Things you wish you had known when you first arrived

[Formosano2000]

For those of us who have been living in DR, I'm sure we have spent untold time and money learning the ropes, through trial and errors, and often learning the hard way, before we (hopefully) feel comfortable/confident about living in DR as expats.

Looking back, what are some of the things you wish you had known or wish you had been told when you first stepped foot in DR ?


For me, three things come to mind:


1. I wish I knew "ma?ana" means only "not today", not " 24 hours from today".


2. I wish DR1 message board had already existed.


3. I wish I knew not to take what people say at face value.


Wanna add to the list ?

 

[AnnaC]

Wish I knew that:

Un momento could be up to an hour.

Regresso ahorita, could be an hour, a day, a week.

No intiendo, means I really don't want to answer that.

No means maybe, could be.

Si, means hope that's what you wanted to hear.

Mi amor, means nada

But I still love the country anyhoo.

 

[Conchman]

One thing is for sure, if someone tells you 'no problem' there is defintely a problem!

 

[Escott]

Hahaha, it is real hard reading between the lines in the DR. Some day I hope to be proficient at it.

Manana when it comes to having your tile delivered from Ochoa is maybe 7 days and that is with Kicking and Screaming. Then when they just show up on the weekend when you have no one there working they will put the tile out in the street until you offer to pay them to deliver it inside where you thought it was supposed to be going originally.

Then I had 4 guys working installing the tile. They laid 18 tiles the first day and 23 the second day. I blew up and told them that they were fired and I would pay for the work done but I will not sit around and wait for them. They then started working from 8am to 8pm and since I had to watch over them like a hawk just to make sure they lined up the tile from one room to the other I got no rest, no nap and was exhausted just supervising.

But we live and learn thats for sure. I can go on but you don't want to hear it.

Fact is you even have to watch your ass when dealing with expats in the DR. I think it must be something in the water there.

Can't wait for the "Other guy" excuse people to show up.

 

[AZB]

LOL scott, that was a funny post. 18 tiles the first day, 23 the second day? Hahahahahaa.

 

[Escott]

It may be funny to you but it wasn't to me.

This was work by contract with a fellow that owned his own business. He didn't show up one morning a week later and he brought a note from his dentist with an xray to prove the problem. I had to laugh.

Supervision which I think Ken mentioned is needed for both employees like he mentioned and independant contractors. I think I gave good supervision and maybe just maybe gave a good lesson to the fellow who I plan on using again now that we understand each other.

I am not even a bad boss or client. They still want to work for me.

Go finger...