Here’s a typical phone conversation I had yesterday (flowing into today). Just a little background….I’m having X get brackets to hang curtain rods on and hoops to hang the curtains onto the rod. I have some from our home in Tala and want to match those (which were bought in Kenya so you would think they could still be purchased). X has to travel to Nairobi to get them, nothing like this in Tala, so I met X the night before to give her samples of what I’m looking for. Here’s the next day conversation:
Me: did you get the brackets and hoops?
X: yes I got the brackets but they won’t sell them without the pipe (that’s what they call the curtain rod).
Me: I don’t need the pipe just the brackets and hoops. Can you find plain, silver brackets?
X: yes but they won’t sell them without the pipe
Me: I don’t need the pipe just brackets. Can you find plain, silver brackets? (deja vu’?)
X: yes but they are gold.
Me: I don’t want gold, they must be silver.
X: yes I have silver brackets
(By this time I’m about ready to throw the phone across the room!)
Me: ok, so you have silver brackets?
X: yes it’s the hoops I’m having a hard time with. They don’t have the clear ones you gave me as a sample, only silver.
Me: I don’t want silver hoops. If you can’t find clear don’t get any (the entire time I’m talking she’s talking over me and not listening). So just to be clear you have silver brackets but not hoops?
X: you sound confused (you think!?). I’ll come to your house and explain to you in person what I’ve found.
Me: (as she continues talking over me) listen….if you can’t find clear then don’t get any.
X: you sound confused I’ll come talk to you in person.
Me: you don’t need to come all the way back to Tala then back to Nairobi if you can find the clear hoops today.
X: I won’t be tired I’ll go back to Nairobi tomorrow
Me: but if you………
Phone disconnects. I try to call her back and get a message “you don’t have enough credit to make this call”! And she doesn’t call me back so now I wait for her to come over to explain to me what the heck she’s talking about.
Meanwhile I can’t text Chuck to top up my phone, not enough credit to even text so I email him. Luckily he called me a little later (he didn’t see my email until after he got home!) and topped up my phone.
Text X to have her come over in the morning by 8am because I have another appointment and will be leaving the house by around 9:30 or 10. She texts me back and says she’ll be at my house no later than 9:30. I figure if she shows up great, if not she’ll have to find me at C4KK.
Fast forward to Friday morning at 9:30 and no X. I text her and don’t hear back from her. My other appointment arrives and we are set to leave so I call X and tell her I’m stopping in Tala at Sunny Lucky (a store we frequent) in 10 minutes, please meet me there. Ok she says and I leave the house.
I’m 2 minutes away from Sunny Lucky and X calls me saying she’s there, where am I. Admittedly my temper rose a few degrees. I sternly say, “you weren’t at my house all morning like you said. I’m coming.” To which she says “I’m going back to my shop, come there.” So I swallow my anger and hang up the phone. Luckily her shop is next to Sunny Lucky so I head up to her shop. X shows me brass brackets (do those look silver!?) and gold hoops. I plainly state “I don’t want either of those, give me back my money.” She agrees (boy, she’s lucky she agreed) and I’m out of her shop in less than 5 minutes.
Now I’m trying to find someone who can actually get the stuff I need.
One other typical event for us….Chuck stops at the petrol station this morning to fill up the tank. He tells the attendant to put in 4500/ksh. The attendant begins putting petrol in the truck and Chuck sees it’s getting close to 4300/ksh and the gas is beginning to come out of the tank. Chuck looks at the attendant and says “stop, it’s full!” The attendant continues putting petrol in the truck and looks at the pump like “it’s not at 4500/ yet”. Chuck again tells him to stop, and this time he listens!
I’m not lying when I say these are typical conversations/events we deal with on a daily basis here. It tends to create a very frustrating environment because I honestly don’t know how to understand it. What’s that prayer which says if you ask for patience God puts you in situations where you need to practice patience? Boy I’m practicing but failing miserably….forgive me!