Battling Bureaucracy or how to spend much time achieving little or why learning Chinese would have been a good idea<\/p>\n
The Post Office<\/p>\n
Last Friday I organized a student for interpreting duty and we went to the local post office to post stuff home.\u00a0 After an about 10 minute walk we arrived to be told the office had run out of boxes and to return on Monday.\u00a0\u00a0 The post office provides packing boxes in China and they must be used.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We returned on Monday afternoon after the student had had 6 hours of classes and was feeling rather fragile.\u00a0 The post office was small and was a confusion of customers and large bags of mail sealed and awaiting collection. \u00a0Eventually the student managed to obtain a box and I placed some of my stuff in it and asked for another.\u00a0 We sealed them with tape and I addressed them.\u00a0 At some stage the collection truck arrived and the awaiting mail bags were slowly dragged out by the driver and one employee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally we got one box on the scales and then the real waiting began.\u00a0 Meanwhile the student started stressing about cost.\u00a0 \u00a0I filled in the dispatch forms in the half light and barely knew what I supposed to be writing.\u00a0 There were lights over the staff side of the counter but the ones on the customer\u2019s side were turned off and dusk was approaching so there was no light from outside to help.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Requests for a price on the box resulted in being told to wait, and wait I did.\u00a0 I\u2019d put a value on one of the boxes and requested insurance which wasn\u2019t available so had to redo both forms.\u00a0 \u00a0The periodic attention of two staff members and an hour and a half of time had the transaction complete.\u00a0\u00a0 I had gone with piles of money and my passport, but ID was not required and the price for sea mail was quite reasonable.<\/p>\n
The armoured van and its helmeted, flack jacketed, gun toting attendants arrived to collect the takings while the final stage of my business was occurring.\u00a0\u00a0 Fortunately we didn\u2019t interfere with each other and soon the student and I were outside braving the dark and the crazy traffic which drives or rides at you from all directions.<\/p>\n
Telephone Services<\/p>\n
I have two pre-paid telephone accounts and little way beyond termination of service of knowing their status.\u00a0\u00a0 My mobile is an old and simple one and won\u2019t tell me.\u00a0 \u00a0I did try to get an account for the landline a long time ago.\u00a0 It was protracted and while it shouldn\u2019t have been impossible I decided my energy was better directed elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A couple of nights ago when passing the campus mobile phone office with a student I decided to have her request the credit balance on my account.\u00a0 We got it without any trouble.\u00a0 When I have gone in alone with just my phone number written down and gestures I got nowhere.\u00a0 When I went in with a written phone number and my request written in English and Chinese I got nowhere.\u00a0 It was easier to pay for more credit and get the required information from the receipt.\u00a0 This is a phone company specific small office which sells virtually nothing but phone credit.\u00a0 Gestures and a word or two get me information all over China but doesn\u2019t work for campus phone companies.<\/p>\n
About a week ago I realized that my landline wasn\u2019t working because I couldn\u2019t make a call and a message told me I owed money.\u00a0 I went to the campus office, a different one, to discover the amount of debt and pay some money.\u00a0 It too led a protracted discussion involving anyone showing an interest.\u00a0 Basically the person manning the desk was only keeping the seat warm and I should leave my phone number and money and my account would be credited by someone else in the future.\u00a0 Given I\u2019m leaving soon I didn\u2019t want to pay too much, nor so little that the problem repeated itself so I wanted specific information.\u00a0\u00a0 Someone dragooned two passing students to interpret.\u00a0 Their level of English was poor, but in the main they did well enough that I understood that I should return about 40 minutes later and someone would be there to operate the computer and tell me.<\/p>\n
I returned at the appointed time to discover the two students in addition to a woman using the computer.\u00a0 My debt level was ascertained and discussion occurred around the amount I should pay.\u00a0 Before I knew it my account had been credited and they were hoping it all was over.\u00a0 However, the issue of rent had been raised before and I wanted to know when the next rent would be charged.\u00a0 I was concerned the next installment would wipe out my credit and I\u2019d be back to square one.\u00a0\u00a0 Question words like \u201cwhen<\/em>\u201d are often a challenge for Chinese students and so it was yesterday evening.\u00a0 I\u2019m unsure how the penny dropped but eventually it did and I got an answer.\u00a0 I then needed to pay a bit more to cover upcoming rent.\u00a0 I also wanted a receipt but that really was considered impossible.\u00a0 The money had been credited on the computer so I was prepared to leave it there.<\/p>\n An ability to speak Chinese would have saved me and others much time at the phone companies.\u00a0 Adequate foreign staff support and proper billing procedures for the landline would also have done the trick.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s taken for granted that teachers automatically find their own way in the Chinese world with student assistance filling the gaps in association with learning the language from the same source.\u00a0 Generalised offers of help are made but people are always busy.\u00a0 I ration my requests to really important issues.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The idea that people have the time or ability to return for repeated visits is pervasive.\u00a0 The fact that it\u2019s inconvenient or just unpalatable doesn\u2019t enter into it.\u00a0 These are just some of the cultural differences I encounter on a daily basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Battling Bureaucracy or how to spend much time achieving little or why learning Chinese would have been a good idea The Post Office Last Friday I organized a student for interpreting duty and we went to the local post office to post stuff home.\u00a0 After an about 10 minute walk we arrived to be told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[9,15],"class_list":["post-1334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","tag-china","tag-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1335,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334\/revisions\/1335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}