Transcript of Richard's interview.
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What is your name?
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My name is Richard Loaeza.
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What is your work?
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I am a technician in service and maintenance of domestic devices.
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How long have you been working here?
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Well, I've been working like this since I was young. Back when equipment with tubes still existed. Perhaps 40 years back
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Which was the first appliance you ever repaired?
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It was a tube-based radio. A radio that my mother purchased, a small radio which eventually just shut off.
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I wondered what had happened, started looking what it was like on the inside, and ended up burning my hand! Those were the tubes. Before then they had valves; have you seen the old valves?
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I was impressed because it was something new for me. And my friends spoke a lot of electronics back then
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Electronics were in style back then, and I was curious.
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Newspaper said that in the future electronics would dominate the world.
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And I think that, to a point, it's true.
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Yes, because how do they repair the satellites on the moon? It's the technicians.
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Of course, because if there were no communication due to the satellites malfunctioning, there'd be no communication on the planet, and I would never have met you, I would never had met him
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Because communication is what unites us.
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How old were you?
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I was 15 when I learned to repair appliances.
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How long have you been working here in Leticia?
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I haven't been here for long. That's because I've traveled and worked in many countries as a technician.
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I've worked here in Peru my first years, but I sought to travel to get to know new, more modern, appliances.
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That's why I liked to travel
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I was in Ecuador, then in Colombia, then I stayed in Venezuela for over 20 years living.
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I was in Maturin, Monagas state. Venezuela's jungle.
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Working in electronics repair.
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What challenges did you find there?
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Big challenges, since in Venezuela is like the USA. In Venezuela you can get your hands on anything that is available in the USA.
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Venezuela has many modern appliances, more than here. Because they arrive to the island of Margarita, which is a free-port.
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Do you know the island of Margarita? It's an island which is called a free-port. Like Puerto Rico. The island belongs to Venezuela, and receives a lot of English, French, Dominicans; so many modern electronics arrive, including vehicles!
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Was it difficult to repair electronic appliances which that much humidity?
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Yes, because as you say the humidity corrodes the appliances. And as technicians we have to apply special techniques we've learned.
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We extract the corroded pieces and clean then with gasoline. Or sometimes you clean them with Acer, then you apply thinner, and leave them nice and clean.
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But it's arduous work, it's not easy.
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After that I returned here to Peru. And thanks to god I've had success, especially with appliances
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So after Venezuela you came here?
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Yes, here in Peru you don't make as much money as in Venezuela obviously, but you can survive by providing people with a good service.
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That's what people want, a "guaranteed service" as they call it.
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The card is not what makes me, I make the card.
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I provide services others don't. For example, I provide home repair services. Others won't go to your home, and I learned that when working for a Japanese company here around the corner.
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A Japanese man was the owner, and that company provided repair on location, and that's very good, because people develop trust with technicians who go to their home.
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And there's more income for the business. It's much better.
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So you have been here in Leticia only recently you said?
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No, I've lived here my whole life here in Lima. This is my neighbourhood, I was born here.
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I travelled to other countries to learn more, but this is my neighbourhood.
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What was this street like when you were a kid?
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It was so ugly! There was nothing of what you see today.
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It was nothing but dirt roads. Have you traveled outside of the capital and seen the communities? It was just like that, there were no buildings, no nothing.
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It was countryside.
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I grew up here. Now there are buildings... It's better, it has improved.
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Now's it's better. This building didn't exist. It's not even 10 years old, the not with these comfortable conditions, with lighting and all.
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This is all new. Thankfully people come here from all over the country, they come here to Paruro, to Leticia, to purchase replacement parts.
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It is all based here, in Paruro. There are other sites, but one of the main centres of repair and sale is here in Paruro and Leticia.
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Everyone knows where it is.
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What do you prefer repairing?
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I like repairing everything. That's because I studied electronics. If you study electronics you can repair anything. Because this is the basis of all electronics - electricity.
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Electric installations, subterranean installations, commercial installations, installing computers... I not only studied electronics but also informatics, since in other countries you can learn more.
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I don't have problems with questions of electricity and electronics, because thanks to god I have studied.
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I have a basic knowledge which has been of use.
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What is the most difficult thing to repair?
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To be honest, something difficult to repair nowadays are tablets.
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It's not necessarily difficult, it's just that replacements parts are hard to find.
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If we had replacement parts, it would be easy.
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For example, this brand, if a chip is malfunctioning and I've identified the problem, but there are no replacement parts available, so I have to change the whole circuit.
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This uses this kind of circuits. When a chip is damaged, we can extract it because we have the technique, we have the tools. But what happens is that we can't find the replacement.
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And companies are jealous, and they sometimes erase the number. So when you're out to purchase a replacement you can't find it.
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Or you find a similar piece but it doesn't work.
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Why? Because companies are jealous, because if you could replace that part you wouldn't need to purchase another tablet, but then the company doesn't sell its tablets anymore.
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It's like cars. Car sales are not for car itself, but for the car replacement parts.
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And now the Chinese have invaded the global market. But the most difficult thing is tablets.
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Have you found that problem of falsified replacement parts from China?
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Of course, in replacement parts. There are some components that are produced in China but are not reliable, they don't last long.
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It looks fine at a first glance, but then when a technician looks at it, you can see that it's "bamba" as we say in Peru, which means that it's not original.
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Sometimes a client pays you for a service, then comes back one week after saying it already malfunctioned.
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You must be careful when working those services. In those cases it's preferable to purchase an older version, take out the old part and use that as a replacement, then there's a better guarantee, and the client is satisfied.
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There's always a solution, but it also depends on the technician’s capacity to solve problems. That option is often better then purchasing a new part in the store, since the replacement may not last long.
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It's an additional challenge.
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Of course. A technician's job is not only to replace parts. A technician must analyse, why did this part burn out? Perhaps the voltage is not correct? Perhaps the characteristics are not correct as established by the producer?
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If the circuit says one amp, and the technician puts two, it will obviously burn out. You need to do as indicated, not what you think or feel might be best.
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These appliances have been developed by engineers with special characteristics for them to operate well, but sometimes technicians say they want to put a stronger piece for the appliance to operate better - No! You can't do that.
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You must first see the technical characteristics of an appliance in order to be clear on what you're doing.
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One must be meticulous with these things. When it comes to electronics you can't make mistakes because everything malfunctions.
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Electronics is very jealous.
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Now that you have been working in reparation for many years, do you feel that this changes you've vision of the world?
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What?
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Does that change your vision of the world, of whether the world is reparable. You work repairing things; does that apply to the rest of your life?
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Yes, I think it does influence our lives. As technicians we have a responsibility towards people. We want to do things right, both for the client and for the appliance itself.
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But sometimes it doesn't work out as planned. Sometimes you apply all your knowledge, and it works well here, but sometimes when the client takes it back to their home it doesn't work.
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Because sometimes there are no ideal conditions at home, they use a different kind of cables or have a bad electric installation. So the device fails again.
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So technicians must be knowledgeable. You face this problem especially outside of the city. People ask you why their devices are burning out, but that's because their electric installation is badly done. It doesn't provide the conditions for the device to support such a charge.
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So people first need to repair their home electric installation system before we can repair the devices.
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And people trust what the technicians say, because we have knowledge.
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People sometimes think that devices should last 100 years, but no. Now everything is designed by computers to last only 3 months or 6 months, and then it automatically breaks down and destroys itself.
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Why? Because producers are not going to make devices that last a life-time. Only Christ has eternal life, no one else! Only God can give you eternal life.
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Devices are not eternal. They break down because they are programmed to. And they are not original but rather copies.
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People want devices to last them all year round, but if they use it every day it'll last them only 5 times before failing do to usage. And people sometimes just don't understand that.
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Companies will sometimes give you a three-year guarantee, but the device won't even last that long, that's just a lie. To be honest, a modern LG screen
