Tough Tuesday

Tuesday was a particularly frustrating day. I awoke in anticipation of the day to come… it was new carpet day! Although the green carpet is full of character, I was ready to see it go. So, Dustin and I set out in the morning to go wait at our apartment for the installation guy to get there. We waited for several hours for him to arrive. When he finally got there, he immediately started measuring and shaking his head. We could tell that something was wrong. He didn’t speak any English, and the French we have picked up has nothing to do with carpet. I could already tell this was going to be tough.

He shrugged at us, and we shrugged back. What could we say? Obviously something was so wrong that he wasn’t even going to rip out the green carpet. Dustin got one of his coworkers on the phone. We put him on speakerphone and he translated for us. Basically, the size of carpet the man brought with him was too small for our space.

But how could that be? I took the measurements myself (they do not come out and measure for you like in the U.S.) and I was pretty sure they were right. I got out my drawing that I had taken to the carpet store when we purchased it. My dimensions and the dimensions on his work order didn’t match. Mine were right, his were wrong. The guy from the carpet store told Dustin’s coworker (who then told us in English) that we would need to go back to the carpet store to get this worked out.

Fortunately, Dustin’s coworker offered to go with us. At the carpet store we were told that we would need to purchase a new piece of carpet in order to have enough carpet to cover the bedroom floor. On top of that, they couldn’t install the carpet until the middle of September. Are you kidding me? It is a good thing I can’t speak French, because very rude American comments were going through my head. Things like, “This is your mistake, not ours. You should fix this, not me. Isn’t the customer supposed to ALWAYS be right?”

We could live with having to pay extra to fix this, but we couldn’t live with a middle of September installation date. We need this carpet in before our things arrive from the U.S. We basically told them that we would need to go to another store if they couldn’t install it earlier. Amazingly (please read that with a sarcastic tone), they were able to fit us in on the afternoon of August 25th. Hopefully the installation will go smoothly this time…

By the time we figured everything out with the carpet, it was late afternoon. We went to a store to buy a few things for the apartment. After dropping off a coffee maker, iron, and Brita at our new apartment, we quickly checked the mail before heading back to the place we are temporarily staying.

In our mail were some documents that needed to be signed and returned in order to get my work permit. The problem was, the post office was already closed and it was starting to get pretty late. We were leaving early the next morning on a train to Nice. How were we going to get this stuff sent back? We didn’t want to wait until after vacation because I need that work permit to start my new job. In fact, it is possible that I won’t even be able to do the job if I don’t have the work permit very soon.

I decided to call my new friend, Megan, for some help. Megan is wonderful and has been so helpful with tons of tips for living in Paris. And to all my Chi Omega readers, she is a sister of ours! I knew I could count on a Chi O to help us out. She did more than help us – she said we could come to her apartment, copy anything we needed, and print anything we needed. And then she took the envelope and Express mailed it the next day. Thank goodness for Megan!! She saved the day.

We are learning that things in France are much more difficult than in the United States… and I am learning that I need some more patience. I am so used to being able to get things done quickly and correctly. That is a lot harder here – especially since my French is not good. But at the end of the day, I realize that I am lucky to be here. We have made a few friends and are starting to feel a bit more connected. That helps a lot!