Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Hopefully The House Won't Burn Down

Tuesday I got a phone call from Ms. Kathy. There was no point for niceties, but we went through them anyway. It was storming at her house and sunny at mine. Her kids are fine. As are mine. Her new job is going well, thanks for asking. All of this was quite unnecessary, as I happen to know any time Ms. Kathy calls there is some sort of extraordinary crisis. 

Frankly, I go into cardiac arrest every time Ms. Kathy calls me. She won't call me to tell me rent will be late. She won't tell me if the septic is stopped up until 5:01 p.m. the Friday of a holiday weekend (and did). But, she will call me if there is an electrical issue. Apparently "electrical issues" are the 9-1-1 of landlord calls in Ms. Kathy's vernacular.

I gave Ms. Kathy the electrician's number and suggested she find a time convenient for both of them to get this resolved. I guess I was a bit more lackadaisical about it than she was anticipating--though I am not sure what she was expecting me to do from here. Hop the first plane to Birmingham with my volt meter and a Phillip's screwdriver? I recommended, under the circumstances, just not using the light socket until the electrician has had a chance to take a peek.

Ms. Kathy has been renting from me for just shy of three years. She reminded me there was the same electrical issue years ago. I don't remember. But I will take her word for it. I do remember something about a loose wire and Ms. Kathy having some sort of fear of the house burning down. But, that's about it. Hopefully my electrician remembers better than I do. And hopefully he has a Phillip's screwdriver.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I both love your electrician and trust him. If he fixed the issue once, then my bet is the tweenage boy of Ms. Kathy's has done something to the socket as we both know he likes to "fiddle" with stuff. So Mr. Electrician guy will get there and it will take him 20 minutes to fix the issue and another 20 to explain in detail to Ms. Kathy what he did and why he had to do it and if she's smart she will listen with rapt attention and do the appropriate oohs and aahs otherwise, he won't like her anymore and it will make it difficult for her to get speedy appointments in the future. LOL Did I say I love your electrician?