Different answers to the same question. . .

Hey friends. Kevin here again. This is post #2 for me on the Schrag blog.

I thought I'd share about the interesting phenomenon in Brazil that if you ask the same question multiple times you get different answers (from people who should know the right answer). Let's just say that Brazilians aren't process-oriented so for them to do something the same way twice is difficult. Here are a few fun examples:

Me - "Can I buy one of the cars that the company is currently leasing after the lease is over?"
Deere HR responsible for Int'l assignees - "No that won't be possible."
Me (2 weeks later) - "Can I buy one of the cars that the company is currently leasing after the lease is over?"
Deere HR in Horizontina - "Sure, I'll let you know how much and help you with the process."

Sandi - "I would like to get a cell phone from you (since you are in fact a cell phone company)."
TIM cell phone company "no that won't be possible. Your foreigner documentation number will not fit our system (and apparently we don't care to have more customers)."
Sandi (a week later)- "No really, I would like a phone."
TIM cell phone company- "You could have a phone but since you don't have a residence yet you can't."
Sandi (a week later)- "No really, I would like a phone and in the next few weeks I will have a residence."
TIM cell phone company- "Oh... you want a phone, OK, here you go."

The Hotel - "You need to move out of your room. Someone else had it booked for next Monday a long time ago. You can move to a different room down the hall."
Me - "Really?"
The Hotel - "Yes, there is nothing we can do."
Me - "Really?"
The Hotel - "Oh wait, I guess not. You can stay."

Me - "What do I need to drive in Brasil?"
Emdoc (the company that is helping us with these things) - "Your driver's licence and passport will be sufficient until your real application for a Brasil license goes through (this can take years)."
Me (a month later) - "What do I need to drive in Brasil? The other ex-pats say I need something else?"
Deere HR responsible for int'l assignees: "You must have a translation of your licence. Send me a copy and I will help with this."
Me (another month later) - "Here are all my documents to drive in Brasil."
The police in Santa Rosa - "None of these documents are the right ones. You need something else."
--Fortunately they let us go after discussing it with us for about 15 minutes.

Me - "We would like internet with our phone service. Is that possible?"
Brasil telecom - "No problem. We will set both up within 7 days."
Brasil telecom (after 7 days) - "Just calling to confirm that we will set up your phone within 7 more days."
Me (after another 7 days) - "Thanks for setting up my phone, when will internet be working?"
Technician - "Within 24 hrs."
Brasil telecom (a few days later) - "You can't have internet in your home."
Brasil telecom (a few days later) - "After 7 days you will have internet in your home"
Brasil telecom (a few days later) - "We have cancelled your internet request"
Me - "Why?"
Brasil telecom (a few days later) - "You can't have internet in your home (apparently we don't care to have more customers)."

To make it more fun, I'm certain that each conversation with Brasil telecom was with a different customer "service" representative. It turns out that so far we haven't found someone with the answer we want regarding internet. Right now our internet is through a different company and through the radio. It is slower but we are very thankful to have it.

We laugh as we look back on these things. They are all part of the experience!