{ Tuesday, June 19, 2007 } 2:54 AM

Aircon Cleaning

Today was a bad day for me. Well, in the beginning it was.

Someone pressed the doorbell and I answered it. It was so aircon service man. He wanted me to close the windows to the master bedroom so that he can wash the aircon upstairs. Of course, I said yes.

Then, my mum started screaming and shouting at me. She said that the same thing happened to her months ago. The service man washed the aircon and made my aircon black. Well, the service man really dirtied my aircon and I was horrified.

My mum then ordered me to go upstairs and tell the service man off. But how was I to know who did it? So my mum went out to check and suspected the 5th floor. I said it could be the 7th floor because the metal sheet was wet. So up I went, cursing.

I went to the 7th floor and this Chinese guy said it wasn't him. And he was damn rude.

Down to the 6th floor I went, and the maid refused to open the door.

I knocked on the door and the maid spoke in Chinese. "Who are you, who are you?"

I decided not to answer her because only that way would she open the door to talk to me.

She kept asking, "Who are you?"

I said, "I need to talk to you."

She said, "No, I don't want."

I'm like, what the heck? I'm here to ask you something and you don't want?

So I said, "No, I'm not here to sell anything."

Then she opened the door. Halfway. She hid half of her face behind the door and an old lady hid behind her. Oh well. I'm not here to rob, ok?

So she said no... Well, she kept shaking her head. I wonder if she understood me.

So I suspected the 8th floor. I was knocking on the door and my knuckles hurt. The Indian lady refused to answer the door. Okay, she did answer the door, but AFTER A LONG TIME and after I was slapping on her door. And her doorbell was spoilt. I was really swearing. What's the point of having a doorbell anyway? She took a damn long time and I lost my patience when she said it wasn't her.

So I went to the 5th floor because my mum suspected her. Well, I think it wasn't her. She doesn't even have aircon installed in her house!

I knocked on her door and she answered. I asked her about the aircon thing. She said it wasn't her (quite obviously) and asked me what happened. I explained the dirty mess the stupid aircon made and she started complaining to me.

"It must be the 6th floor. They are always like that. They hang wet and dripping laundry and wet my clothes. Everytime they hang out their laundry, I will have to keep in mine. I've looked them up a couple of times and they are still like that. They never use a machine. So this time round she dirty your aircon, huh?"

Ah well. It's not her, it's not you. So I said thanks and left.

The 4th floor... The doorbell didn't sound. I slapped on the door. No one answered. I guess they were out.

To the 3rd floor then. I thought it was really impossible... And I was getting desperate. My mum will kill me and grill me if I can't find the culpit and give her a satisfactory answer.

Then... There was it! The door was open, the gate wasn't locked, and I saw a trolley outside the house. And rolled up water pipes! It has to be them!!!

So I asked the owner out. She indeed had called for a cleaning service for her aircon. I asked to speak to the service man. The grandmother had refused, saying that he was still working.

What more do I care? If I don't get him, I will die like shit.

So after a long time (wasted like 5 minutes), the service man came out to meet me.

"Eh, you washed their aircon and dirtied mine. Mine is covered with black patches all over. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll splash water down later on." (what the heck?? Splash water down?? What did you think it was?"

"How about the dried water spots on my window?"

"I told you to close your window earlier on."

"I did."

"So it shouldn't affect your window."

"Look, when the dirty water hits onto the surface of my aircon, the water droplets splashes back up onto the window. What are you going to do about it then?"

"I'll see later."

"You better come down to my house. It's on the first floor."

He nodded and I left.

Man, after waiting for 2 hours, he DID NOT COME. So when my dad came home, my mum complained to my dad and he went upstairs to look for the owner.

The Indian lady answered the door. My dad asked for the service company's number but "I don't have it. Wait till my madam comes home."

I was damn confused. She's the maid? What about the Indian lady? The madam??? Weird!

They later came down to my house. They didn't believe how bad the dirt was. They wanted to see it for themselves.

What the hell. Would I waste my time climbing up the stairs to play a prank on you???

So my dad let them in. They saw it and (I don't know how and why) they decided to clean it for us.

Man, so we gave them 3 pails of water (what the heck, it's a lot!!!) and 2 rags. They cleaned off the super obvious dirt on the top of the aircon unit, but the sides were still as black as it was. And the windows still had specks and spots.

Although it did feel weird to have your neighbours to wash your aircon, but man, I should have used a camera and took a photo of how dirty it was.

The damn service man. Yes, they should blame it on him.