Recalcitrant Carpenter
Submitted by gareth on Wed, 10/22/2003 - 8:52pm. Bizarre
Excerpt from an exchange between yours truly and a carpenter employed to build a wardrobe for me, via a translator (otherwise, I wouldn't have understood this little gem).

Me: But it's black. We ordered this colour and you agreed. (Pointing to a brown varnished table)
Carpenter: Ke ghaanay? Nepali phrase meaning: Yeah, well, that's life. Literally, what to do?
Me: We want it changed to this colour.
Carpenter: Can't you just think of it as very dark brown?

Honestly, only in Kathmandu is this sort of thing said in perfect seriousness.

- Two days ago, my flat in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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The only thing to do
Posted by Saint on Mon, 10/27/2003 - 9:23am.
Hand him a dollar and tell him to think of it as a hundred.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with Nepali money. But you get the idea.
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Darnit
Posted by gareth on Tue, 10/28/2003 - 12:07am.
I so wish I'd thought of that! Eventually, we had to threaten him with calling the police to get him to take it away and make a new one in the proper colour, the slimy get.

G

(PS - It's currently 120 odd Nepalese Rupees to the pound, and eighty odd to the dollar)
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