Tukang

[nosox]

don't you love it when you find a tukang (in whatever field) who actually knows what he's about
My wife has this ancient Singer Butterfly sewing machine which she refuses to give up. It had some issues beyond my scope so a fella was called..... He shows up on time and within 1/2 an hour sewing machine is fixed.
Happy wife, happy life

 

[Saudade]

Yes, I do.
I hate as well to trough out things and I love to try to repair them, I don't like the way these days to repair things has not a value, I am not talking about money values.
Well done!

 

[Puspawarna]

Yup. We used to have a driver who could find a perfect tukang for anything. We'd hand him anything broken, or a part we needed duplicated, and send him out. I don't know how he did it, but he always found an expert repairman/fabricator for anything, and it was always dirt cheap.

If you can make that system work for you, that's one of Indonesia's great charms.

 

[Gratilla]

Just to add a bit of balance to this tukang eulogy; yesterday I spent 15 mins trying to supervise two thirds of the Three Stooges - PLN staff working "offbook" - extending some outside cable to illuminate a far corner of our plot.

1) Communication was hindered by their having (acoustic) bricks between their ears.

Me" Listrik hidup?
They: Whah?
Me: Strum masih hidup??
They: Whah?

<OK, guess we'll soon find out.>

Curley then zapped himself (twice). <Had to giggle!> PLN obviously don't teach their staff the difference between Live and Ground or how to use a tester. But then again Curley was fortunate that electricity over here is so weak - some even use it as a morning eye-opener in place of coffee.

2) Was asked for 80cm of 1" paralon to bury a stretch of cable. During the 73 secs I was fetching, they'd lopped off two meters of selang from a looong length that we use (I mean useD) to water our extensive compost heaps! I then nailed my right foot to the ground to prevent a royal a**e-kicking and getting myself deported.

3) ... you get the picture

I then decided that my time was better spent elsewhere, peeing on the bougainvillea.

At least I was confident that the light would work and that it was going to be CHEAP, as my missus was doing the nego.