Good afternoon everyone.
Being the multifaceted personality that I am, I am often approached by readers for all sorts of assistance. Several of you have requested help with losing weight, speaking Hindi without an accent and starting businesses in South Africa.
Well not really. But a relative recently was asked to go to SA on work and had a merry adventure trying to get a visa done. After months of effort and several phone calls and faxes the South African Visa Gods finally smiled down upon on him (or 'up upon him' geographically speaking.) He was jumping for joy when he received an email from the 'Visa-fixer type people' in Johannesburg.
He immediately clicked forward and zipped it out to everyone in his personal address book. We were all happy for him and promptly deleted the email.
Then suddenly he mailed us another copy with a request to read till the very end of the correspondence. You should do too. I have pasted it below. "Oh my god that is so hilarious, it makes me laugh so much" is the first word that popped into my mind when I read it:
(P.S. Ah those days when you can blog with so little effort.)
(P.P.S. More accounts from people in SA are welcome!)
(P.P.P.S. I know. Hehehe. Funny.)
Dear *****,
We are pleased to advise that the Consulate General in Mumbai has indicated that your Work Permit application has been approved and you can collect your passport from them tomorrow morning.
Please remember to scan and e-mail us a copy of your permit, prior to your departure to South Africa.
Thank you & best regards,
**** *****
* ******* * ********
Registered Immigration Practitioner: ****/****/****
Telephone: 0861 IMMIGRATION (0861 *** ****)(NATIONAL)Telephone: +27 (11) ***-**** (Switchboard)
Fax: +27 (11) ***-***
Cell Phone: +27 (83) ***-****
www.*******.co.za
Office Address:
******* House
Ballywoods Office Park
29 – 33 Ballyclare Drive
Bryanston
Johannesburg
Please note that our telephone systems are down at the moment due to the theft of the Copper Wire Cables in our area over the weekend. Telkom (the phone company) has assured us they are working on replacing
the cables as soon as possible. Should you need to contact us, please contact ******** ***** on ***********.
For our international clients, please understand that the theft of Copper Wire Cables happens frequently in South Africa and causes great inconvenience to businesses.
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28 comments:
ROFL!! :D
That was really hillarious!!!
when is your book going to hit the stands?? just curious :)
You've got a pretty cool blog out there.
Would love if you could check out mine.
coecelanth shaastra zeppelin equivocate durbatuluk
Adios, bro.
Its hilarious, I still can't belive that is a peice of official correspondence :D
And we thought humour was left at the mercy of the chosen few like you.
But it is so true, our office in SA has similar problems..copper is expensive!!! But hilarious nonetheless :))
Reminds me of another similar chori.
I used to work for a lighting company earlier. Some of our competitors were supplying aluminium ballasts in the guise of copper ballasts. Each to his own, I guess. Variety is the spice of life.
wOnderful dude.. nd is the SA thin true??? jus kiddin!!
ROFTL!!
in ahmedabad
and this is about 5 years ago.. when we first got cable internet rival companies would cut each others cables ....
could be something similar, mayb Telekom's competitor decided that some competition was good for the country :)
Hoga
Boy! it sounds like a notice of confidentiality message which we use nowadays for data integrity. Come to think of it copper wire cables is a lucrative business.
At least they were honest about it, heh heh.
In our desh, we would have spent hours trying to call a number that said 'all lines on this route....'
OR
Even worse, having gotten through, would be told 'Sorry saar, no concerned person is there'
Is this true ? Do they actually print their condition in such great detail on their letters ?
not funny really..will luk forward to the next one..
To the anonymous poster who hates this blog:
It's a free world...Nobody asked you to come to this blog to read...stay away if you don't like it.
Your comment is as silly as saying "I don't like brinjal....therefore, it should not be grown by anybody else"!!!
:-)
happens often in Zambia too... fact of life. The funny thing was that they put an advertisement on national TV telling people that stealing copper cables was illegal... it aired along with the advertisement warning people against rumour mongers or 'demagogues'.
" We were all happy for him and promptly deleted the email."
LMAO =))
"We were all happy for him and promptly deleted the email."
ROFL :D
Great Sidinism there again...
Huhuhu
Couldn’t laugh at all.
I live in Johannesburg and its been an year.
You require psychological consulting if you read news24 a popular daily in SA daily, its all filled with crime stories, happening just around the corner.
There were serial killings on the offramp just near to my home, 2 people killed in 2 weeks 2 attempts, just for the cellphones.
My car's window was smashed and my wifes handbag was grabbed in the daylight…we couldn’t do anything but scream.
Highway shootings and car hijackings are as common as Hindi film release in India.
Car hijackings are so common. Never offer lifts, never stop, no matter where, even on highways.
Avoid late night outings, avoid strangers, never publicly show money, be watchful when you come from the Airport, forigners are often followed and shot at , especially when they come from Airport (I don’t know why, may be with the anticipation that they have lots of forex)
SA is the country with the second highest possibility that a civilan can get shot dead , second only to Columbia.
The chances are 50 times more than that of the poorest and unsafest place in Europe.
AK 47s are freely available to thugs, leftovers of the violent resistance to the Whites rule…now they are toys for the criminals.
Restaurants and Malls are often attacked by ak47 wielding people, the customers are stolen of their cars, wallets and cellphones.
I am not mentioning rape. If you have a lady in the family and the thugs had a chance to break into your house, your life's most probably ruined. All the houses have burglar bars, alarms, just reminds one of the jails.
The point is most of these criminals come through illegal immigration from SA's poor neighbours and often used by crime syndicates headquartered, may be in Europe or Asia.
So dear Sidin, stealing cables are OK, there are uglier things to be more concerned at, without laughing.
Give a warning to your friend to be utmost careful while in SA.
Don’t go to cheap pubs. Chances are high that you will wake up in a bathtub filled with ice and your kidney might be missing.
My friend living in Johannesburg lost his car that was standing right in front of his house. In the daytime.
Solution: SA should go WIRELESS. Like those Tata and Reliance WLL phones.
Question: How on earth do they manage to get the cables out without anyone noticing????
By the way, have any of you seen that new anti-car jacking invention? The one that blasts the car-jacker with a blast of flame when the driver presses a small pedal? Scary stuff. And thousands have already been ordered and fitted.
I'm just wondering how they manage to get all that copper wire out without being noticed. I'm guessing there
TO deter the theft of copper wires, I think they should move to wireless systems ;-) LOL
Awesome stuff on your blog… rock on!!!
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Hi…nice site…very informative… you know what u should check out actually.. this site :
http://www.indiatravelroute.com/?channel=rgxblog&adgroup=sidin.blogspot It’s an awesome luxury travel to India package!! The finest ever!! I came across this when I was browsing the other day.. very kewl and neat! I think what the focus on is luxuary travel.. u know, the complete package et all!! A must see if ur a real travel fan!! And India too.. it’s an awesome place!! Especially with the palaces and stuff, it’s like taking a step back in time!!..with all the comforts of modern day!! (whew!)
Cheers
Hi…nice site…very informative… you know what u should check out actually.. this site :
http://www.indiatravelroute.com/?channel=rgxblog&adgroup=sidin.blogspot It’s an awesome luxury travel to India package!! The finest ever!! I came across this when I was browsing the other day.. very kewl and neat! I think what the focus on is luxuary travel.. u know, the complete package et all!! A must see if ur a real travel fan!! And India too.. it’s an awesome place!! Especially with the palaces and stuff, it’s like taking a step back in time!!..with all the comforts of modern day!! (whew!)
Cheers
Was laughing hilariously, and then when I got to read some of the comments, realized that life is pretty tough out there… particularly the comments by the guy living in Johannesburg.
Also, am I right in thinking that the same guys who lay the cable, would be the ones who would be able to remove and dispose the cable…
Was laughing hilariously, and then when I got to read some of the comments, realized that life is pretty tough out there… particularly the comments by the guy living in Johannesburg.
Also, am I right in thinking that the same guys who lay the cable, would be the ones who would be able to remove and dispose the cable…
I thought you were kidding first. Then I yahoo-ed to find this link, http://allafrica.com/stories/200609050748.html
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