Yes, I know, I do live in a 3rd world country, but we all have common sense and logic one would argue – no matter where! In Manila it is called: creativity.
I live in a pretty nice area and in a good building. ‘Condominium’, as they call it here. A building with service, guards, pools, tennis court, garden, and lots more you would want to do, but just don’t have time for. Good thing about a building like this, is that all is standardized, so it would be easy for the maintenance to fix things.
Nevertheless, upon the time when entering the apartment, I found myself with leaking taps. Happens over time of course. Rubbers get old! As being in the position of having maintenance, I asked them to fix it (have the experts do it). The guy (expert) walks in, and indeed concludes the tap is leaking! So far so good, as I already told them in advance my tap was leaking, so we at least agree on this. “Be right back, need to get my tools”. Ok, makes sense, who wants to walk around with a toolbox anyway?! Unless… You are maintenance maybe!? The expert gets back and opens the tap, as curious I was, I wanted to see how bad the rubber ring was… And believe me, it was pretty bad: there was no rubber ring! THAT EXPLAINS! Ok, let’s get the rubber ring in and done! Oh wait, expert needs to check for a solution (rubber ring I suppose), he will be right back.
Finally, after 2 hours he gets back (lunch time in between). He brought some tape… a lot of tape I should say. No rubbers, but the tape will perfectly hold as rubber he explains. he wraps the tape in the spot where the rubber should be, and closes the tap. Patched and not leaking!
Last week, I bought my own tools and rubber rings, replaced all rubber rings, including the tap with tape solution, as it was leaking again.