Saturday, October 20, 2007

Frustration

"No" is not part of the Mexican culture! It can be frustrating because often you would like for someone to just tell you, "No I can't come at that time" or "No, I can't fix your street light" or "No, we don't have a room at our hotel for you"..............etc. etc. etc. So I'm going to vent!

I've been trying now for six weeks to get the two street lights repaired on my street. To say that it is darker then a 50 ft well would not be an exaggeration! The saga is that when I moved here they had lights with exposed bulbs which lasted about 48 hours after they changed them - so I paid to have new lights with covers put in.............it has been well worth it. Suffice to say, I have tried everything to get the city to repair the lights. They swear they have (no light) and I know, and they should, that it must be the sensor, but alas, I must be patient, I guess. NOW the whole fixture is gone mid-way down the hill.....is that progress?

Secondly, I have emailed the hotel in Oaxaca that I want to stay at for the "Night of The Radishes" festival in Oaxaca.........I had a reservation last year and due to the unrest I opted not to go. They were so gracious last year and it took less then 24 hours to get a reservation. So now it has been 5 days.........finally I called and the reservation clerk said I must wait for an email and she couldn't tell me if they had a room or not! I absolutely HAD to laugh. So, I must be patient or find another hotel BUT my friends I'm meeting there already have a room at that hotel and I would prefer to stay there. I think they are not responding because they don't have a room but don't want to tell me..............because they don't want to disappoint me.

I DO understand the Mexican culture and they do not want to disappoint or upset people. So, they avoid but it sure can be FRUSTRATING at times.........

5 comments:

Andee said...

Maybe they don't want to take a reservation from you this year because you cancelled last year.

Just a thought.

Drew said...

d

Drew said...

There is another part of Mexican culture (besides having difficulty saying "no can do") that you may not have noticed.

Most owners and staff of businesses do not necessarily feel they have an obligation to respond to your requests. Request for services, requests for whatever.

People from the U.S./Canada sometimes seem to feel that people who are receiving payment for the services they offer are required to serve anyone who wants those services.

My experience is that that's not the norm in Mexico. "The customer comes first" is not part of the culture.

Many things may be more important than an unknownindividual's expectations for reservations or meals or grocery itmes or whatever.

Babs said...

Very interesting perception Drew - thanks for sharing!

And, gardener in chacala - although I cancelled, I went ahead and paid for the 7 days because I was so concerned about the businesses in Oaxaca. However the man who was manager last year (who knew what I did) is no longer there....... cest la vie!

picklesandroses.blogspot.com said...

Oh geez! Can be frustrating but I think you will end up with a room.