Nightmare on Po Shan Road

Arggggggggghhhhhhh - before I go on a rampage through my own apartment, I decided it would be better to blow off steam in a Blog - at least I won't be strangling anybody then...I am having the painters in the house since monday, messing up my "peace and order" everywhere they set foot in - having Chinese workers around doesn't just cut off any communication possibilities, it really gives you an impression of what it must look like in rural areas...for example - when I went checking on them while painting in the back of the apartment, one guy had stripped down to his underwear, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, a headscarf and his socks, unfortunately he didn't look as nearly as attractive as the plumber in Desperate Housewives, sigh...and what sense does it make taking off your shoes when you trudge through pieces of paint on your socks all day long in the first place? - by the way doing this, the painters were joined by the aircon service guys and the Internet technician at the same time and I had the prints all over the place... next thing that sent me off screaming in the inside was the fact that they were using OUR master bathroom which was closed - how much sense does this make when you're having 3 other toilets around?? Then I asked them to cover up the floor with a plastic foil which they hurriedly did just to dump all the debris back on the floor when they folded it upon finishing the job....but the greatest amusement came when I noticed they were taking a shower in the maids bathroom which has no shower curtain and not even a bathroom door because we're using it as storage room for our cleaning utensils, they didn't even bother to close the connecting door to the kitchen and - get this - they didn't even remove my cleaning things including the buckets before showering, meaning before I was able to start wiping the floors later on I first had to rinse the white paint off the buckets...I mean on the one hand I really feel lousy & guilty to picture that they are probabely this poor that they don't have a proper shower opportunity back at their homes, but living in our over-zivilized bubble as we do, it's still hard getting used to this kind of behavior again...and let's not start talking about their teeth....and once again - thank you God for letting us live such a privileged life!!! Tomorrow I'll escape into the great outdoors, I'll go cycling in the New Territories while Michael has to "babysit" them - I am sure he'll be having a blast!