Eigo de Essay

Story 14

The IT Guy 

(間接話法の盛り合わせ)


 The left hand of the IT guy who visited me to hook my new Wi-Fi router up with my devices was all covered with a white bandage. I asked him what had happened. He said that he had fallen flat on the street and broken his bone. I asked him when it had happened, and he answered that it had been three days earlier, when Tokyo was all covered with snow. That's a shame but understandable; people in Tokyo are not used to walking on icy streets.

 We seldom have snow here in Tokyo, so when it ever snows, lots of accidents are reported. I was grateful that this young man came in spite of his misfortune as I’d had recurring problems with my old Wi-Fi router, which had been stressed me out. He said that his doctor had told him not to use his left hand for a while, and it had been causing him some inconvenience. I told him not to hesitate to ask me for any assistance while he was working.

 He asked me to connect two plugs together, but that was the only time he needed any help. He did everything with his right hand, very quickly, as a matter of fact. After the new router started working, I was entering the new password on my Amazon Fire TV set as I thought it wasn't his job. Seeing I was trying to figure out how to type numbers and letters on the screen, he took over and punched in everything for me at an amazing speed. He said he was lucky that it wasn't his right hand that was broken.

 He was at my place for about an hour, but he could have done everything in half the time if he hadn’t been a non-stop talker. He told me things like how he ruined his new pants while trying to open his pet bottle, which he had held between his thighs instead of his left hand, and the drink spilled all over his lap. He also said that he liked cats but was allergic to them, and at some of his customers' homes with cats, his nose had started running. Fortunately, he didn't show any allergic reactions to my cat. It was probably because he was wearing a mask to ward off COVID-19, and the mask must have been useful against his allergy, too.

 He said that right after he had injured his hand, he called the headquarters to tell them about the problem, but there had been no one who could substitute his scheduled visits that day, so he called on his customers anyway. He had thought it was just a bad sprain until he visited the doctor’s the next day and had his left hand X-rayed.

 After he left, I thought if we had a tipping custom in Japan, I would have given this guy a big one.  

 

  

 Jan.14, 2022

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