Secrets my doorman knows

By Emily Williams
July 20th, 2009

7 Comments »
Posted in ( SEO Tools )

Here in Santiago, Chile it’s not unusual for an apartment building to have a doorman or conserje. Conserjes not only add to a building’s security by making sure nobody gets in who shouldn’t, good ones like the men in my building also perform all sorts of helpful tasks like grabbing that bag of groceries just as it’s slipping from my fingers, receiving packages and holding onto my boyfriend’s keys when he’s gone and I’ve accidentally left mine at home.

There’s a clear relationship between resident and conserje, which means we use the formal verb conjugation usted and don’t get into details of our private lives. But despite all that, my conserjes know plenty of things about me that most people don’t.

They know my friends and in one case my friend’s dog. They know my in-laws and my own dad from his visit here. They know what time I go to bed every night because it’s right after I take the dog out, how often I go to happy hour (and come home perhaps a bit more smiley than usual) and, perhaps most embarrassingly, just how often we order pizza.

And yet they don’t know big things, like the fact that I’m not married but did recently get engaged! They’ve assumed we were married since day one, and correcting them seemed pointless, so now to cheerfully exclaim “We’re getting hitched!” would require a lengthy explanation. I can’t wait to see their faces the day I come out of an elevator in a white dress. They have no idea where I work or what I do.

I don’t plan on sitting down for a heart-to-heart with my conserjes any time soon. When in Rome, as they say, and in this Chilean version of Rome I’d probably only succeed in making some very nice men feel very uncomfortable that the chatty gringa wanted to share her life story. But I do laugh a little to myself every time I look at my engagement ring or answer the door to the sushi delivery guy – my conserjes get a very different view of me than anyone else does. I wonder what they think about it.

Emily Williams wrote this article for AffordableCallingCards.net where she talks about expat life. She shares more about life as a US gringa living in Santiago, Chile on her personal blog, Don’t Call Me Gringa, and loves hearing from readers!

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Tags: Chile, expat life, Santiago

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Comments

Hehe, interesting hearing about these relationships! I’ve personally found that being on good terms with support staff like conserjes is invaluable for so many different things…

Comment #1 by admin

July 20, 2009 Rate Comment

My “consierge” is all about the grumpyness… no smiles, no providing keys if I get left out of the apartment and definetly no helping with the groceries! Me want a chilean conserje!!!

Congrats on the new gig!! Can’t wait to read more!

=)