Tradesmen

A tradesman, or so-called “handyman,” is indispensable when renovating an apartment or dealing with a gas, water-supply or other household-appliance breakdown.
Those whose cruel fate condemned them to a major renovation have learned—and continue to learn—how a tradesman can make life easier or harder (not to say utterly miserable). Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to use the services of a genuinely reliable, conscientious, punctual, etc. tradesman, so I can share some unpleasant impressions from spending (far too long) with a tradesman typical of the Polish, or more precisely Bolesławiec, service industry. Here are a few observations I would like to pass on to everyone planning major renovations or repairs
-if a tradesman arranges to meet you, say, at eight in the morning, rest assured that he will not arrive before around eleven;
-if he says he will come on Tuesday, feel free to expect his visit around Friday;
-if he tells you to buy two bags of, for example, cement, buy four right away, because in a few days he will send you out for a fifth anyway;
- if you estimate that the renovation will take, for example, a month and a half, you will be a great optimist, because a six-month renovation is almost a record for our tradesmen.
A tradesman will never take less money than he agreed with you. Even if, to put it mildly, he botches the job. He will collect more in advance payments alone than the final amount originally agreed upon.
To all those who complain about unemployment, I can make an appeal: become tradesmen! In Poland, a tradesman does not have to get up early or even know his trade well. He can, however, earn quite well (a plumber charges 300,000 for what is known as one “point,” and three days of carpentry work can bring in a monthly salary). So there is no need to leave for the so-called West in order to live comfortably. Besides, I strongly warn against the “West”: with this approach to work (unpunctuality, unreliability, etc.), you can be “thrown out” of the West after two or three days without a penny in wages.
P.S. These observations do not apply to the few genuinely reliable tradesmen in our town, who are generally “booked” well in advance.