When indispensable things don't work

It starts like this: you press a button on the remote control and nothing happens.
Or a puddle forms on the floor. Panic sets in.
You know it is time to call the service men to repair the AC.

So you call and they turn up, at some undefined time between Bukra and InshaAllah with their mysterious tool boxes.

One looks at the AC unit with a puzzled face.

I explain: AC is not working. You see it doesn’t come on at all. It looks as if there is no electricity reaching the unit; however the light on the switch on the wall is on (which suggests that electricity arrives there: I must be a genius).

AC man one looks at the AC, then plays with the switch, then with the remote and confirms my initial assessment (the one where I state that the AC doesn’t work). Then asks for the location of the main switch.

I think he wants to cut off the power to work on the unit,  turns out he wants to open and disassemble the main electricity switch to search for some phantom fault there… It must be the main switch you see, if there is electricity in the switch on the wall but not on the actual unit on the opposite wall. I already visualise endless candlelit nights.

Finally I convince him to look elsewhere (I can be very persuasive); so he decides that it’s time to take the switch on the wall apart (the one where the light comes on).

I question his troubleshooting methods: he mentions something on the lines of checking first what works (??). I give up hope on a solution for the day. I let him open the switch hoping that he doesn’t break what works or cause a short-circuit. He places the screws back and half an hour past the useless checks he finally moves to the broken AC unit.

He tells me that there is electricity there but the motor doesn’t work. I wonder how he checked the existence of electricity and I imagine him sticking his tongue out like when I used to play with those old fashioned batteries as a kid.

It’s the motor, he finally claims with solemnity in front of the open unit with a grovel of hanging wires and then he entertains a series of reasons why it is better to replace the unit instead of just the part. I personally don’t care beyond having a functioning AC; costs and particulars are for the landlord’s perusal.

Then he turns around and goes back to look at the unit and fiddle with wires and other stuff scratching his head. The head scratching usually gets me but especially I never understand why anyone would continue to look at something once he has so convincingly diagnosed the problem and suggested a radical solution such as replacement.

Living here I’ve learnt how perception of time is personal and cultural and can be the basis for a lot of frustration.

So three days later they are back, with a brand new AC unit, an extra person and a lot more tools. Drilling through my bedroom wall, banging and changing electrical wires too (not sure why if they were working). I cannot fail to notice what sounds like some disagreements and head shaking when I pop my head into the room to ensure that they are still alive.

They’ve been there for the last 3 or 4 hours, maybe longer.

I hope they leave soon, that the AC works when they leave and especially that the unit doesn’t fall onto our heads during the night.

Finally I still think that issue might have been a faulty wire but it’s only a thought. The truth I will never know.