A wasted morning!

It never ceases to amaze or frustrate the crap out of me the time it takes to get things done in this country. The most simplest and menial of tasks seem to take forever, inevitably always a problem comes up that prevents the task from being completed right and without hassles the first time.

I wrote a poem on this very subject a few weeks ago:

Ranting: “PNG Inefficiency”

This morning’s frustration was borne after I spent a couple of hours in town this morning basically just chasing things up:

1. A visit to the Telikom Office to sort out an issue with my bill. This has been going on since February this year and probably takes up on average 3 hours of my time a fortnight. And after this morning’s visit – you guessed it! – they still haven’t got it right! Telikom allows their clients to pay their phone bills using an online payment system similar to B-Pay – all well and good except – that Telikom’s billing system continually fails to recognise payments made by the B-Pay system. Unbelievable! In the meantime Telikom seem to think that I owe them more bucks than what I actually do. (Total time wasted: 1 hour)
   
2. ATM queue to withdraw cash. (Total time wasted: 45 minutes)
3. Queue inside the ANZ Bank to deposit my pay cheque. (Total time wasted: 1 hour)
4. Called the Telikom Faults Office in Mt Hagen to report another fault with our phone at home. It has died yet again and from initial inspection it would appear the same cause as the fault from a few weeks ago. Poor workmanship rules!!

Quite frankly, there are times when the frustration, caused by this ongoing battle in getting things done, feels like it’s slowly eroding away at me. In the words of that famous Australian comedian: “How much can a koala bear”?

In the meantime it’s 1:45pm and I have not yet been to the Budget workshop!

Surely, I have been in this country for too long!!