Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Post Bag #2

Today I ventured to the Mandaluyong Post Office to collect a parcel from Amazon (Fully Booked may be wonderful but it doesn't have everything!). What a stressful 40 minutes...

To start with the taxi driver dropped me at what I can only assume is Mayor Gonzales office building...if the statue of the great man himself outside is any guide...this guy has some ego!

No matter, the post office is just around the corner...so I pottered over there...to wait....and wait....whilst waiting for all the paperwork, chatting and customs charges to be sorted out I had the "pleasure" of watching all the parcels that had arrived that day being opened and examined...with absolutely no heed to the contents which spilled out all over the place....including some piece of electronic equipment which was taken out of the box, all the wrapping taken off and the bits strewn all over the table...can't see that working in the near future...

Must remind friends and family not to send parcels after that little viewing...never have the bloody camera when I need it....

The reason for my little trip to the Post Office was because normally the charges for getting a parcel are P35, yesterday our messenger came back announcing it was P2,500 this time to release the goodies...I decided to see for myself what was going on....in the end I had to pay P1,200...and just to add insult to injury....I still had to pay the P35 on top of that princely sum...

The form that my receipt is written on is entitled "Statement and Receipts of duties collected on informal entry"...next time I'll tell the parcel to come in a tux and maybe I wont't have to pay....and just for a little idea of how insecure the Philippine govt. in its own currency...there's a lovely line at the bottom..

If the total value of the entry exceeds twenty-five (25) dollars, United States Currency, two pesos (P2.00) customs Documentary Stamp shall be affixed to the original informal entry.

...obviously they don't have confidence in the strength of their own currency.

And finally, just to really piss me off.....they had opened my parcel of books and retaped it closed, in the process wrapping tape around my books...so the covers are now damaged....as my brother knows to his cost...willfull damage of books is not something I suffer gladly... (when I was 10 and my brother 5, he damaged a book I had bought ( a geography encyclopedia) which I had saved my pocket money to buy, we were in the car on the way home and he - on purpose - ripped a page....I actually saw red and that was the beginning of my family's awareness of my fearful temper).....I am seriously, seriously unhappy at present...

On the way out of the post office I noticed a sign on the wall...

Mass Blood Letting
February 28th
8am-2pm


Believe me, you have no idea how much I want to participate in a mass blood letting in that post office....

2 Comments:

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