Day 16: G'day Mate!

People who know me well will know that I have a certain degree of telephonophobia: the fear of talking over a phone. (Of course there are exceptions - I prefer making a phone call to being beaten with a stick, OR being thrown in cold water, but mostly it has been good for my telephone bill.) The prospect of making numerous phone calls relating to the many administrative tasks involved around settling in a new country was, to say the least, rather unpleasant.

So then, when I recently opened a bank account at one of the local branches, only to arrive back home and realise I still need to activate parts of my online profile TELEPHONICALLY, I was filled with horror. The lady in the bank was so FRIENDLY. It was so EASY to open a bank account. No FICA or RICA or any ICA's. (Fellow South Africans will know what a painful process it is to open any account in SA!) Now THIS.....

I prepared myself mentally for the ordeal awaiting me. It has to be done. No choice. I selected my reward: a piece of choice Lindt chocolate. 

It's good to have some solid motivation to complete a daunting task.

I dial the number and brace myself to be met by a wall of unfriendliness and repeating my request 8 1/2 times to someone who does not reaaaaaally know or want to assist.....

"G'day Mate! And how are you today?"

Ooops...... didn't prepare for that one. Not too difficult though. 'Well' should suffice. Or even a 'Very well, thanks.'

"How can we help you today?"

Yep, saw that one coming. Got the answer. No problem.

"Excellent. I will do that in no time. And how did you spend Christmas and New Year? Did you have a good time?"

Oi! Where's that coming from? You'd swear she knew me by name! Well I guess she does, seeing as she's sitting with my details on the screen before her...

"Terrific! That sounds very nice. Just a moment while I update the system..... Was Santa good to you this year?"

Santa?? He stopped giving me anything since I made it very clear years ago that I much preferred the tooth-fairy. SHE visited many times a year, AND left nice notes too. But that's too lengthy an answer, and probably somewhat unexpected. Maybe better to say Santa visited the kids in the family, much to their delight...

"There! All done. Is there ANYTHING else I can assist you with?"

Phone the Department of Transport to book the Driver's license test?? Pleeeease??

But of course I didn't say that. And of course she didn't phone them. But I still looked at the phone in wonder: maybe the problem all along hasn't been ME. There must be many more people dreading to phone Telkom. Or anyone of many service providers in South Africa. She actually sounded like she really WANTED to help.

After thinking about it for several days, I decided the friendly telephone lady must most certainly have a little butterfly tattoo somewhere...

Little Friendly Butterfly