Three trick pony

When I think back about our time in Germany three main blog post topics come to mind: 1) poor customer service, 2) poor hair services, 3) healthcare fiascos. I'm beginning to get a grasp on what my themes for China will be: 1) poor drivers, 2) food, 3) the crazy utility purchasing process. This post is regarding number three and something, one year later, I have become especially frustrated with.

I was told that I needed to go to our clubhouse to buy gas. As usual, I take my wallet and march into the clubhouse to tell them I had been informed we were low on gas. You'd think they were used to this declaration and thus, prepared to assist the residents on purchasing this fairly important commodity, but nooooo. It seems to take longer each time I go and I usually leave more confused about whether I have purchased something, or not. Every single time I ask them, "how much gas, electricity, water do most people buy at one time?" I never get a clear answer, so today I tried a different tactic. I happened to only have a small amount of cash on me, so I fanned it out in front of her and said, "I want to buy this amount of gas." That really seemed to confuse the poor girl. She asked, "How much gas do you want to buy?" Now after laying out your cash how would you answer this query? I started by pointing out the obvious. Um, 1500 RMB worth?....blank stare. Um, ten gallons?.....blank stare. A tankful? 42 quarts? 14 inches? A bushel? Eventually she took my money, gave me some type of receipt and as of 8:00 pm this evening our gas stove top is still working.

I could do what a lot of others do and let my Ayi handle this process, but what fun would that be? And what would I have to blog to you all about?

"Hmmm, any gas?"

"Yep, we got gas. Or is that just Indy?"