No time to negotiate

My baggage was not weighed when I bought my ticket to travel by Greyhound bus service. The suitcase was overweight and the ‘judge’ was right there waiting for me. The moment I handed over my suitcases to the baggage attendant to put into the bus, it became a fait accompli: he said that either I pay 20 dollars to him (no receipt issued) or I go back to the ticketing service upstairs and pay $30 (get a receipt and miss the 4pm bus I had paid for).

Entry into buses is on a first come first serve basis. I stood there, very limited time to think. I opened my wallet, took out a $20 bill and handed over to him. He put the suitcase into the bus.

On second thought, I realized I was in a position to negotiate! I should have proposed to pay $10 for the suitcase. These are moments when you think you have won and lost at the same time! He knew that I wouldn’t miss the bus just because I wanted to pay more and do things right.

So, did we both participate in a corruption deal?  You may have your opinion on this but I am happy I got on the bus afterall, a late arrival is not worth it. 

I thought it was “FREE”

I went on a discovery trip of one of the most modern supermarkets in the Bastos neighborhood -Dovv. I picked up some interesting articles in my shopping basket, and then went to checkout. Arriving at the till point, I saw some sweets in a basket and I said to myself, “@ last, a free item I won’t pay for.” I served myself.

Dovv Supermarket in Basos, Yaounde

The articles cost CFA 2,090 altogether. I was already planning how I would tell the lady to give my 10 FRS. You know how these till points never reimburse the little coins, their usual line is, there is no change, tatati, tatata. I gave her CFA 5000, and yes, she reimbursed me CFA 2900, just as I suspected.

I told you she still owed me 10frs. 

She replied, “Madam, you took a candy, didn’t you?”

Honestly, I thought the candies were for customers to take free of charge.  Just like you see in banks etc.  Suddenly the candy in my mouth tasted differently. Don’t ask me how differently but I think I valued it more from that moment on ‘cos I realized I had paid for it without knowing!

To give or not to give

I was told my file in the governor’s office was frozen due to the absence of computers in the competent service. I decided to go find out.

Where did the computers go?

I was received by a gentleman who looked for my file and showed me the draft handwritten decree. He told me that in the absence of computers in that service, I have two options: either I give them the money to type and print the decree or I do it myself. I didn’t want to get into the dynamics of giving money because someone had hinted me that you may have to give up to 5.000frs. So I took the latter option, since I could type and print it myself in under an hour. It was however interesting to note that there were computers and printers in the office next door. 

The gentleman gave me the draft decree and explained to me in detail the changes that I had to include to make it look exactly like the sample he showed me. He asked where I work and I told him. I asked for his phone number when I was leaving but he didn’t oblige, he rather told me his name.

As I was driving out of the premises, I got a phonecall from the gentleman, he said I should come back to his office. I did and he told me that he is going to ‘help’ me type and print the decree. He then explained to me the duration of the procedure and told me to check again in about a months’ time. He told me that he has processed some files for some of my colleagues serving  abroad.

I wonder if he is waiting for a tip. To give or not to give is my question. Maybe I will, as gratitude for work done, NOT as an incentive for him to do what he is paid to do…

Moral of the story: It is possible to avoid petty corruption.

Chinese workers build a 15-storey hotel in just 6 days!

          A construction crew in a South-Central Chinese City has completed a 15-storey hotel in just 6 days.  The hotel was built with pre-fabricated materials, meaning the off-site factory workers built the sections and the on-site workers arranged them for what has been described as the “Ark Project.  Residents who were away for a while will definitely be surprised to see the hotel that arose from nowhere.  No workers were injured during the construction.  You can watch the video below of the construction.  Click on this link for the full article on Yahoo!...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/yahoocanada/101112/canada/chinese_workers_build15_story_hotel_in_just_six_days 

Ark Hotel Construction time lapse building 15 storeys in 2 days