The Electrician (or someone like him) Returns with a Bad Ceiling Lamp

9-28-13

After lunch with Leona, the plumber/electrician came with Jenny to install the lamp. I sat outside on the patio and tried to stay out of the way. There has often been disagreement with the technician with me, with Leona usually on the technician’s side, so I don’t like getting involved. But I couldn’t help looking in after they woke me up from a nap with their talking. The ceiling lamp was almost installed, despite a missing crystal and a cockeyed base. When I asked if the provision for a dimmer switch or choice of six-light selector had been included, the plumber/electrician looked surprised; he had forgotten to do so and Leona and Jenny had not reminded him. Then the justifications began; they didn’t need to adapt it, anyway, the light couldn’t use an adapter, anyway, a dimmer switch needed a third wire which we didn’t have, anyway, there wasn’t enough room to install the six wires a switch would need to warrant taking it down and installing an adapter and blah-blah-blah in Taiwanese.

I reminded Leona that we had decided that we would want to adjust the intensity of light for daily use or when we have dinner guests, and then I walked away and returned to the patio after taking an Aleve. After a while, Leona came out and told me they had taken the ceiling light down, not because of the lack of luminosity adjustment but because one of the six light fixtures didn’t work! How’s that for a face-saver?

The electrician/plumber was not to be blamed for forgetting to check the light before he installed it and Leona and Jenny were not wrong for not reminding him; he would be paid for his useless labor, but not by us; by the lamp fixture company whose fault it was that the lamp, made in China, was defective

Leona and I brought the defective ceiling light downstairs to be picked up and returned. It was the last lamp of its kind in the warehouse. We told Jenny to tell the dealer that we would still take it if they could repair the one of six fixtures that doesn’t work. Otherwise, we will have to select another ceiling lamp for the dining area rotunda.