Foot in Mouth Disease

In the States, there are plenty of salesmen’s clichés. One line I’ve always liked is that whatever product you’re looking at, that’s what the salesman has at home. Whether it’s the car salesman telling a young couple, I drive the Volvo, too, or a stereo salesmen convincing a customer he’s got the same Bose speakers at home, it’s a common sales pitch. And these salesmen are playing off a pretty sound supposition: We want to buy what experts in the field have bought themselves.

Mustafa is our plumber and electrician. He works each day with a small crew of one or two other men. He lives in Sidi Ben Slimane not far from our house. The mosque adjacent to our house is, in fact, his regular mosque, making it quite easy for him to duck out during the day for his prayers. He’s a friendly fellow, who chats with us frequently in his broken French, offering up enough jokes that a few manage to cross the cultural and language divide. When we’re on the work site, he reconfirms our requests during his cigarette breaks, seldom getting too upset when we change our minds, even when he’s half finished a project.

Hamoud had originally given us a quote for the two water heaters we’re going to need for the house. When we went to a store to scout, we found a pair at barely more than half that price. The two of us were quite pleased, thinking we’d found a place to save a few dirhams, and immediately began reallocating the money.

This afternoon, we went to the house and asked Hamoud and Mustafa about the water heaters. Those won’t work, Mustafa tells us. We need German water heaters that are premier quality, and that cost what Hamoud had originally estimated. I’m doubtful that the difference is that crucial. After all, we’re looking at a major brand for sale in one of the most prestigious stores. Thinking that we can make do with the lesser brand, and putting Mustafa in an American salesman’s shoes, I ask him, “Come on. Is it really that big a difference? What kind of water heater do you have in your house?” I’m sure it’s not the German make, and I’m hoping that by example our expert will confirm I can get by with the less expensive make. The language is a bit tricky, and gets filtered through Hamoud, but the answer when it comes is a bit of a shock. Mustafa doesn’t have a hot water heater in his house. Can’t afford one. When his family needs hot water, they heat it on a pot on the stove.

There’s no graceful way to back out of this one. It just highlights again the things we take so fully for granted. The existing shower in our house – one without hot water – is used daily by the crew at the close of work. Many, we think, probably don’t want to head home dirty, or are saving on water costs by bathing at our house. Still, it never occurred to me that it might be insensitive to ask a plumber what type of hot water heater he has at home.