And so it is that while we've closed Milkbeck Library because the fuse box has fallen off the wall above the public entrance and is doing its best to look like a hanging basket full of pendant stems the building repairs service "can't guarantee that we can get an electrician out today."
"Listen," says Maisie, "you've got a Priority One Plus level service that you say guarantees someone on site in an emergency within an hour. This is an emergency and I expect somebody there within an hour."
"I'll see what I can do."
It turned out that what he could do was go for his lunch. When Maisie rang back after an hour to ask what progress had been made she was told that he'd gone and that nobody else at the call centre did building repairs.
I shudder to think what we're being charged for this service. You can bet your life it won't be getting any cheaper in the light of both recession and council budget crisis.
3 comments:
Is this the spirit that saved us from German doodlebugs? Get up that ladder and fix it yourselves, I'm sure you can get a book from the libr oh sorry.
Isn't it extraordinary that what would take a phone call and twenty minutes to fix at home becomes, with all the resources and purchasing power of "local government", an absolute bleeding catastrophe???
Maroon: indeed, the young girl looking after the library got up onto a chair and tried to jam the box back onto the wall, but couldn't work out what needed to be done with the spare snapped wires hanging out of it (yipes!!!)
Affer: there is a whole industry of "can't do that there here" men that have been further empowered by moving them out of eye contact in a call centre and giving them "value for money" IT systems that confirm that Nothing Can Be Done.
It's a miracle we manage to get any services delivered at all at times.
Just don't get me on bloody printers...
Post a Comment