Bureaucracy netvigates

First of all, an official announcement: The dragon boat races are TOMORROW and the day has been declared a PUBLIC HOLIDAY in Hong Kong, so the whole city will be there! CRAZY!

Check out the webpage (I learned how to do a hyperlink now) for info on the race, the teams and sponsors and, most importantly, the results http://www.dragonboat.org.hk ! Our goal is to beat at least one team in our group (Expat Men A) so let's see if that works out.... but I guess the Finnish organization is more concerned with the sufficient supply of beer inbetween the races (I think there will be a minimum of three races)- or at least that is the impression I got from past comments (and the mass of some of our team members, they seem to be gourmets in the simple meaning of the word)- it's going to be relaxed and fun and hopefully the weather will go along (otherwise waiting in wet clothes might be slightly uncomfortable). Go Nordic Dragons!!!

Referring to the title of this post, an alternative wielding more explanatory power, should have been: “On how to acquire possession of a Netvigator Broadband Internet Service Termination Request Form”. I spent 2.5 hours today trying to get hold of a representative of our broadband internet service provider – I have been trying to do that for the past two weeks since the contract has to be terminated 1 month in advance. Anyways, after unsuccessfully dialing through the rather confusing customer service hotline, which seems to be the only way to get in touch, since my emails got no response, and after listening to five different stages of explanations in bad Chinglish, each time choosing a different number, I ended up with a taped voice telling me that I should go to http://www.netvigator.com/ to download a “Service Termination Request Form”. Or alternatively they could fax it to me. No fax, try the net. Of course I could not find the form. So I called again and it took me some time to again find the right “path” ending up with the right tape. Well, I ended up googling for the form and finding it- unfortunately downloading it was not possible. How annoying!!! Can’t they use the technology they are (indirectly) selling? Is it so difficult to talk to a real person? I got soooo angry… so I again called the hotline and just started pressing random numbers # and * signs… until some other tape “recognized” I might have “technical difficulties” and connected me with a “technical support officer”- FINALLY a REAL person! I got him to take my number, call me back and then after mutual agreement my property agency to fax them a self-made termination request (no need for the stupid form) valid ASAP! Turns out that they need to pick up the modem from us (I thought we had paid for it?)- well, that’s not my problem anymore (I just need to get their payments OFF my Visa bill!). It helps a bit to know that other people had similar experiences shattering any perception of customer service and perceived value for money. And they were as angry as to write about it.

http://www.cw.com.hk/computerworldhk/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=177442

(Stefan Hammond, Computerworld, Hong Kong).

Anyways, again a prime sample of Chinese/HK bureaucracy: for everything, there is a form or a paper you need to sign. And things move VERY slow. Some examples: I picked up my student Octopus Card two days ago: I was allowed to pick it up after 1 month of processing, the stamp on the card was dated 3 days after I had handed in my request. I wanted to deactivate my student card at the admin office today (we are supposed to do that I was told): everyone was out for lunch at the same time (and this is the case with the Housing Office, the Student Affair’s Office or any other Office between noon and 2 pm). Erkki collected all his change during the term and we wanted to pay with coins for food (since the bank did not want to change coins into bills) and they would not sell us food (hey, it’s MONEY!). Well, enough of that! But fact is: HK people love rules and formalities (be it showing up for the final presentation in a class in a suit or taking student society year photos with everyone in suits or naming every society with a name consisting of at least 10 English words-the more complicated the better, right?). But Finland is not better in some aspects (just thinking about Elisa Laajakaista and their customer service hotline in which I spent 45 minutes queuing just to get someone completely incompetent to tell me to go to a store…)

Otherwise the day was great: Erkki turned 25 and we started the day with some good breakfast (pancakes). Iina, Jussi’s girlfriend, left after spending two weeks here (1 week in the Phillipines). Peace is back, but can’t go into details! *smile* I booked a flight to Shanghai and will be leaving from Shenzhen on June 1st together with Erkki, Martin and Jiri from the Czech Republic and Jack from Xian. The current plan is to spent 4 days in Shanghai and then to take the night train to Beijing. I have 3 weeks in China and I really need to see those two cities, Xian, Chengdu and Yunnan province.

Campus is empty - so is the computer room. The Swedish girls (Alexandra, Matilda, Josefin) and Mike (the first exchange I met in HK) left today; most of the Canadians and U.S. people left on Sunday and Monday. There’s some of us left, but not many…. I am trying to look for flights to NZ now. And meanwhile the boys are getting drunk on absolute lemon sitting right next to me in the barn (computer lab).