Linda ordered a bed from her handyman who works on her house 3 or 4 days a week. She showed him another bed and wanted an exact duplicate. She paid him $150 which was twice what she would have paid in a store, but she wanted an exact copy. Sanchez - the handyman - did not deliver it when promised; however, Linda never expects deadlines to be met in Ecuador.
A week after the original delivery date passed she rented out Val's condo for 3 months and decided to use the new bed in one of bedrooms. She called Sanchez and he promised to deliver it at 8:00 am the next morning. At 9:30am the next morning Linda called him and he said it was an hour away. At 11:00am another call to Sanchez got a promise that it was a half hour away. The noon call promise was that delivery was just 15 minutes away. During the final call that afternoon Sanchez said it was not his fault - the carpenter had not finished the bed but it would be delivered tomorrow.
Without going into details, the next day was more of the same. On the third day of this comic scenario Linda called his bluff after several telephone exchanges and hired a truck for $15 to go to Sanchez's house since he now claimed to have no way to deliver the bed. Sanchez gave the driver instructions on how to get to his house. When the driver arrived Sanchez then admitted he did not have the bed.
Day four was move-in day for the new tenants. After a couple more calls to Sanchez Linda gave up and hired the truck driver again to take her own bed apart and truck it over to the condo. Just as we were loading into the truck Sanchez arrived in a taxi with the bed. The bed was the wrong color and style. Linda suspected he bought it from a cheap furniture store in town. He wanted another $30 for cab ride. Of course readers will remember a cab ride from town is only $9 or $10. Linda told him he was fired and never to show his lying face on her property again.
The moral of the story is not that Ecuadorians are liars. It is that they will say anything to avoid saying "no". It is a culture difference that leaves gringos feeling cheated and lied to when exactly the opposite is intended.
Another day in paradise:
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