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So this morning I forgot something at the house. I thought, no problem. I needed to install a new toilet in my man cave as the existing one had a crack in the bowl since I have been here. My thinking was that I would knock out the old toilet and in twenty minutes have the new one in and be headed back to the shop. Three hours later I am back.
There is a popular phrase that has been coined to explain the intricacies of African life that cannot be explained to anyone who was not birthed on the continent and raised by black Africans. This phrase is TIA. Sometimes you have to use this phrase or you might choke someone. Many times people use this phrase to cover up a completely pathetic situation in hopes that they will not have to lift a finger to correct it.
This morning was a good example. That toilet should not have taken more then twenty minutes. When a building is built here, usually there is not enough money for tile so they just paint the floor. Later when they have more money, they chip through the paint with hammer and chisel so the adhesive mortar can bond to the concrete when laying the tiles. Many times they are to lazy to unbolt the toilet, sink, or other obstacles but cut various tiles to fit around the object and continue to tile. This was the case with the toilet this morning.
The toilets drain through the wall and through a large white pipe on the outside of the house so they cannot be raised to adjust for a newly tiled floor, otherwise the drain will be to low for the toilet to be reinstalled. However I think this drain was installed to low in the first place. It looked like they had chipped into the floor to install it and then tiled on top of that. So when it was all said and done, the toilet was in a hundred pieces, I had chipped down an inch and a half into the various floor products and had water, dirt and airborne dust EVERYWHERE. Pretty sure I spent two hours cutting and smashing into the floor just to provide enough room to install the new toilet.
So is this a case for TIA?? Yes! BUT, it is also a case for this is bull crap and people need to get their heads on straight. You can only make excuses for something until a point where thats all it is... an excuse for poor workmanship, thought process and initiative. Then someone else has to come along and fix it... which cost more money and time a few years later.
The point of this is that on one hand I am kind of getting sick of this TIA mentality but I can also see it at home as well. Before Christmas I had to fix problems in the bathroom above the one I was building so that it would not wreck my newly built bathroom. Same mentality... "its the nature of the business", they say. Everyone is trying to make a dollar so corners are cut. Lets just say I think I have a different view of things now than many others who have both experienced a small part of Africa as well as those only formed by outside sources. But again, Africa is a giant and I too have only experienced a small part.
On the other hand, in three weeks I will be packing my bags and heading home. In some ways I am sorry to see the time come to an end but I am also totally at peace with it. I am as much at peace with leaving as I was with coming.
There is a popular phrase that has been coined to explain the intricacies of African life that cannot be explained to anyone who was not birthed on the continent and raised by black Africans. This phrase is TIA. Sometimes you have to use this phrase or you might choke someone. Many times people use this phrase to cover up a completely pathetic situation in hopes that they will not have to lift a finger to correct it.
This morning was a good example. That toilet should not have taken more then twenty minutes. When a building is built here, usually there is not enough money for tile so they just paint the floor. Later when they have more money, they chip through the paint with hammer and chisel so the adhesive mortar can bond to the concrete when laying the tiles. Many times they are to lazy to unbolt the toilet, sink, or other obstacles but cut various tiles to fit around the object and continue to tile. This was the case with the toilet this morning.
The toilets drain through the wall and through a large white pipe on the outside of the house so they cannot be raised to adjust for a newly tiled floor, otherwise the drain will be to low for the toilet to be reinstalled. However I think this drain was installed to low in the first place. It looked like they had chipped into the floor to install it and then tiled on top of that. So when it was all said and done, the toilet was in a hundred pieces, I had chipped down an inch and a half into the various floor products and had water, dirt and airborne dust EVERYWHERE. Pretty sure I spent two hours cutting and smashing into the floor just to provide enough room to install the new toilet.
So is this a case for TIA?? Yes! BUT, it is also a case for this is bull crap and people need to get their heads on straight. You can only make excuses for something until a point where thats all it is... an excuse for poor workmanship, thought process and initiative. Then someone else has to come along and fix it... which cost more money and time a few years later.
The point of this is that on one hand I am kind of getting sick of this TIA mentality but I can also see it at home as well. Before Christmas I had to fix problems in the bathroom above the one I was building so that it would not wreck my newly built bathroom. Same mentality... "its the nature of the business", they say. Everyone is trying to make a dollar so corners are cut. Lets just say I think I have a different view of things now than many others who have both experienced a small part of Africa as well as those only formed by outside sources. But again, Africa is a giant and I too have only experienced a small part.
On the other hand, in three weeks I will be packing my bags and heading home. In some ways I am sorry to see the time come to an end but I am also totally at peace with it. I am as much at peace with leaving as I was with coming.
