My carefully laid plans…and what do they say about that? It’s the fastest way to make God laugh. Well, there was popcorn and a scramble for front row seats to watch this orchestration unravel. The idea: I’m going to keep doing my stitched notes, Studio Lupino, here in Morocco. I can type the notes and send them to the stores in the states…remote work…with supplies. I brought a typewriter, had one already in the desert waiting for me, ordered a new Singer sewing machine and Amalfi said, “Sure! They’d be happy to ship my blank stitched notes to me in Morocco.” Amazing, let’s go!
I placed the order for the papers, and it was a week or so of back-and-forth emails because they didn’t see the house on GoogleMaps, and so didn’t want to send the shipment. There aren’t really street names here, just neighborhood names and then the houses are numbered within the neighborhood. I said, I’m sure a Moroccan delivery guy will be able to get it here, I’ve never had troubles before. GoogleMaps isn’t really a thing out here next to the Sahara. They agreed to send the paper once I gave my exact GPS coordinates. Done…we’re in business….paper on the way!!!
Sewing machine arrives…but to the post office. Apparently, anything over two kilos won’t go to home. So, we go to the post office, an hour of waiting, two different tips to two different guys…and I have a sewing machine in hand!! Paper arrives Casablanca customs. Cue the laughter and passing of the popcorn. About 6 emails back and forth and we get to: they need a copy of my host’s ID card as it’s going to his address, front and back and a signed POA releasing responsibility to FedEx to deal with customs. A visit to the cyber (a business like the old school cyber cafes where they will do things on the computer for you like print or type something). So, a man retyped the POA and printed it to be signed. All requirements sent in. Wait. Wait. Days pass. An email arrives saying please call. They need MY passport and a POA signed also by me. They couldn’t have said this originally and 4 days ago? Sent. Wait. Wait. Days pass. An email arrives saying customs needs to be paid and they will release the papers. Storage fees will be charged for packages stored over 10 days. Great we won’t need that as I’m prompt. Customs fees add up to the value of the order. Are you kidding me? So, I’m paying double price? Apparently, Morocco doesn’t like envelopes being brought in as they make them here and so they are taxed heavily. Cool. I’ve already paid for the cards and the shipping to get them this far, so I don’t see the point in abandoning the order. I also still need to start typing as I have orders waiting.
So, I pay. Well, it’s not that easy. They need MAD. My bank only sends in USD. Western Union needs more info from FedEx than I have. I ask for the primary account holder’s name. They tell me. Now Western Union wants the birthday associated with the account. FedEx says no no, you have to send the money in MAD only through a Moroccan account, bank to bank. You couldn’t have told me that when I first started asking banking questions? Two days ago. So, I Western Union money to myself to be picked up. We take the cash to the bank and do a transfer. Call and confirm they received it and the amount is correct. It is. Package will arrive by the end of the week. Yay! More popcorn please!
The end of the week comes and goes. My tracking says delivery was attempted but they couldn’t collect payment. It is Ramadan and there are no less than seven people home at all times, so not true. Weekend. Monday, I call. Oh yes, you owe more money. I owe more money and no one thought to reach out and tell me? A week after the money was needed? I said we confirmed the price was correct and the package would be released so if this is for extra storage fees, that is wrong. The package didn’t go out on your end, not from lack of action on my end so I shouldn’t have to pay more days of storage. They write back and say yes, yes, you’re right it’s for extra storage and once it’s paid you can have your package. ARGH! On the phone they say extra fees are 219MAD, they send an email saying 218MAD, so we send 220…feels more like a bribe than an official amount. Make the second transfer and call to confirm…yes, it’s all fine now and you will receive your package in two days. In two days, there is a missed phone call which tells us to go to a store front in town. We ask two different people where this is before finding it…closed. The man agrees to come back and open so we can collect the package. Finally in hand, it is so so tiny. 600 cards, 1.5 months of back-and-forth emails and phone calls and bank runs, I was expecting something bigger for the amount of headache it caused. Paperwork attached to the outside said the fee was 216MAD which confirmed our suspicion that the extra fee was just sort of a bribe.
I have a newly discovered quote that says: There’s magic in people who see redirection as the universe’s way of saying, “aim higher.” Case Kenny and that is how I was trying to approach this whole fiasco….I now have different probably more well thought out plan in place for moving forward. It involved asking for help, which I’ve discovered I don’t really like doing, but finding people are happy to help when you ask. So this is also the story of how I got my first employee!
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