I just spent the whole afternoon in Ethiopian Post Office, EMS section. I had a document sent a week ago that hasn’t made it to the destination yet. The office provides an online tracking system, but all I could get is that my document is inserted into a bag in Addis Ababa. So after calling for hours on Monday afternoon, I was promised that the issue with my document would be inspected by sending an email to the destination’s post office correspondents.
However, neither an email nor any action was taken until yesterday. And that was when I started to raise my tone at the guy who was on the phone. But all I could get was an irritated response for me to come to the office or to shut the phone and when I refused he did it with no regard at all.
So I went rushing to clarify with them in person but I returned with no avail. I went to the same office today too. But all they said was ‘if you want to contact the boss, that is the door’ so I did. And it turned out that it was a mistake.
The fact was their bosses were worst of them all. They were reluctant to find a solution to the problem but full of contempt to just lie about it and let it pass away. Hence it hit me, almost all the time we shout at the guy or girl in front of us. When Power is lost, when an internet connection is lost, when a bad food is served, the list goes on. I never cared to find out more about the problem and its source with patience so I do the easiest thing, and that is to shout at the easy target in front of me. But the problem is never them. It is always the big guy in the office. We are getting shitty service from EthioTel because of the big guys in the country. They won't let any competition to come to the country and hence we have a lazy corporation ripping us off. EthioTel doesn't care if you get the service you paid for or not. Because they had nothing to lose. At the end of the day, you are still their customer. That is why they are an unethical and most corrupt organization in the country. Back to the point, so why is the internet so slow today, or not available at all? Because we have a control freak government that doesn't care for its citizen. So if you really want to have a good internet you have to make some political moves, in the meantime try teaching the people of Ethiopia about privatization and a free market, because the government has brainwashed everyone.
The same is true about the bad service you got served. The restaurant manager doesn't care. He has a good location and in an economy really difficult for any startup restaurant. So he doesn't really care if you complain. He knows you will come tomorrow. If you don't he knows there are a lot of other people. almost 10 million people just in Addis Ababa.
So the lesson is if you want to get a good service in Ethiopia, don't shout at the people in front of you. Just let it be. If you really, really want it though fight for a free market. Including librating government controlled sectors.
