Remember that song?
I do. I grew up on it and all the other Disney stuff. I still watch the Disney Channel from time to time. The Mandalorian and the rest of those Star Wars derivatives are well-written sci-fi dramas. The network is more American than apple pie. More than our country’s prime-time melodramas. I don’t know why that maniac, Ron Desantis, Governor of Florida, wanted to take them on. He knows he watched Disney shows. Maybe he’s pissed because he never got to go.
Who knows, but certainly, if you were a kid born in the 50s, trust me, somewhere along the line, you either watched Disney Cartoons or TV shows and knew that song. But guess what? Surprise. It is not “a small world after all.” Still, after all these decades and tech innovations, it is not.
Travel the World.
Try getting your medications quickly delivered to your home internationally. Try taking care of US business when 24-hour Chat only operates on American EST and regular workers are long gone home. It is filled with more bureaucracy than ever with apps and two-part verification codes, etc., and talking to more people about the same thing because it has to go from more virtual desks than before.
And that includes the AI and its virtual agents. You have to get past them; they are very polite, and you can chat with a human so out of the loop that he can barely get beyond Sir or Madam “Can I help you”? Sound small to you? It can be easier with tangible goods, not ghost words, over the internet. I’m all over Skype because my Egyptian phone number won’t work. And on and on. And, it is even more challenging to take care of things like getting one silly copy of an automobile title so a family member you left your car for can drive it in peace.
Did I know I needed to care of so many things before leaving the country?
It didn’t occur to me. Just thought it was as easy as giving it away. My fault. The time and energy we have to put in to get a title transferred from Arizona to California is hilarious. “No, we don’t have it. Arizona does”, the finance company says. The only copy I have is sealed in a storage UHaul box waiting for us to complete the paperwork for its trip on a ship to Egypt, and then Goddess help us through customs. The cost is estimated to be close to $7,000!
I’m ready to have my kid drive it with that UHaul box into the Bay. No really. Or ship the damn thing here to Alexandria, where getting it on the road won’t be more manageable if you are a foreigner. The bureaucracy is a nightmare. It isn’t any easier than driving if you are a foreigner. It would be best to have a residency to stay over your Visa. So you renewed it in Cairo but need to register the car you bought in Alexandria, where you now live.
Unfortunately, waiting to change your residency when it expires would be best. And round and round we go. Why did the seller let the residency pass before selling it because a friend gave him false info? Now, everybody is running around trying to make it happen. Fortunately, after the trip to Cairo, he and his friend, the seller, were able to make it happen. But not without a lot of bribing and negotiation in a government office. It’s a small, shady world, indeed.
Typical Alexandria traffic.
My husband has spent the last week 5 to 8-hour days. Trying to register a car and being bounced from office to office, DMV to DMV to Immigration back to DMV, and the Police just to be told that he needs to register the car back in Cairo where we got our residency. OK, then, what must we do? Some Egyptians in those offices get a kick out of making it more difficult for foreigners. It’s not a small world, but shouldn’t getting that done in the US be easier? One would think, but nope. And some workers don’t have a problem saying upfront when you are trying to get something done, “That’s gonna’ cost you.” in gangsta style Arabic. You pay the hood off, or you don’t get your shit taken care of.
Everyone knows it. Everyone pays it, or it’s too bad for you. Egypt is full of people telling you upfront or on the back end that you need to pay for whatever it was even perceived I did. Like when you park on a street. The Bowab expects you to hit him with a few Egyptian pounds to keep an eye on your car, or because he is charged with keeping the spaces open just for the residents, he lets you squeeze in for a while.
Our System is no Better.
Try getting the correct information from our American workers. They often don’t know how anything works outside their sphere. Any international business you need to take falls quickly into that void of “Sorry, I can’t help you.” I may ask to be transferred back to the AI for customer support. For a country that is in everyone’s business (except taking care of our own), our systems are minimal and often hard to maneuver outside the country. Sometimes, I can’t use my VISA card online because Egypt comes up. I spent days changing my address and phone numbers.
Those Damn Computer Scammers!
OK, so we’ve got to be careful about computer scamming, etc. Authentication phone numbers when you either have to buy a US phone number or use Skype and that phone number won’t work. But really? What the hell is 24-hour Chat if it is only limited to the United States?
How about reminding Americans that they can pay bills with checks from checking accounts through Bill Pay? Did it ever occur that not everyone accepts a Visa Card? Everyone has to use a different currency with different values.
So yes, I support our young people knowing about their history, but how about we also show them a stamp and an envelope for history’s sake? Our children are growing up innocently stupid. Now, let me drink some more coffee in the middle of the night to find out why my FedEx prescription delivery has done more traveling than I have this year. And why am I paying a higher customs charge than it costs me to buy the medication?
Oh, and this will be the last one because I can now walk into any Pharmacy and talk to a Pharmacist about what I need. Because that person is treated and respected here like the Doctor they are, I don’t have to sell my medication on a bon voyage to visit the pyramids before it can catch up with me in a local FedEx office in Alexandria.
And, if you don’t know.
“You might not address your pharmacist as “Doctor” in the United States, but a PharmD degree is a doctorate. It’s similar to a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. A doctorate is the increased amount of responsibility your pharmacist has in supplying trustworthy, high-level healthcare”.
I remember at College, I was scared to death of mind-altering drugs, but the students who had access to the best drugs were the Pharmacy students. Isn’t that trip, or should I say, a loss of all my good sense not in a mescaline world in a Small World?
