Croatian for Before the Year 2033 = Tomorrow

The BBQ Pit
1

We’ve bought the condo. We shelled out every cent we had to the closing company, picked up some milk crates and moved in.

We are one of the first to move in to this glorious gut rehab. (Rick the sexy cop lives upstairs, he was first…and he’s the subject of a very DIFFERENT thread).

Anyway, as we began our move, cheerily, happily, like a Folger’s commercial, streamed in sunlight, we encountered…

the tangle.

The tangle of a minimum of eight wires as thick as my pinky, protruding like a squid butt from a hole in the wall.

Being the Martha Stewartian gal I am I pointed in horror (keep in mind this is two days PAST our closing date) and screeched,

What is THAT?!!? GET RID OF THE WIRES. THE TANGLE OF WIRES.

NO. MORE. TANGLED. WIRES.

Well we found the foreman of the construction crew, a very fun, cuddly Barney Rubble type guy, who serves as the translator for the rest of the team.

He called over a guy who quickly shuffled in, nodded, and muttered something in what sounded like Russian or Croatian or Hungarian and we nodded as well, although we didn’t understand a word he said.

“Tomorrow,” the foreman said.

“Tomorrow?” I queried.

“Tomorrow.” he said.

“Ok, because we’re moving in here to LIVE on the 13th.”

We all nod.

“Tomorrow,” he says again.

That was on the seventh.

Today is the twelfth. We live there tomorrow. The tangle remains.

IT REMAINS!

WHAT PART OF TOMORROW WAS LOST IN THE TRANSLATION?

Thank god this is the only problem we’ll encounter in homeowning.

2

I can see where a mere mortal could confuse the angelic tongue of Croats with the base gruntings of the Russians. But Hungarian? Totally different.

3

Did you hear something sounding like this?

Kada pakao zamrznuti gornji?

Because that translates roughly to “when hell freezes over.”
(I love online dictionaries)

4

I’m not sure what his ethnicity has to do with it. It sounds to me like standard builder/repairman/contractor speech. I’ve known folks in Detroit, Los Angeles, Donegal, and Chicago who all had the same problems with guys who spoke fluent English.

(Deb had a guy build a barn for her goats around 15 years ago. He finally sent over the windows several months after the barn had been occupied, then left it to me to cut the holes and install them.)

5

Hehehehe. That’s what you think. :smiley:

Robin

6

Yeah, I always hear cries like that when my friends but new homes. There’s always something like that and they always end up yelling at people and getting yelled at back.

7

You’re right. His ethnicity has nothing to do with it. I’m just describing the situation, and the fact that I had no idea what he was really saying, only that he KEPT INSISTING IT WOULD BE TOMORROW

at the risk of being overly poetic…it has been MANY tomorrows…

and my husband just called and said we still have no hot water at the condo either. They told us at CLOSING this shit would be done!

Hot water is kind of important when I’ll be LIVING there for good starting tomorrow.

:mad:

8

Just think of it as camping! but in a condo.

9

Ahhhhh camping…the fresh air, the outdoors, the brand new paint and varnish smell :smiley:

10

mmm… varnish. nothing says camping like varnish.

(what? no one else brings inhalants into the great outdoors?)

:smiley:

11

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
William Shakespeare

I bet that didn’t help, did it?

12

Contractor: Well, when did I say it would be done?
jarbabyj: You said tomorrow.
C: And what day is it now?
j: It’s tomorrow! Because you said ‘tomorrow’ yesterday!
C: No, no. It is today. It is always today. And tomorrow will always be, well, tomorrow.
j: And when I ask you why it isn’t done again tomorrow?
C: It will then be today again.

13

Mr. Jar just called from the condo. the HOT WATER IS RUNNING! :; applause::

But the tangle of wires is still there, and today protruding slightly FURTHER from the wall.

Could it be a poltergeist taking over our new house? Probably.

14

No,jar I regret to inform you that the tangle is taking over the house. Much like in Tetsuo: the Iron Man. Soon, your entire condo will be overrun with wire, as the building is subsumed into the power grid for the city of Chicago. Hope that’s ok for you guys.

:smiley:

15

Is central air included in that?

16

Sadly, no. just the eternal, ineffective whirring of the cooling fans.

17

(smilie removed for overstaying its student visa)

Try yelling at your Rumanian contractor that you need the water in the kitchen on before your wife comes home with the second baby.

18

He was probably Hungarian. I have absolutely no reason to believe this other than

The Hung will come out Tomorrow, Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that Tomorrroooooooow they’ll be done.

19

Chill! You’re approaching 6000 posts? Clearly, the jumble of wires is intended to provide you with instant access to the SDMB at all times. No more waiting for the hamPsters for you, lucky person.

20

I’m surprised at you, jarbabyj, why would you close on a home knowing (or worse, not knowing) about a squid butt wriggling out one of your walls? Parenthetically, unless of course, they opened your wall due to a forced inspection because there had been a problem of some kind – maybe a complaint – but more likely they were really behind schedule on your unit.

I speak from recent house closing experience – we were thrilled to watch it progress through 5 or six different personal and official inspections. There were a lot of opportunities to say “no way.”

At any rate, in spirit contrary to the Pit, I suggest if it’s not repaired you should dig a little further into it and gain some leverage. They may be willing to settle with you.