Around the Water Cooler

Right after we first moved to Belgium, "Moving Sale" lists were going around via e-mail. Expats moving away from the world of 220 voltage and wardrobes were selling their stuff and we were the perfect candidates. We bought cell phones, fans, a vacuum, an iron, a hairdryer, transformers, extension cords, wardrobes... We made a few good purchases and a few bad ones. We ended up having to replace the vacuum and the iron with new ones and we ended up with one cell phone minus the charger. At first we felt we had been taken advantage of, but we quickly realized that these were all just people dealing with an international move, selling and distributing tons of items, while buying new ones remotely, setting up house in another country and often the wife was dealing with it alone. It didn't take me long to empathize with much of that situation.
Of all of our purchases, the favorite has been a water cooler. For 30 Euros we bought a used water cooler from a family who had never even used it here. They had brought it from the UK and used it there, but for whatever reason didn't use it and were getting rid of it. After a few months of carrying bottled water home from the supermarket, storing them in tiny cabinets and moving them to our tiny refrigerator, this seemed like a great idea. We had already met two families who used a bottled water delivery company (who we were excitedly told spoke English--whoohoo, no phone call preparation for me!) and raved about how convenient the whole thing was. We even bought this water cooler before we moved into the house and it did cause us a little grief as the owner of the apartment we were staying in blamed it for some wet mattresses in a storage closet we were using.
We were able to move on from that whole drama once we moved out of that apartment and into the house. The water cooler took up residence in our kitchen and became a favorite part of life in Belgium. (Giving up so many American conveniences, we have become somewhat easier to please...or at least we like to think so).
We had a few leaking episodes causing us to wonder if our water cooler might have been the culprit in the wet mattress incident. We also had some frustration with the "wonderful English speaking" water delivery company. I think I've referred to this in another post. There have been a couple of times when I've called once, twice, even three times, always to get the same response, "It will be for tomorrow". "Tomorrow" never came, to quote Garth Brooks, and I called again, ever patient, ever kind. One time (I think I was waiting for almost 2 weeks) they included a 4th bottle "gratuit". I think they were shocked by my patience and kindness. I was just as shocked by the "gratuit" bottle.
Because we were so satisfied with our water cooler experience, we often mentioned it to others we met who also had a water cooler. One couple in particular had purchased their water cooler new in Dubai for about the same amount we spent on our much older, used one. We were sad to learn recently that these friends are on their way back to lower voltage in Canada and because they remembered our conversation about water coolers (that we loved ours, but it was old and could be on its way out) they offered us first dibs on theirs. We thought about buying it, just in case. But our water cooler hadn't given us any trouble as of late and we didn't want to be greedy or end up with two of them to sell when our time comes. We passed.
You know what happened next, right? Two days after our dear friends sold their water cooler to the Canadian Embassy, our water cooler stopped working and we could not figure out a way to make it work again. As my husband lovingly put it, "Those Canadians are drinking our water!" Well, not exactly, but we are a tad disappointed.
So the search for another one began. Belgian eBay led us to a very reasonably priced one an hour drive from here, but the seller did not speak (or type) English and wasn't interested in dealing with us who don't speak or type French well. Because at one point I had been told that our water delivery people rent coolers, I decided to call and ask. They speak English after all and for the most part we have been able to communicate without too much trouble.
Last week I made the first call. When I asked if it is possible (they like to use the phrases "It is possible!" or--the more common--"It is not possible!") to rent a water cooler, the answer I got was "But of course!" My phone number was taken and I was told a "colleague" would return my call.
This week I made the second call. This time I was given a number to call a "colleague" myself. It went to voicemail and I left a message in English, carefully and slowly repeating my phone number twice.
Today I made the third call to the colleague. He answered and said it was possible to rent a water cooler, "of course". He also said that he was not working today and gave me a number for his "colleague". Yes, it was the number to the company I had called originally. I took the number and I called again, ever patient, ever kind. The man remembered that I had called before and took my number for his "colleague" to call.
This evening, she called. I asked her about renting a water cooler which she assured me was "possible". I asked her about cost and she hesitated. She told me that it is very difficult to explain over the phone and that she would like to set up a "meeting" with me. Through the whole conversation I was a little uneasy about the wording she used. It sounded to me like she was setting up a business meeting with a business person. I've never actually had a business meeting, but this is what I imagine the phone call might be like. The most business-meeting-like thing she said was, "If there is anyone else who might have questions for me, please invite them along to the meeting".
Hmmmm...the people who are invited to this meeting (at 10 AM at my HOUSE) are 6, 4 and 2 years old. They might have things to say, but it won't be business-meeting-like. When I asked if the business man of the house could make the meeting, he said his schedule was "full". He also suggested that I put the kids at a little table with little notebooks when she arrives. Funny. And very helpful. I called him to run this whole conversation by him. I was replaying the conversation in my head trying to decide if I should call and make sure this woman knows we are not a corporation. We are just a regular family who wants to be happy about our water cooler again. After he laughed and mocked, he did suggest I call to clarify.
I did and she said, "Yes, Madame. I understand. I have a lot of papers to prepare for our meeting tomorrow".
So, not only was she not confused, but now she tells me that I am disturbing her as she prepares "a lot" of papers for this meeting. I'm intimidated. What is going to happen here at 10 AM tomorrow? Stay tuned...