There are 'better countries' where one would have higher expectations about most things. Better sanitation, better air, better traffic, better infra structure, better economy, better life style, better service, better education, better water, better food, better... better... better. The assumption of better does not always mean that you will like it more. It's just a general acknowledgement that certain things are better here than in other places. In Asia, it is in countries like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore that you would most likely to make the above assumption. Certain things are supposed to be better.
I went into a bank grumpy looking at the long queue, but realised that I had no choice but to join the crowd and waited for my turn. The queue was moving rather quickly and the bank tellers seemed to be moving swiftly and efficiently. The afternoon was not going to be wasted after all. It did. A bunch of my foreign currency notes failed to pass 'the machine' and the teller could not tell me why.
Bank dude:I've explained to you that we can not take notes that the machine did not pass.
Me: I know. I understand, but what is it that the machine looks for?
Bank dude: We can only run them in the machine once. I already told you.
Me: I know. I understand that bit. Are you saying that these bills might be counterfeit?
Bank dude: I'm not sure. I just can not take your bills.
Me: Huh?!
The guy who served me was incapable of thinking, or responding out of the box. The great machine cleverly programmed the humans behind the counter a set of questions and answers. It was as if in the name of efficiency that the human was stripped of the one thing that makes them human; the ability to think independently and make judgments by comprehending certain situations.
My better assumption was completely wrong. Or is it that I have too high of an expectation? I missed out the fact that sometimes when things are too orderly, we lack the creativity to assess a situation and coming out with a solution. What seems to be better, might not work after all.
15 years ago
3 comments:
Oh, my dear! Tell the bank dude to come to Italy for a while, he'll learn to be witty pretty fast :-)
Cool jazz!
Kisses
haha, i can just imagine the bank dude saying those words in sporean accent. i think it's the word combo that makes me imagine that. you catching on the with accent yet?
Cyth, the same thing happens to me here in Jakarta all the time. In fact, Indonesia was the first place this ever happened to me, and I've been travelling in asia for a long time. But, in the past few years, a large number of US $100 bills have been placed on a counterfeit watch list because the series they all under (ther serial numbers) have been used in counterfeiting operations OR they dont incorporate adequate anti-counterfeiting security measures. 99% chance that your bills are fine. If they were def counterfeit, the bank would have confiscated them. Not sure if you were using US$, but its happing a lot all over Asia now, and is usually targeting US$ because they are the bills that almost all counterfeiters want to make. Long gone are the days where all banks would take any US$100 bill they could get thier hands on.
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