A couple of posts down, I revealed my problems with Tanzania line budging (I'm thinking my peeve must be a holdover from my teaching days when budging in lines is such a big deal for the people I spent my days with!) but today I have to confess an ironic--or maybe not ironic so much as hypocritical--stance on budging.
I paid my electric bill on January 2. It had been awhile so I was surprised to
see the bill was a normal amount. There is a space for previous balance, a space for the current month, and the total amount due. Here the meter readers don't come on a specific day, they just come whenever. Sometimes if they miss, it doesn't get recorded. Sometimes they make it up that month. We receive bills in our mailbox addressed to the former box owners of bills over 5,000,000 shillings with 200,000 added each month (for comparison, my housekeeper's bill is about 10,000 ($8) per month). So Tanesco really does a crummy job of keeping track of anything. The point being that I try to go around the same time each month to pay my bill, but often I can't because the meter hasn't been read, or the information hasn't been entered to print the bill. So I try to remember to come back later.
Today Tanesco showed up and started to disconnect our power. It's a big deal, not just because I personally love electricity, but because we are running all of PHF business from our workshop and with no electricity it is very hard for anyone to get any work done without computers (we don't have a generator). Also, we'd have to pay a disconnect and reconnect fee to get things started again, which would take time. I made the mistake of flying off the handle right away, loudly proclaiming that I can't have an overdue payment because the bill I just paid didn't show it, that he didn't knock on my door to tell me what he was doing, that he better get off that chair and get in the car so we could go to the office and straighten things out and pay what was needed. That response, that venting or railing aloud, whether directly at a person or just aloud, is very typical--we do it when stores won't take a refund, when you don't like your meal, when the price is too high, etc. Here, it just doesn't get you anywhere. Maybe if I could do it in Swahili...the fact is, it's no good here.
He was very insistent about cutting the power and would not go with me back to the office. He told me that if I stopped him from cutting the power at the house, he'd just go outside the gate and disconnect it at the pole. Luckily our accountant consultant was out at the office. I asked him to come and help--he is well-educated and would be respected. He came out and spent 3-4 minutes greeting him, asking about work, his family, etc. etc. All the things that you are supposed to do. Not because he was trying to placate the man, but because that's how things are done. Apparently I did miss a month by just missing a date when they read the meter. Then, they've already read the meter for this month so now I'm late with January's payment. And apparently when Tanesco's in a money bind, they send people out (randomly because I seriously doubt I'm their biggest delinquent) to cut power to force payment. You know, they should rethink that a bit, since my normal bill, which has been paid very regularly, is often 15 times greater than a Tanzanian's, so by cutting me they actually get less money. Anyway. They spoke a bit and then he said the man would come back tomorrow and check to see if the bill was paid--not that he would check in the office, but I'd have to provide the receipt to prove it--as if he's really gonna come back. But he might.
All this is background to the fact that I was going to have to pick up Ava, go to the bank, get the money, go to pay the bill and get to a meeting in 90 minutes. It wasn't gonna happen because I'd have to stand in line at Tanesco. Julius offers to go for me (the consultant). Mark says no, I need to go and it won't take that long--this man has never been to the Tanesco office. Julius says no, if we have the money here, he'll go and won't take very long because--get this--he's Tanzanian and he won't have to stand in line--he'll just cut to the front.
Did I let him do that, knowing that if I were in that line, I'd be pulling NFL-type moves to keep him out? Sadly, yes, I did. I allowed him to pay my bill for me by budging in front of the line so I could get the other stuff done. I hang my head in shame. I marked the date of March 12 on my calendar so I can hoof it down there to pay on time. I know I'm going to be told on that day that the meter hasn't been read yet. And the saga will continue.
Heehee—the funny thing is that the power went off at around 10:00 that night while I was writing this. My first thought was that the guy came back under cover of darkness and got me. But it was just a normal outage.
I paid my electric bill on January 2. It had been awhile so I was surprised to
see the bill was a normal amount. There is a space for previous balance, a space for the current month, and the total amount due. Here the meter readers don't come on a specific day, they just come whenever. Sometimes if they miss, it doesn't get recorded. Sometimes they make it up that month. We receive bills in our mailbox addressed to the former box owners of bills over 5,000,000 shillings with 200,000 added each month (for comparison, my housekeeper's bill is about 10,000 ($8) per month). So Tanesco really does a crummy job of keeping track of anything. The point being that I try to go around the same time each month to pay my bill, but often I can't because the meter hasn't been read, or the information hasn't been entered to print the bill. So I try to remember to come back later.Today Tanesco showed up and started to disconnect our power. It's a big deal, not just because I personally love electricity, but because we are running all of PHF business from our workshop and with no electricity it is very hard for anyone to get any work done without computers (we don't have a generator). Also, we'd have to pay a disconnect and reconnect fee to get things started again, which would take time. I made the mistake of flying off the handle right away, loudly proclaiming that I can't have an overdue payment because the bill I just paid didn't show it, that he didn't knock on my door to tell me what he was doing, that he better get off that chair and get in the car so we could go to the office and straighten things out and pay what was needed. That response, that venting or railing aloud, whether directly at a person or just aloud, is very typical--we do it when stores won't take a refund, when you don't like your meal, when the price is too high, etc. Here, it just doesn't get you anywhere. Maybe if I could do it in Swahili...the fact is, it's no good here.
He was very insistent about cutting the power and would not go with me back to the office. He told me that if I stopped him from cutting the power at the house, he'd just go outside the gate and disconnect it at the pole. Luckily our accountant consultant was out at the office. I asked him to come and help--he is well-educated and would be respected. He came out and spent 3-4 minutes greeting him, asking about work, his family, etc. etc. All the things that you are supposed to do. Not because he was trying to placate the man, but because that's how things are done. Apparently I did miss a month by just missing a date when they read the meter. Then, they've already read the meter for this month so now I'm late with January's payment. And apparently when Tanesco's in a money bind, they send people out (randomly because I seriously doubt I'm their biggest delinquent) to cut power to force payment. You know, they should rethink that a bit, since my normal bill, which has been paid very regularly, is often 15 times greater than a Tanzanian's, so by cutting me they actually get less money. Anyway. They spoke a bit and then he said the man would come back tomorrow and check to see if the bill was paid--not that he would check in the office, but I'd have to provide the receipt to prove it--as if he's really gonna come back. But he might.
All this is background to the fact that I was going to have to pick up Ava, go to the bank, get the money, go to pay the bill and get to a meeting in 90 minutes. It wasn't gonna happen because I'd have to stand in line at Tanesco. Julius offers to go for me (the consultant). Mark says no, I need to go and it won't take that long--this man has never been to the Tanesco office. Julius says no, if we have the money here, he'll go and won't take very long because--get this--he's Tanzanian and he won't have to stand in line--he'll just cut to the front.
Did I let him do that, knowing that if I were in that line, I'd be pulling NFL-type moves to keep him out? Sadly, yes, I did. I allowed him to pay my bill for me by budging in front of the line so I could get the other stuff done. I hang my head in shame. I marked the date of March 12 on my calendar so I can hoof it down there to pay on time. I know I'm going to be told on that day that the meter hasn't been read yet. And the saga will continue.
Heehee—the funny thing is that the power went off at around 10:00 that night while I was writing this. My first thought was that the guy came back under cover of darkness and got me. But it was just a normal outage.
1 comment:
oh, carla. you are so principled. i would be having someone else pay for me every time. i would even THINK about it!
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