(Continued...)
I had already tried to get our refund in the morning but the manager had told me to come back at 3 and when I had, he told me he needed to talk to his manager about it so I should come back again at 8. I was definitely getting a sketchy vibe. Of course there is a full power outage before 8 so I go back with my headlamp into the main building which is as dark as a crypt and knock on the office door. No answer. I am pissed. He has clearly been giving me the run around already - he's quite the weasel. So there I am in a dark, nearly deserted hallway with no idea what to do. It's not like we could deal with it the next day, we were leaving at 6am. So I just hung around trying to figure out what I could do with no real ideas and maybe 15 minutes later he comes out of the door I had knocked multiple times on! What a bastard. So, I ask him about the refund. He tells me it's not possible. I ask why and explain again that they charged us for a day we won't be there. He says it's not possible. I get angry and tell him he had better give us a refund as he had promised and the raised voice, as often happens, got him to say he would go check with his manager again so off he scurries into the darkness. I'm not sure I'll see him again. I call BimBa even though I am loathe to involve him in this crap. I can't tell if he understood my Mongolian rendition of "issue help office" or not. Enter Savior #2 stage right. This very nice woman asks in good English if I need help with something. I almost cried. I explain I am trying to get money back which the manager said he would give me but now he won't. I show her the evidence. She stays with me and BimBa arrives and she explains the situation to him so far as I can tell. Then surprisingly the manager boy and his manager come back. They all start speaking in heated Mongolian. Then they decide we should move into the office out of the reception area. Now more staff members are involved. I am just standing there mute and mostly ignored. They all haggle for at least 20 minutes with my advocate asking a question to me about some specific detail here or there. Thank goodness I had the paper where he wrote down 50% because that was clearly the winning evidence. Keep in mind the power is still out. We are in a pitch black room with eight Mongolian folks heatedly arguing amongst themselves with the occasional mini flashlight illuminating the 50% on the paper. Finally good prevails and they say they will give us the refund but they can't tonight because it is too late and do I have a Mongolian bank account they can wire it to instead. Um, seriously? Do I look like I have a Mongolian bank account? I explain I had come twice during the day when they had been open and was told to come back now after hours. The head manager actually said she was sorry but the weasel had never told her. So I suggest (all through the Savior #2 translator) that the weasel give us the money and they can pay him back the next day. They all laughed, but I was serious! So they agree BimBa will get the money in his account and give it to us and we adjourn for the evening.
Needless to say, I told BimBa the next day to keep it for his troubles and help.
So while this was a stressful and somewhat disappointing experience, it was really quite educational and intense. Rarely, if ever, am I someone who is unable to advocate for myself but here I was that person. I can only imagine what immigrants in the US go through on a daily basis between the language barrier and discrimination... it's good to be on the other side sometimes and live in other shoes for even a day or two.
I had already tried to get our refund in the morning but the manager had told me to come back at 3 and when I had, he told me he needed to talk to his manager about it so I should come back again at 8. I was definitely getting a sketchy vibe. Of course there is a full power outage before 8 so I go back with my headlamp into the main building which is as dark as a crypt and knock on the office door. No answer. I am pissed. He has clearly been giving me the run around already - he's quite the weasel. So there I am in a dark, nearly deserted hallway with no idea what to do. It's not like we could deal with it the next day, we were leaving at 6am. So I just hung around trying to figure out what I could do with no real ideas and maybe 15 minutes later he comes out of the door I had knocked multiple times on! What a bastard. So, I ask him about the refund. He tells me it's not possible. I ask why and explain again that they charged us for a day we won't be there. He says it's not possible. I get angry and tell him he had better give us a refund as he had promised and the raised voice, as often happens, got him to say he would go check with his manager again so off he scurries into the darkness. I'm not sure I'll see him again. I call BimBa even though I am loathe to involve him in this crap. I can't tell if he understood my Mongolian rendition of "issue help office" or not. Enter Savior #2 stage right. This very nice woman asks in good English if I need help with something. I almost cried. I explain I am trying to get money back which the manager said he would give me but now he won't. I show her the evidence. She stays with me and BimBa arrives and she explains the situation to him so far as I can tell. Then surprisingly the manager boy and his manager come back. They all start speaking in heated Mongolian. Then they decide we should move into the office out of the reception area. Now more staff members are involved. I am just standing there mute and mostly ignored. They all haggle for at least 20 minutes with my advocate asking a question to me about some specific detail here or there. Thank goodness I had the paper where he wrote down 50% because that was clearly the winning evidence. Keep in mind the power is still out. We are in a pitch black room with eight Mongolian folks heatedly arguing amongst themselves with the occasional mini flashlight illuminating the 50% on the paper. Finally good prevails and they say they will give us the refund but they can't tonight because it is too late and do I have a Mongolian bank account they can wire it to instead. Um, seriously? Do I look like I have a Mongolian bank account? I explain I had come twice during the day when they had been open and was told to come back now after hours. The head manager actually said she was sorry but the weasel had never told her. So I suggest (all through the Savior #2 translator) that the weasel give us the money and they can pay him back the next day. They all laughed, but I was serious! So they agree BimBa will get the money in his account and give it to us and we adjourn for the evening.
Needless to say, I told BimBa the next day to keep it for his troubles and help.
So while this was a stressful and somewhat disappointing experience, it was really quite educational and intense. Rarely, if ever, am I someone who is unable to advocate for myself but here I was that person. I can only imagine what immigrants in the US go through on a daily basis between the language barrier and discrimination... it's good to be on the other side sometimes and live in other shoes for even a day or two.
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