NOV 23, 18 .. SUNRISE .. SUNSET .. THANKSGIVING 2018 IS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR ..

Patti and I hope your Turkey Day, now receding in the rear-view-mirror of history, was a great day and all of you celebrated all that you have to be thankful for.

‘Black Friday’, Friday the 23rd of November, year 2018, is upon you back in the U.S.

Not one whimper here in Irkutsk, Russian Siberia, about either Thanksgiving or ‘Black Friday’ (the day after Thanksgiving when all the merchants hope their books are-in-the-black and showing a profit going into the Holiday Shopping Season 2018).

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WHEN DOES IT GET EASY

Subtitle : Cell phones.

I have two International cell phones (cell phones #1 and #2) with me. I loaned one to a friend here who joined me for the first several weeks of this trip. My friend opted for a different cell phone carrier so I have two cell phone carriers to deal with since I now have the ‘loaner’ (cell phone #2) back under my wing.

A life-truth : One cell phone company is enough. No one needs two cell phone companies to deal with.

A week or so ago, I took cell phone #2 into a local generic cell phone store that can re-charge all of the Russian Branded Sim Cards.

Mike was with me and, thanks to Mike, I got cell phone #2 re-charged.

So I ‘know the deal’. I know the location of the generic cell phone store and I know (from the above experience with Mike) that they can get-the-job-done as to recharging cell phone #2.

Piece-of-cake.

En route to the generic cell phone service store, I stopped into my local Papa Johns Pizza for a small pizza.

Happy and satisfied with my very-first-ever Papa John’s Pizza, I proceeded to my cell phone store.

In I walked. I went up to the re-charge machine (it looks like an ATM). I summoned ‘my’ clerk (I have done all this once before so I knew-the-ropes) to assist me. I handed her a 500 Russian Ruble note (US $7.50) and giving her the phone number of cell phone #2, with sign and body language, indicated to her that I wanted the money credited to my cell phone.

She took the money. Fed it into the automated re-charge machine. It did-it’s-thing and produced a formal receipt showing the details of the transaction.

I (knowing-the-ropes) dialed up my cell phone carrier (*105#) to check my balance expecting it to show about a 450 Russian Ruble (500 Rubles less a 10% service fee) increase in my available funds. It showed that NO funds had been added to my account!

And so it began.

I took my receipt and cell phone over to the service counter and with body language, indicated to the store manager that I’d given his clerk 500 Rubles to re-charge my cell phone and (pointing at my cell phone) had nothing to show for it.

The next ten minutes were a total loss. He spoke no English. I spoke no Russian. I pointed out to him on my receipt that I had paid 500 Rubles. He agreed. I showed him on my cell phone that I’d gotten no credit what-so-ever. He agreed.

Howevah, although he was in agreement with my situation .. Nothing, absolutely nothing changed.

Finally I telephoned Mike, thinking to myself, “See! You should have asked Mike to join you BUT NO Captain! You knew you could manage to accomplish this kinder-garden-level task yourself.”

With Mike on the cell phone, I handed the phone to the manager (who shied away from taking it but finally did). They had a long talk. He finally gave me the phone back. Mike said that he (Mike) would have to assist me in person and for me to be sure I kept my receipt.

The same thing happened three weeks ago when I paid 2,000 Russian Rubles cash to be credited to cell phone #1. Only that time I ‘lost’ 1,000 Rubles. It took Mike two days to get my 1,000 Ruble deficit corrected.

So here-we-go loop-de-loop with Mike again having to (I assume he will indeed do so) bail me out again only now with cell phone #2 and 500 Rubles.

In India I have never ever resolved such disputes and have always just lost the money that I had paid in cash.

So tomorrow (Saturday) I will meet Mike (who has a life outside of and beyond holding my hands) and we will get this idiotic mess corrected (I assume we will).

Today’s Rhetorical Question : When Does It Get Easy?

Today’s Rhetorical Answer: It Seems To Me That It Never Truly Gets Easy!

This entire adventure was a ‘lock’. This entire trip to the cell phone store was a ‘done deal’. Or so I thought when I set out to get the additional money onto my cell phone #2.

Still Smiling ..

Cap

Oh By The Way .. Just in case anyone is interested .. Below is a link to the web site of a treatment center that I visited last weekend.

http://www.volya-irk.ru

Below is a link to a photograph and an article about my visit.

http://www.volya-irk.ru/information/news/14889/

IF you read the article closely you will find a piece of information shockingly inaccurate. It makes me wonder just what my translators and associates are really saying. I sent the treatment center an e-mail asking that it be corrected. Overall it was a nice photo and article. They DID notice that Your Captain DID like the Chocolate Cake.

• ← NOV 22, 18 .. HAPPY, JOYOUS, AND A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL
• NOV 24, 18 .. HERE WE GO AGAIN .. →