I was scrolling down my contacts and I noticed that I have more than ten names starting with mechanic, as this is how I store those professionals on my phone. I have to deal with so many of them, that there is no point registering them by name or surname first, as I will not be able to remember them again. So, a Mechanic Akin, a Mechanic Shola, a Mechanic Philip, and so on, are listed.
Following each name, there is an Old, New, Ok, Very Ok, a No, or NO, in capital letters. The latter is to remind me never to call that specific number again, even in case of emergency, if for instance I get stranded in the middle of the road, which happens to me quite a lot.
As, what I am trying to say is, it is very difficult in Lagos to find a trustworthy mechanic, plumber or electrician… I was going to add tailor to this list, but I need a separate post to tackle the tailors own!
At one point, I will be calling the mechanic, plumber or electrician, every week, for one fault or the other, and the painful part is, I have to pay each time, as it is never their previous repairs that are faulty but something new that has come up!
And when you call the plumber, you also have to arrange for a bricklayer, in addition, because breaking walls to repair a pipe is part of the basic procedure here.
Is it pure greed from their part? Repairing half way, to make sure that you will have to call them again? Or buying poor quality spare parts to make a larger benefit? Or is it simply a lack of knowledge?
Anyway, I have been very happy lately, because for the first time of my life in Nigeria, I have gone through four full months without having to call the mechanic! I thought I had finally found the perfect professional, however my car was due for servicing, so he came to pick it up and I was waiting for him to return it when I got the following text:
“Sorry, Madam, I will not be able to bring the car again tonight because water entered some parts of the engine after washing”
I am actually picturing something like this:
Glory Matthews'blog 