This is the General Post Office in HK, which I have visited now to send various things 4 times. It is the epitome for me of all things bureaucratic in HK.
The bureaucracy around any service in Hong Kong can be best compared to the trams. A little quaint, even perhaps antiquated; it doesn’t always come as quickly as you like, and sometimes when you are on it is progresses a little slowly. However, you can guarantee that come what may, the tram will arrive; when it comes, it will work just fine; and no matter how long it takes, it will get you to where you want to go, and cheaply.
The post is exactly like this. On posting 2 parcels and 2
letters I had to go no less than 3 separate counters on 2 different floors; speak
to 4 officials; fill in 2 long-winded and bewilderingly detailed forms (which employed
carbon copy paper – who uses that anymore?!); and had to pay for these services
separately. This all took 35 minutes. However, once I was in the hands of an
official, everything was quite straightforward and so far as I know, each of
these parcels has arrived safe and sound.
This won’t be the last time I mention tearing-your-hair-out-frustrating
processes where everything is stamped in triplicate. Nor will it be the last
time I grudgingly note that stuff just works well here. Both the faffing and
the competence seem intrinsic to the way things are here, and I guess I’ll just
have to get used to that.
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