amount so that it'll be easy for you to count or is it a prerequisite of being a plumber to quote the magic number of RMXXX?"
After some more haggling, we reached a figure that was agreeable by both parties but then he said that he needed to go and buy some stuff and have his lunch break. His buddies would come around after lunch break to finish up the jobs. Typical, do a halfway job, then cite that you need a coffee/tea/lunch/smoke* (*choose which ever applicable) break and get somebody else to finish up. To cut the long story short, off he went for his break and his buddies came back to finish the job. Where is the true and honest Bob-the-Builder when you need him. " Can we fix it, yes we can with RMXXX!"
In the end, the Mrs got what she wanted, which is a fully functional* (it was functioning before, only the dv/dt of the flow was a little off to according to her charts, love you dear, mwahhh!), the plumber got his dues and me, a burning hole in my wallet. RMXXX, that's the figure I'll teach my offsprings to quote for duit raya/birthday gifts/angpows etc. to patch the hole back.
