Frustration

suspension bridge

I am seething with frustration and I feel at the moment I have to get it off my chest!! There are some things inVietnamthat make me so angry, I want to lash out!!! There are mostly stupid insignificant things but enough to send you over the edge….. HEY!! Don’t give me that look…. You feel it. There are things in our society that really pisses you off….. and here I have mine. Please allow me to do a little venting ant tell you of a few peeves that get to me…. I will tell you of the big piss off at the end.

Firstly there is the frustration of getting a person to actually follow instructions or do a job the way you want to do. To some, this is the biggest frustration, but to me, it is a minor one. As an example in this case, I had a family member build a shelf for me. I asked for a IKEA like shelf made from 3 or 4 metal rods to stretch a 6 foot span in our hotel kitchen. Easy enough you would thing but…….. I returned home to find that my hired nephew had decided that a tempered glass shelf was much better than the open

Ethnic Village

bare shelf I asked for. He even got me a very good deal on the glass and it was not much more than the bare and open shelf I asked for. Because he is family, I did not blow up and simply grinded my teeth… patiently waiting until he finished the installation. OK!!! All is finished. My Nephew was proud of the job contrary to my opposition and smugly he looked at me with a dare to prove that his shelf was in any way inferior to the simple 3 rod open slatted design I had wanted. Grrrr…. Grind, grind, grrrrr…. I am controlling myself…. I responded to him by simply putting my rice cooker, microwave, and large toaster oven on my new shelf and said 3 impossible words…… PLUG THEM IN!!!! All I got was sack jawed responses and confusion….. To this day I have power cords interfering with the counter areas below because a very simple instruction could not be followed. And then there is the more common phenomenon of having to take apart and reassemble your motorcycle after a mechanic has repaired it to put the correct bolts into their original places  I could go on and on about things that frustrate such as funerals throwing small money in the street causing children to run into traffic collecting bills, or, shopping malls and stores pumping up the volume in the belief that louder booming music will attract more customers (sorry to say with the Viet’s this may be so) So let me tell you about the biggest frustration for me…

Another bridge

It all started with noodles two years ago. The store I purchased a certain brand of noodles that took 6 months to replace inventory depleted in only a few days. It seemed the time I spent trying to explain the principals of supply and demand just would not soak in. In our hotel we now offer breakfast. It is a good breakfast and besides quality, I want to offer something else special. You can get toast with peanut butter or jam, a good cup of western style coffee……. Eggs anyway you want them and…….. Supposedly hash browns. YES!! Melt in our mouth, buttery, golden Brown hash browns. I discovered them in a market in Nha Trang and offered them on my menu. True to form, they ran out of stock and it was months before they were re-ordered. HELLO!!!!!! Supply and demand I told them yet again, but it is a concept they seem not to understand. I bought 2 cases when back in stock thinking that it would be enough, but they were such a success with the hash brown starved traveler, I returned 2 days later to buy their whole stock. Wishful

Those are big boys

thinking…. They were out of stock already and it has now been 2 months since we ran out. What really would have me pulling my hair out if I had any is that we have a new supermarket open in town that had in its freezer section a frozen fish filet that I liked very much called Pacific Dorey. I had purchased 3 packages and enjoyed the fish so much at the next days breakfast, that I jumped on the motorcycle and headed back to buy more.

Sorry!! Dorey out of stock! I talked with the meat department people and asked that it be restocked. As before, they did not seem to understand why I wanted that fish when there is always Basa available. Yes Basa ia available everywhere but I would like something different!

On old bombed church

For 6 months I have braved going into the Citimart in Nha Trang checking the freezer section for the frozen filets. I often do not last long and am forced to leave without purchases because of the booming loud background music. Once a week I check and the freezer section and ladies watch as I sadly walk away with my fingers plugging my ears, but today!! I walk in and endure the loud warbling voiced vocalist. THERE!!!!! At thee top of the fish section was what I have been waiting for. I saw from a distance but knew it was so! I rushed up and seized the long awaited package and proceeded to dig deeper and deeper into the freezer chest in search of more. The freezer ladies rushed up and told me to not to bother digging through the freezer.  “Ok”, I say, “can you bring me a case of these filets?” I ask. The ladies are talking excitedly to me and shaking their heads. They all knew how long I have been checking for this product and I had just grabbed the only remaining package from a shipment they received 2 days ago.

Noooooo!!! I feel like Charlton Heston falling to my knees in Planet of the apes….. Damn them!! Damn them all!!!!!

Post navigation

6 thoughts on “Frustration

  1. Yep, ha ha!! Then there’s the one about the moron who decided to open a western style cafe in Tuy Hoa (WHERE?!) .

    Had a local come in the other day with friends and ordered spaghetti. When it hit the table she asked Phuong what she should put on it…my wife said ‘nothing, the sauce is very good, don’t add anything’. She then watched as the girl proceeded to drown it in mayonaise, ketsup and chili sauce. After the first bite she announced ‘it’s not very good’…

    ‘Texan’ can always go to ‘Wally-World’ I can truely feel your pain!!

    On the other hand…and on the brighter side…

    The new pizza oven burned out the ‘Playschool’ plug and the receptacle it was plugged into. Nothing fit so it was arcing and just melted both after a few days. We called a guy who has done some work before and gave him a little list of some electrical things we wanted done. His suggestion (I’d thought about it but could see an argument coming) hard wire it through a heavy switch!!!!!

    I just stood there in total amazement and awe!!!

    Bob

  2. Hi Owen,
    Hard to get good help in any country.
    Eggs!! I can’t believe you do eggs without feet or beaks, what a great idea it might catch on. We will add an extra night just to make sure of the product.
    See you in a short while.

  3. Hi Owen
    You may want to take the matter in your own hands and plant a garden with potatoes or set up a distributor business.
    Ray

  4. I feel your pain!! I believe that you are fighting a losing and hopeless cause! The supply and demand concept are lost on other cultures in this world unfortunately. Maybe you will have some luck one day in getting this message across to them and the lesson will spread throughout the land! :)) Doesn’t hurt to day dream a little. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *