Monday, July 6, 2026. 1:24 PM.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” -Colossians 3: 16, 17. ESV Study Bible.
Miles the Maintenance Man
At
Woonsocket Housing Authority
Comes to my apartment.
I open the door.
He takes one glance at me and says,
“Oh . . . it’s you again.”
I made no reply
And looked down at the floor as I used my foot to place the door stopper so the door would stay open while he was in my apartment.
He asked me why I called in a maintenance request – even though it was explained why during my phone call.
He went into the bathroom and repaired the broken faucet.
Afterwards, he said three times, “You broke it.”
After the third time, I finally said:
“I did not break it. It was old and fragile. It simply broke from normal wear and tear.”
And then I remembered something else and told him how the metal drain stopper he had repaired a few weeks earlier was not alright – and showed him that it would not completely go down and stop the drain.
He looked at it and tried to fix it. Finally, he said he would have to return with Tommy to fix it.
So, he left; but soon returned with Tommy.
Tommy showed Miles how to fix it and they left, saying something like:
“You’re all set, Mark.”
So, as they were leaving, I replied,
“Thank you, Tommy. Have a good day.”
“Thank you, Miles. Have a good day.”
Several weeks ago, I wrote the following:
Miles came to my door and knocked. I had called for maintenance help.
He asked about why I called in a maintenance request. I told him about the squeaking kitchen faucet. Whenever I move it left or right it makes an unusual noise. He checked it. The squeaking wasn’t very loud at that time.
He said, “I don’t care about that.”
I acknowledged that I understood that as long as the faucet was working it wasn’t a serious problem. Then he went into the bathroom to see about the broken faucet.
Well, the squeaking faucet noise is louder now. And it isn’t only the noise. It is getting hard to move the faucet left or right. I even tried oiling it with 3-in-one oil. It made no difference.
I’m very reluctant to call in another maintenance request about this latest problem because the faucet is still working; and I’ve already been told by the maintenance man: “I don’t care about that.”
Maybe if he looks at it again, he will only say: I still don’t care about that; so what if the noise is getting louder; so what if it’s getting harder to move the faucet arm left and right. Just push harder – that’s all !
And when you have to push so hard that it breaks . . .
Call for maintenance help.
And maybe I’ll tell you again;
“You broke it !”
And maybe I’ll ask you,
Why did you wait so long to report this maintenance problem ?
We could have fixed it before it became so serious ?
Next time something is wrong, let us know right away.
“And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” -Jesus [Luke 18: 6-8. ESV Study Bible].
Luke 18 ESV
Luke 18 ESV – The Parable of the Persistent Widow – Bible Gateway
A few months ago, when I called about the faucet problem in my apartment, I also requested help with a peeling paint matter – above my stove and behind the bathroom door; and around the left window in the bedroom. After Miles had looked at the problem with my pantry sink faucet making a strange noise and telling me: “I don’t care about that.” I mentioned the other maintenance issue that had been reported during the phone call request for maintenance help – the three peeling paint places. The one above the stove was especially concerning to me because the paint chips could fall into the frying pan while cooking a pancake or frying an egg. Miles said in response:
“Tommy takes care of painting matters; I do the plumbing.”
So, he did not even just turn around and look up above the stove that was right behind him to see the 30-inch wide and 8-inch high space above the stove where I had removed all the loose and peeling paint to help prevent paint chips from falling into my food in the frying pan – or into a pan of boiling water for a cup of tea.
And during all the time since then – about 2 or 3 months – no maintenance man has looked into that peeling paint problem in my apartment.
Mark's Imaginings 