Take a deep breath. Then another. Then another.
Our booking for this bl^%$^dy hotel in Rio required jumping over hurdles previously described. But now it seems that the dim-as-hell woman we were liaising with has once again not managed to open the attached scan of our proof of pre-payment. Thus we and my jetlagged brother from Britain are in danger of not having a room available when we arrive, even though we have paid for it.
My Brazilian partner is ready to explode with frustration. She's already on the brink because she's been trying, and failing, to fill in endless, moronic forms for job agencies here in Sao Paulo. While in London she can write a brief summary of what she did, when and for whom, here everything must be written in endless triplicate and impossible questions must be answered, such as: what are the number of employees at each company you worked for and what are the companies' stated profits ?
It's insane. And deeply depressing. Deliver us from Brazilian bondage.
PS: She's been trying to get through to Page Personnel today, a Brazilian outpost of Michael Page recruitment in London. But emails get bounced back and every time she calls, she is bombarded by questions from frontline staff whose job seems to be to "protect" the Queen Bee recruiter from pesky calls by potential clients ! Meanwhile, the London recruitment agencies continue to flood her voicemail box and inbox with desperate solicitations for business. Brazil clearly has a double problem with, on the one hand, a vast number of unqualified, poorly educated members of the workforce and, on the other, an appalling elitism and snobbery among those drunk with the "power" to assign jobs. What a farce.
UPDATE: The Rio hotel mugging has started already. Having finally managed to open the email attachment, the hotel woman tried to tell us we needed to pay more because of "taxes" but we insisted we would not be paying a penny more than she had asked us, in writing, to pay. I have a sinking feeling already about this Rio trip and I'm glad it's only 3 nights. Someone said to me the other day that I should prepare myself for an incredibly poor standard of hotel accommodation and service, despite the shocking prices. I told him I had already experienced this while visiting the North-East, but I have yet to savour the delights of tourist extortion Carioca-style.
UPDATE 2: "Friendly" natives in Rio ? More like an alligator's smile. A naive American magazine published the following words in 2007: "There is an important word in Brazil: simpático (or "carismático"). It refers to a range of desirable social qualities - to be friendly, nice, agreeable, and good-natured. A person who is fun to be with and pleasant to deal with.... Brazilians, especially the Cariocas of Rio (as citizens here are known), want very much to be seen as simpático. And going out of one's way to assist strangers is part of this image."
But a much more clued-up American-in-Brazil blogger wrote in 2008: "The “Jeito Carioca,” a Carioca’s will to make ripping off tourists their livelihood ... Recently the weekly TV show CQC, the Brazilian equivalent of “The Daily Show”, aired a special report about the honesty of cab drivers in Rio. One reporter took a taxi from one point of the city to another, chatted with the cabby, spoke in a Carioca accent, and overall made it obvious that he was a local. His fare came to around 12 reais. Another reporter got in another cab, took the same route, spoke in broken Portuguese to fake being a foreigner, and ended up with a fare of 60 reais. When a third reporter came up to the second cab driver and asked him if he thought Brazilians were “an honest people,” the driver emphatically said yes. When the reporter then confronted him with the stunt they had just pulled on him, the cabby sped off without so much as a word."
Our booking for this bl^%$^dy hotel in Rio required jumping over hurdles previously described. But now it seems that the dim-as-hell woman we were liaising with has once again not managed to open the attached scan of our proof of pre-payment. Thus we and my jetlagged brother from Britain are in danger of not having a room available when we arrive, even though we have paid for it.
My Brazilian partner is ready to explode with frustration. She's already on the brink because she's been trying, and failing, to fill in endless, moronic forms for job agencies here in Sao Paulo. While in London she can write a brief summary of what she did, when and for whom, here everything must be written in endless triplicate and impossible questions must be answered, such as: what are the number of employees at each company you worked for and what are the companies' stated profits ?
It's insane. And deeply depressing. Deliver us from Brazilian bondage.
PS: She's been trying to get through to Page Personnel today, a Brazilian outpost of Michael Page recruitment in London. But emails get bounced back and every time she calls, she is bombarded by questions from frontline staff whose job seems to be to "protect" the Queen Bee recruiter from pesky calls by potential clients ! Meanwhile, the London recruitment agencies continue to flood her voicemail box and inbox with desperate solicitations for business. Brazil clearly has a double problem with, on the one hand, a vast number of unqualified, poorly educated members of the workforce and, on the other, an appalling elitism and snobbery among those drunk with the "power" to assign jobs. What a farce.
UPDATE: The Rio hotel mugging has started already. Having finally managed to open the email attachment, the hotel woman tried to tell us we needed to pay more because of "taxes" but we insisted we would not be paying a penny more than she had asked us, in writing, to pay. I have a sinking feeling already about this Rio trip and I'm glad it's only 3 nights. Someone said to me the other day that I should prepare myself for an incredibly poor standard of hotel accommodation and service, despite the shocking prices. I told him I had already experienced this while visiting the North-East, but I have yet to savour the delights of tourist extortion Carioca-style.
UPDATE 2: "Friendly" natives in Rio ? More like an alligator's smile. A naive American magazine published the following words in 2007: "There is an important word in Brazil: simpático (or "carismático"). It refers to a range of desirable social qualities - to be friendly, nice, agreeable, and good-natured. A person who is fun to be with and pleasant to deal with.... Brazilians, especially the Cariocas of Rio (as citizens here are known), want very much to be seen as simpático. And going out of one's way to assist strangers is part of this image."
But a much more clued-up American-in-Brazil blogger wrote in 2008: "The “Jeito Carioca,” a Carioca’s will to make ripping off tourists their livelihood ... Recently the weekly TV show CQC, the Brazilian equivalent of “The Daily Show”, aired a special report about the honesty of cab drivers in Rio. One reporter took a taxi from one point of the city to another, chatted with the cabby, spoke in a Carioca accent, and overall made it obvious that he was a local. His fare came to around 12 reais. Another reporter got in another cab, took the same route, spoke in broken Portuguese to fake being a foreigner, and ended up with a fare of 60 reais. When a third reporter came up to the second cab driver and asked him if he thought Brazilians were “an honest people,” the driver emphatically said yes. When the reporter then confronted him with the stunt they had just pulled on him, the cabby sped off without so much as a word."
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