The One About the Ladder...

I can’t begin to tell you just how many times I think to myself, “I can’t wait to blog about this!” But at the end of the day, I only have time to write so many blogs. Nunu and I are still in the States, but for the most part our life he is very boring... well not boring, but normal. So I’m going to try to post some additional blogs that have been floating around in my head!

A few months back, Nunu and I headed to town to buy a ladder. I can only imagine what you are thinking... a story about a ladder? But yes, this is a blog about a ladder.

As we drove up to the store, we realized something was off. The store was under construction... there was nothing inside. After looking around a little, we realized that they relocated all of their merchandise to a shop across the street. There were no signs, we just saw all the items through the windows. The building had about 4 doors and as we approached them all, it was obvious they didn’t work because materials were leaning right up against them. So we just watched to see where people came out of and finally found the door.

We had gone looking for ladders a month back and found this store to have the best deal. And they had one of those 4 section ladders, that you can bend and use in many different ways. We have really tall ceilings and therefore, we needed this particular ladder.

4-Section Ladder Package

When we went to compare prices, the ladder cost $300. But today, it cost $285 and they gave us a 5% discount, which was another $15 off! This is very uncommon to get a discount without asking, but I’ll take it!

Stores here all operate differently. In this particular shop you go to a cashier and pay for the item and even if you have the item in hand, they take it from you and bring it over to the pick-up counter. Then you take your receipt to the pick-up counter where the item is waiting.

After speaking with one of the sales reps, we paid the cashier and then made our way to the pick-up counter. When we got to the pick-up counter they review our receipt and after much review and conversation they decided they rang us up for the wrong ladder and we needed to pay another $15.

So we headed back to the payment counter to pay the difference and then brought our new receipt to the pick-up counter. By now the ladder was at the door with Nunu and I could tell something was going on. The guy at the door was saying we had more than one ladder. I tried showing him the picture on the ladder package and explaining that it has 4 sections. I counted on the picture 1, 2, 3, 4 and then counted on the ladder 1, 2, 3, 4 but he still insisted that we had 2 ladders. So he opened up the package. I showed him the pictures of the ladder and how it bent in different directions, but nothing. He got the package open and was so confused that the “two” ladders were attached.

Is it not obvious that this isn't a typical 1 or 2 section ladder?

5 ways to unfold the 4-section ladder

After trying to explain again, I just stood back and shook my head. Seriously? There is a very clear picture of the different ways you can use the ladder right on the package. It’s now laying on the ground and these guys are playing with the ladder trying to figure out just what happened. I just stare at the packaging on the ground, knowing eventually they will catch on.

Eventually they let us go.

A million thoughts about this have run through my head about this. But as many of my stories, it just shows such a difference in cultures. I still can’t believe this conversation went any further than me showing them the picture of a 4-sectioned ladder on the packaging. It was as if they didn’t trust the package.

Culture is so much more than food or dress. It’s often mind set and way of thinking. Often times in Moz, we deal with a culture of distrust and it takes a long time to prove yourself trustworthy.