Just a rant:
I find the level of ineficiency in this country to be absolutely astounding. Try going out to eat with a group of 4 or more. You would think it was rocket surgery or something. Dont get me wrong, I was a waiter once, I know what its like but there are simple rules like, bring the drinks out first, bring everyones food at the same time etc. I got some Thai food the other day. The last time I ate there I ordered it spicy and it didnt quite make the cut. This time I said make it VERY SPICY thinking that if it was anything like last time it would come back medium at best. Well guess what, they actually got it that time. It was spicy all right!!! As the sweat began to pour and my face lit up like a jackolantern I reached for my drink, the one I ordered about 20 minutes ago. Wait a minute, that damn waiter never brought it! Where is he? In a panic I started waiving my arms, "Boss!" i yelled. " I need my drink pronto!". "Yes sir, right away sir". "Just stay cool" I thought "dont panic, he'll be back in a second". He came back all right, with a pen and paper to take the next tables order! Furious, I stood up. "Buddy! Im friggin Dyin over here! I really need some water". " Oh yes, right away". He dissapeared again... and never came back. I swear he was enjoying this. I stood up and staggerred into the restaurant. My eyes were filled with tears, my nose dripping snot, my mouth red and hanging open. As I entered, I tripped on the fan cord, pulling the fan into the hostess stand knocking it over and sending crayons rolling everywhere. I fell on a table full of nicely dressed english women splattering their red duck curry all over the place. Just then the waiter comes out carying not my drink but the pad thai that the rest of my table had ordered. I looked up, still dazed from the chaos to see that I had been betrayed once again. I began to try to stand up to strangle him when he slipped on the crayons and his foot hit me square in the jaw. As I woke up, and my vision returned, I saw several people standing around, in the middle was a strange yellowish blob. It started moving. "What is that" I tried to say but before I could, it fell and hit me right in the face. It was my friends pad thai! It had stuck to the cieling when the waiter slipped! Embarrased, and ashamed, I left. I never did get my drink. I still have hot recovered my sense of taste or smell, and my hair smells like scrambled eggs.
Tried opening a bank account. I have been trying for 3 weeks with Standard Chartered to get a bank account open. My god! the application was delayed for 2 weeks because the person to forgot to fill out the "Land Mark" field for my home adress back in the US. When I finally got there to correct the problem and found out that that was the only thing wrong, I nearly lost it. Landmark? are you kidding me? I know they cant seem to get the concept of a postal address here but in the states, the postal service actually works. You write down the address, and guess what: it gets there! There is no "go 4 Km past the big dune and make a left at the camel". So anyway, they told me 3 days, 4 go by, then they say tomorrow, I call the next day and they say 3 more days "Inshallah". Thats the word of the day folks. It might as well be the national slogan. It basically means " yea maybe it will get done maybe it wont, I dont care either way so shove it". Inshallah I wont have an aneurism next time I talk to these people!
Anyway, thats my rant for the day. I feel much better now.