I Lost One

 When we looked at this apartment, we noted that two of the windows had outer panes that were cracked and had small holes. We later learned that this damage was the result of a friend of the previous tenant throwing stones at the window to get his attention, since the main door locks automatically so people can't just walk in. When we signed the lease, we checked to see that this issue was included as a landlord responsibility to fix. It was. And the letting agent made sure to note the windows in the video he took of the place. When the owner came by later that day, which was almost three months ago now, he said that he'd been trying to have someone come and fix the windows for weeks, but was having no luck so far. We believed this because that's how things roll here. When we next saw him, he asked if he could give the glass guy a phone number because he was here once and we were not. He'd thought he could fix it from the outside but needed to get in. We gave him a number and said to tell glass guy (GG) to let us know when he was coming so we could be sure to be around. 

A couple of months went by and there was no sign of GG, until yesterday when he showed up. Fortunately we were home, because there was no advance warning at all. There was just a ladder propped up against the outside windowsill and a head that appeared in the window, followed by a knock. I went and opened the window a crack so as not to knock him off his ladder and he said he was here to replace the windows and he needed to come inside. Would that be OK? Would I go downstairs and let him in? I did, while Bill hustled to clear away the windowsills and stuff around the windows. One has a desk under it and one the counter/breakfast bar. The guy came and removed the windows. Bill has a pic here (link will open in a new window). He said he was done inside and would go and install the new ones. He was on the ladder putting the first one in and I was in the other room. I was walking down the hall when I heard Bill made a noise of dismay. As I turned into the room, I saw the guy with his head back, softly expressing himself using expletives. I understood why and felt bad for the guy. Running from one side to the other, in a lovely curvilinear shape, was a crack in the outer pane of the new window.

He finished installing the cracked window and took a few pictures of it. Then he moved on to the next window. When we appeared in the space he said, 'I lost one.' We said some sympathetic words and he replied, 'This job must be cursed. I came once and Owner was supposed to be here to meet me and wasn't. I couldn't get in another time. There was one day when I had the windows in the back of the van and one of them broke. Now this.' I did feel bad for him. This job, for reasons both in and out of his control, has been hanging over his head for months. Just when he thinks it's about to be done and out of his life, craaaack. 

So we assume he will be back at some point to replace the replacement window. Or maybe not. One never knows here. The best thing to do is to believe it will happen after it happens and not until then. In this case, it doesn't affect our day-to-day life. It's not our responsibility, so if he doesn't show up, not my problem. For his sake, I hope we're home if/when he shows up the next time! 

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