Renter's Remorse

Yesterday, after three consecutive days of cancellations, the plumber finally came and installed our new toilet. This was really exciting, because we had been flushing using the ol' bucket of water method since Saturday. And, we were kind of sick of looking at our beautiful new toilet still in its cardboard stacked right in the entrance. I'd post a picture, but really, that's kind of weird.

When we moved in back in October, the apartment was a mess and the bathroom was absolutely disgusting. The previous tenant had been living there three years, and I'm pretty sure he never cleaned it even once. We changed the sink because there was just no way to get the scum off, but the toilet was out of our budget then. Now, in my opinion these things are the landlady/owner's duty (I mean, at least hire a professional to clean things for crying out loud) but we sucked it up because we had no choice.

Last Saturday when the toilet broke, she hired a plumber to come take a look. He said he could fix it, but because the toilet was old and fragile, it would probably stop working again and there was a chance he might actually break the ceramic while fixing it. We discussed putting in a new toilet and she said that she'd put up half the money. Again, I think this is her responsibility and not the renters', but we agreed because we really couldn't handle that old toilet anymore. Since we didn't have any cash, we told her to take our part out of the security deposit. She handed us some money and we went that day to buy the supplies. When we went to settle up later, she told us that all the money was from our security deposit and we had to pay for the whole thing! Including the plumber's fee. She seems like a nice old lady but that's just out of line. I was so mad you could practically see the steam coming from my ears like in the cartoons. I know this sounds petty, but I no longer feel the need to be quite such a considerate renter. I'll play my music as loud as I like and I'm going to use all the water and electricity that I feel like. Maybe we'll invite people over and have a loud party. (Actually, our place is too small for that, but it's the idea of the thing.)

Anyway, now we have a beautiful new toilet that flushes, and we also had the guy install the new light fixture that we bought. (The landlady also said she'd pay for that since hers was from the 60s and the bulbs were burnt out, but surprise! She didn't.) Most plumbers here are also electricians and general all-around handymen. We went to shut off the power so he could change it, but the landlady's daughter, who is mentally ill, came running and shrieking ready to fight us, so we had to leave it on and the man changed the fixture with live current running through the wires!

 Sometimes I think Peruvians are insane. Another example: a friend locked herself out of her apartment at 10 at night. There were no locksmiths to be found at that time, so we asked her doorman if he knew of any way to break in. Her place has a laundry room facing the courtyard, and the windows were open. The only thing: she lives on the fourth floor. So he brings up a ladder and lays it across from the balcony to the laundry room window. We all look down and swallow. The ladder barely reaches across and is incredibly unstable. She thinks about going, climbs up to the ledge, and then climbs back down. Before we can blink, the doorman climbs up, takes one step on the ladder, and launches himself into the apartment. You can bet we gave him a stiff drink after that, and also a nice tip.