When they repaired the old hospital building, it looked nice and shiny and everyone was happy. Usually the servants would sweep and mop my office floor to keep it looking good. But they would not clean the window sill, Oe day they sent a new servant who was temporary and wanted to make a good impression. So he cleaned the windows and the window sill.
"Sir, the outside wall is all cracked up" he said.
"Huh?" I said. The wall was not cracked up before the repairing work. How could they produce a crack in it by repairing work? Anyway I went to have a look, because if there was a crack, it had to be repaired before the warranty ran out.
There was really a big crack running pretty deep.
"Sir, do not lean on the wall here" he warned. "You might fall out of the room if the wall collapses."
He sounded so matter of fact about it that I knew he must have seen it happen. I dared not ask him when he had seen that happen, because it might have been a tragedy involving near and dear ones.
"I won't" I said. "Thamk you for bringing it to my attention."
Then I sent a letter to the chief asking for a structural audit of the newly repaired building to check if it was safe for occupation. Our civil engineer came, had a look at it, learned that there were other defects in the repair work too, and fixed up a meeting with chief, concerned heads of department, and engineer from civic head office. The said engineer came for the meeting, checked his files to see if I had certified the work as satisfactory, failed to find it, and went away with the understanding that he would come the next day and check out all problems. That was long ago. He has not come. I am thinking of putting a warning on that wall for visitors. I am not leaning on that wall. But if my blog stops being updated, one of the possible reasons might be that I forgot and leaned on the wall. :-)
"Sir, the outside wall is all cracked up" he said.
"Huh?" I said. The wall was not cracked up before the repairing work. How could they produce a crack in it by repairing work? Anyway I went to have a look, because if there was a crack, it had to be repaired before the warranty ran out.
There was really a big crack running pretty deep.
"Sir, do not lean on the wall here" he warned. "You might fall out of the room if the wall collapses."
He sounded so matter of fact about it that I knew he must have seen it happen. I dared not ask him when he had seen that happen, because it might have been a tragedy involving near and dear ones.
"I won't" I said. "Thamk you for bringing it to my attention."
Then I sent a letter to the chief asking for a structural audit of the newly repaired building to check if it was safe for occupation. Our civil engineer came, had a look at it, learned that there were other defects in the repair work too, and fixed up a meeting with chief, concerned heads of department, and engineer from civic head office. The said engineer came for the meeting, checked his files to see if I had certified the work as satisfactory, failed to find it, and went away with the understanding that he would come the next day and check out all problems. That was long ago. He has not come. I am thinking of putting a warning on that wall for visitors. I am not leaning on that wall. But if my blog stops being updated, one of the possible reasons might be that I forgot and leaned on the wall. :-)
