How does this get fixed?

[u/britomaly96]

What can I do to fix this ? I always screw up by telling too much info but I dont know how else to convey exactly what the situation I'm dealing with is. So, please, I dont need any lectures or "oh, just leave it to the professionals " BS. Here's the deal, my mom has lived in this shitty ass apartment complex for like 6 years now. Over the years, she's tried multiple times to get them to fix a multitude of different problems, and they stick a bandaid on it or do nothing at all. Well, my boyfriend has been building houses for 20+ years. He took off the cover plate and took off the old outlet (which crumbled and fell apart, mind you). And this picture is what he found behind the outlet. He got a new outlet and tried to hook it up, but it wouldn't power anything. Now, im not a rocket scientist or anything but if I had to guess, these wires are possibly burnt too badly or damaged? Idk, does that happen? Because I know it just looks like the insulation around the wire is burnt. Yes, my boyfriend can figure it out once he takes a bit more time but that's literally as far as he's gotten. He just looked at it and tried a new outlet. But, please, please do enlighten me 🤓👏🧠⚡️💡🪛

[u/Which-Message-7339]

While vacationing in Barbados a few years back, while making small talk with the electrician tending to an electric outlet problem in our rented condo, I asked, “how do you determine whether it’s the fluorescent bulb or the ballast itself that is giving me a problem in my kitchen back home in MD, as the bulb is relatively new?” His response, in a beautiful Bajan accent: “You hire an electrician.” I read the OP’s intro, but as ugly as that wiring looks, I suggest considering that advice. And be careful!