No funciona bien
No doubt the differences in culture here have tripped me up, but I've been stumbling over the goverment bureaucracy almost as often. Today I discovered that even though I have been getting pay stubs, I have not actually been getting money. Maybe an elaborate IOU? I'm not sure what that would say about the financial stability of our government. We are trying to find where my pay has gone and restore it to its proper home in my bank account, but I have my doubts. Meanwhile, I will have the opportunity this week to take about $45K in CASH to the housing office to give my landlord. Don't worry, I won't have to go off base, so I will remain surrounded by barbed wire and men with guns. I have to say though that the rent system here is totally nuts.
The people here don't always make very good sense to me either. I sort of believe that all the weirdness would make much more sense if people actually thought they could explain to me what they are doing and why. For example, in Seoul, we went to a store that said everything for $10 US dollars. We were short on Won so this was great...except when we tried to pay, the lady didn't accept dollars. Then we got in a Korean taxi that is only supposed to accept Won...but he wouldn't take ours. He took some Won but insisted on a dollar. I'm not sure what that one was about, but in the end I don't think we paid him enough even though we had plenty.
Meanwhile, the government can't afford the $30 bucks it would take to send the sped team overnight to work with a special needs child for a whole school day. They do however want the team to go in different cars on different days instead of all together which would potentially cost them hundreds of extra dollars. And the most brilliant scheme of all is TDY. When we went up to Seoul, Amy and I split a room for two nights, and the total cost of double occupancy for two nights was less than a single occupancy for one night that I booked for my training. Same hotel. Same accomodations. The difference is the contract the govt has with the hotel allows the hotel to charge the max possible for a room when the govt pays for it. Your tax dollars at work.
Sorry for the rant, but I am a bit frustrated.
The bright side is that I'll eventually get used to this, and I won't be so disappointed when things don't work very well.
:)
The people here don't always make very good sense to me either. I sort of believe that all the weirdness would make much more sense if people actually thought they could explain to me what they are doing and why. For example, in Seoul, we went to a store that said everything for $10 US dollars. We were short on Won so this was great...except when we tried to pay, the lady didn't accept dollars. Then we got in a Korean taxi that is only supposed to accept Won...but he wouldn't take ours. He took some Won but insisted on a dollar. I'm not sure what that one was about, but in the end I don't think we paid him enough even though we had plenty.
Meanwhile, the government can't afford the $30 bucks it would take to send the sped team overnight to work with a special needs child for a whole school day. They do however want the team to go in different cars on different days instead of all together which would potentially cost them hundreds of extra dollars. And the most brilliant scheme of all is TDY. When we went up to Seoul, Amy and I split a room for two nights, and the total cost of double occupancy for two nights was less than a single occupancy for one night that I booked for my training. Same hotel. Same accomodations. The difference is the contract the govt has with the hotel allows the hotel to charge the max possible for a room when the govt pays for it. Your tax dollars at work.
Sorry for the rant, but I am a bit frustrated.
The bright side is that I'll eventually get used to this, and I won't be so disappointed when things don't work very well.
:)
posted by Claire | 7:41 PM
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