Nice delivery system...
Much superior to our post office or UPS, FEDEX I'm sure...
What do the Yank's know about package delivery? This sounds much more
efficient...
You decide...
Yes, for sure a bunch of geniuses down in Argentina
Something about Latin America has a way of turning simple tasks into
almost farcical comedies of human nonsense. Yesterday, Peter got a X-mas
package notification so we're both all excited to go and get it, because
neither of us has gotten a package in forever. Seems simple enough
right. First, we walked the 8 blocks to the Subte (Subway) because the
system here is pure shit. The subway map here was laid out by a retard.
All the trains meet in one place, and then fan out like sun rays with
almost no intersections, which is great if you want to get to the main
hub, but even going a few blocks in the perpendicular direction is damn
near impossible. Sometimes we take cabs to a certain Subway stop,
because there's no other way to get there.
Once we arrive at the main hub, we walk another 4 blocks, where we see
the post office. But it's on the other side of a 10 lane highway.
There's no crosswalk, so we just fucking make a run for it in our flip
flops, following the local Porteno's who we assume know what they're
doing. Outside the post office is an army of hot dog vendors and grills
cooking up burgers, an ominous sign that the people inside need food
breaks they've been there so long. Inside was pure madness, a mob of
people hovering over a few postal workers calling out numbers. But this
was just the beginning. Through an arched doorway is the second waiting
room, where hundreds of people sit fanning their sweaty faces. At least
2 babies are bawling inconsolably. We take a number and begin to wait.
After about 10 minutes I look to the woman next to me and see that she
is reading a book in English. So I ask her, "hey, I see you're reading
English, maybe you can help us out,....what the hell is going on here?"
What she tells me blows my mind. Basically she laid out the process of
receiving a package here in Buenos Aires.
1. Show up at this madhouse and take a number.
2. When they call you, give them the slip of paper you got in the
mail and show them your government papers. (We don't have these.)
3. They take your name
4. You sit in the big room with the crying babies.
5. They call your name.
6. A customs official takes you in the back.
7. They open your package in front of you, and estimate it's value
8. They give you a price, which you CANNOT PAY RIGHT THERE!!!!
9. You go to bank, where you make your payment.
10. You come back and do the whole thing over, showing them the
receipt from the bank.
11. They give you the package.
12. Your eat a fucking hot dog and go home.
If you're lucky the whole thing will only take 2 days, and about 8 hours
of your time. So yeah, Argentina sucks. Don't send me a package because
I won't be picking it up.
Pat Barry wrote:
> Read below...
>
>
> What a Pussy country...
>
> Declare war after it is over... Embrace Hitler because they are afraid
> like little girls...
>
> Just stick your head in the sand and avoid involvement...
>
> Argentina sucks Ricardo
>
> Why would Yanks even want to go there... They should be ashamed...
>
>
>
>
> As it had in World War I, Argentina proclaimed neutrality at the
> outbreak of World War II, but in the closing phase declared war on the
> Axis powers on March 27, 1945. Juan D. Perón, an army colonel, emerged
> as the strongman of the postwar era, winning the presidential elections
> of 1946 and 1951. Perón's political strength was reinforced by his
> second wife---Eva Duarte de Perón (Evita)---and her popularity with the
> working classes. Although she never held a government post, Evita acted
> as de facto minister of health and labor, establishing a national
> charitable organization, and awarding generous wage increases to the
> unions, who responded with political support for Perón. Opposition to
> Perón's increasing authoritarianism led to a coup by the armed forces,
> which sent Perón into exile in 1955, three years after Evita's death.
> Argentina entered a long period of military dictatorships with brief
> intervals of constitutional government.
>
> The former dictator returned to power in 1973 and his third wife, Isabel
> Martínez de Perón, was elected vice president. After Perón's death in
> 1974, she became the hemisphere's first woman chief of state, assuming
> control of a nation teetering on economic and political collapse. In
> 1975, terrorist acts by left- and right-wing groups killed some 700
> people. The cost of living rose 355%, while strikes and demonstrations
> were constant. On March 24, 1976, a military junta led by army commander
> Lt. Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla seized power and imposed martial law.
>
> The military began the "dirty war" to restore order and eradicate its
> opponents. The Argentine Commission for Human Rights, in Geneva, has
> charged the junta with 2,300 political murders, over 10,000 political
> arrests, and the disappearance of 20,000 to 30,000 people. While
> violence declined, the economy remained in chaos. In March 1981 Videla
> was deposed by Field Marshal Roberto Viola, who in turn was succeeded by
> Lt. Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri.
>
> On April 2, 1982, Galtieri invaded the British-held Falkland Islands,
> known as Las Islas Malvinas (Malvinas Islands) in Spanish, in what was
> seen as an attempt to increase his popularity. Great Britain, however,
> won a decisive victory, and Galtieri resigned in disgrace three days
> after Argentina's surrender. Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Bignone took over June
> 14, amid increasing prodemocratic public sentiment. As the 1983
> elections approached, inflation hit 900% and Argentina's crippling
> foreign debt reached unprecedented levels.
>
> In the presidential election of Oct. 1983, Raúl Alfonsín, leader of the
> Radical Civic Union, handed the Peronist Party its first defeat since
> its founding. Growing unemployment and quadruple-digit inflation,
> however, led to a Peronist victory in the elections of May 1989.
> Alfonsín resigned a month later in the wake of riots over high food
> prices, in favor of the new Peronist president, Carlos Menem. In 1991,
> Menem promoted economic austerity measures that deregulated businesses
> and privatized state-owned industries. But beginning in Sept. 1998,
> eight years into Menem's two-term presidency, Argentina entered its
> worst recession in a decade. Menem's economic policies, tolerance of
> corruption, and pardoning of military leaders involved in the dirty war
> eventually lost him the support of the poor and the working class who
> had elected him.
>
> In Dec. 1999 Fernando de la Rua became president. Despite the
> introduction of several tough economic austerity plans, by 2001 the
> recession slid into its third year. The IMF gave Argentina $13.7 billion
> in emergency aid in Jan. 2001 and $8 billion in Aug. 2001. The
> international help was not enough, however, and by the end of 2001,
> Argentina verged on economic collapse. Rioters protesting government
> austerity measures forced De la Rua to resign in Dec. 2001. Argentina
> then defaulted on its $155 billion foreign debt payments, the largest
> such default in history.
>
> After more instability, Congress named Eduardo Duhalde president on Jan.
> 1, 2002. Duhalde soon announced an economic plan devaluing the Argentine
> peso, which had been pegged to the dollar for a decade. The devaluation
> plunged the banking industry into crisis and wiped out much of the
> savings of the middle class, plunging millions of Argentinians into poverty.
>
> In July 2002, former junta leader Galtieri and 42 other military
> officers were arrested and charged with the torture and execution of 22
> leftist guerrillas during Argentina's 7-year military dictatorship. In
> recent years, judges have found legal loopholes allowing them to
> circumvent the blanket amnesty laws passed in 1986 and 1987, which
> allowed many accused of atrocities during the dirty war to walk free. In
> June 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that these amnesty laws were
> unconstitutional and in 2006, numerous military and police officials
> went on trial.
>
> Peronist Néstor Kirchner, the former governor of Santa Cruz, became
> Argentina's president in May 2003, after former president Carlos Menem
> abandoned the race. Kirchner vowed to aggressively reform the courts,
> police, and armed services and to prosecute perpetrators of the dirty
> war. Argentina's economy has been rebounding since its near collapse in
> 2001, with an impressive growth rate of about 8% since Kirchner took
> office. In March 2005, Kirchner announced that the country's debt had
> been successfully restructured. In Jan. 2006, Argentina paid off its
> remaining multi-million IMF debt early, a dramatic move that not all
> economists thought was beneficial.
>
> On July 10, 2007, Buenos Aires witnessed its first snowfall in 89 years.
> The unusual storm coincided with Argentina's Independence Day.
>
> In October 2007, First Lady Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was elected
> president, taking 45% of the vote. Elisa Carrió, a congresswoman, placed
> second, with 23%.
>
> On December 10, 2007, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner took over the
> presidency from her husband, Néstor Kirchner, in a ceremony at
> Argentina's Congress. She kept many of her husband's ministers, but
> implied that she will introduce changes to the country during her
> presidency. She appointed molecular biologist Lino Barañao as minister
> of science in her cabinet. Fernández says she will create a new ministry
> for science and technology to boost innovation, and stated that she
> would make "neccessary corrections" to help the inflation problem in
> Argentina. Although she is as much a nationalist as her husband, and
> refuses to get involved with the IMF, Fernández has shown interest in
> creating better ties with the United States, Europe, and Brazil.
>
> On April 2, 2008, farmers called for a temporary halt to the 21-day long
> strike in order to enter into negotiations with the government. The
> strike, which began in response to increased taxes on export goods, has
> caused highways to shut down and severe food shortages nationwide. On
> July 17, 2008, the government sided with the farmers and voted against
> the president's proposed increase on the agricultural export tax.
>
>
>
> Ricardo Araoz wrote:
>
>> Nicholas Geti wrote:
>>
>>
>>> No. They are tolerant of weird foreigners as evidenced by all the illegal
>>> Muslims they let in.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> I don't blame them. We are also tolerant of weird foreigners, lately
>> there are crowds of yankee tourists with their loud voices and their
>> ridiculous shirts and hats, and yet we let them in the country.
>> Sometimes I wonder if we should limit the entrance of these... individuals.
>>
>>
>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Ricardo Araoz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>> To: "ProFox Email List" <[email protected]>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Benny Hill taught me everything there is to know about the Brits.
>>>> Whenever I meet a British gentleman I relate to him as they do in the
>>>> show. Works a treat, they always make a funny smile which I guess means
>>>> they appreciate my insight into the British mind.
>>>>
>>>> ;c)
>>>>
>>>>
>>
[excessive quoting removed by server]
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