Gas Connections

Our driver has been living in our staff quarters for three months now, and he hasn't had any cooking gas. There are no gas pipes here (almost certainly a good thing) - all of it comes in cylinders similar to propane tanks. We have a "commercial" cylinder, which is outrageously large - I think we're still on our first one - but most people who don't work at the Consulate have "domestic" cylinders. For some reason that I still haven't figured out, it's rather difficult to get what's called a "connection" - a service to keep a house continuously supplied with full cylinders.

We started asking at work months ago about getting Ramakrishna a connection, and kept getting stonewalled. He couldn't get one because of the shortage, we couldn't get one because we already had one, etc etc. I finally asked how much money it would take to get him a connection, and one of the local staff at the office came up with the idea that we could get one in my name from the other company (there are two, apparantly). He spoke to the owner of the distributorship, provided a letter confirming that I work at the Consulate, and all seemed to be in order.

Then I get there with Ramakrishna, and we're told there can be no new connections because there's a shortage of regulators. I didn't believe this, especially when one of the staff couldn't even say when more regulators will arrive. I also assumed that if we came back in a few days, there would be some other problem preventing us from getting a connection. So after some arguing, I called up the owner of the distributorship, and within 5 minutes the paperwork was completed. We'd get two cylinders full of gas and one regulator for about $60.

Then I told them we also needed a stove. The clerk said "Full set?", and I foolishly replied affirmatively, figuring that, yes, we actually did need a full set. Only then did he start writing up the order, and only then did we see that the stove (part of the full set) cost over $40, and that a $5 apron was included in the set. Ramakrishna was pretty sure he could get a cheaper stove, and we certainly didn't need an apron, so we asked to have them taken off the bill. This also required managerial approval, even though the cashier had written the bill himself, and even though he didn't need his boss to sign anything. A nod was enough.

Gas here is a government business privately distributed, so I'm convinced that, like the government phone company, that's a large part of the headache. I'm also convinced that if yahoos like the ones at this gas company weren't so needlessly obstructionist, life here would be a lot smoother, more efficient, and, ultimately, of a higher quality. Why are they like that? I have no idea. I got my gas connection in the end, and it actually took more work for them than if they had said yes in the first place. So I remind myself to just come back to the point - I got my gas connection - and let the rest pass. Serenity now...