Country Fustration

Salamu

How difficult is it to do your job?

Besides making love to your spouse, and drinking, your job is the one thing in the world which you are supposed to be proud of. In South Africa, this is far far down the recommended list of priorities.

But this is my country, and I love it to death. However, South Africa is one of the most frustrating countries in the world to live in. I have recently moved into my new place…very exciting. So I now go on a mission to get the stock standard TV, DSTV, and household things such as a mop, broom, dustbin, cooking shit (pots and pans) and emergency supplies of 5 litre bottled water in case there are water cuts.

I decided to go to Makro, which is owned by Massmart and is guaranteed to have a lot (if not all) of the things I am looking for. So I go there and I had my heart settled on a Sinotec 39” flat screen TV which was on special. The salesman pitches the sale perfectly and basically has me eating out of the palm of his hand. Only for him to tell me that he doesn’t have any stock when I tell him how interested I am.

WTF DUDE! W.H.Y? Why try and sell me a TV that you don’t have? Typical South African mentality! I wanted to strangle the bastard, but he had the same name as me, so I let it slide.

I go back the next day to get the DSTV decoder and shit. I get the decoder, HDMI Cables, extra RC cables. What don’t they have? The cable that goes from the wall into the DSTV! FFS I might as well have pissed away the money I spent on the HDMI and RC cables, because without the cable the decoder won’t work. So now I must go to HI FI Corporation (Corruption) to get the cable.

I mean the appeal of a place like Makro or Massmart is that you can get everything in one place. Even the kitchen sink. People who go to a place like Makro and Massmart and get told that there is no stock of something is the most frustrating thing in the world. There is no other way to describe it!

I then go to a Spar (a major local supermarket chain here) and I ask the attendant where I will find tin foil (aluminium foil). “Eish I don’t know that.” I go to the next one…”what is that? Even I don’t know what it is.” Five staff members tell me this. So I am now PISSED.  Spitting blood. I find a manager and I ask him where it is. And to his credit, he was a consummate gentleman and even took me to where it is. “Tell me something my good man…do you train your staff?” I could see I touched a nerve because he buried his head in his hand and said very slowly, “Yes…Why?” so I regaled the case of the mysterious toil foil to him.

It just amazes me how people in South Africa:

A – celebrate mediocrity by still employing these rocket scientists.

B – celebrate stupidity by screwing up something simple.

But I have a theory: I think that the staff members I asked about the tinfoil knew EXACTLY what I was asking about, they just wanted to piss me off. And they do this with all white people. If this is the case, I find it very unfair because I never oppressed anyone during apartheid and have never hated based on the colour of their skin.

Mei jua daima kuwa kabla yenu, na vivuli nyuma yako!