If you are bothered by reading about decidedly unmanly behavior, stop reading now! The following information may be disturbing to you! On the other hand, if you are flexible, curious and open minded, read on.
Before leaving Makassar, I went shopping for an external hard drive. My laptop was quickly filling up with the 5,500 new photo’s I have taken. And, I would have to delete part of my music library which I wasn’t willing to do. The shopping mall was near the hotel so I mustered a little strength and went shopping. While that might be a pleasant experience for my female friends, it’s a bit painful to me. My neighbor Elouise describes my shopping trips as “missions” because they happen and are completed so quickly!
I found an Apple store there which didn’t have any external hard drives but recommended Western Digital as the brand most compatible with the Apple computer. They confirmed what I’ve suspected, I have two external Western Digital hard drives at home for my desk top computer.
The store near them had one version of the Western Digital but it wasn’t the “Passport” model which it TINY and highly recommended. Wandering the other stores, I finally located one. As a plus, the store would accept my credit card. As a minus, the credit card confused them and it took quite a while, huddling occasionally, turning the card to front to back over and over again, huddling some more, punching numbers into the credit card machine and eventually bringing me receipts to sign.
Once all that was complete, they asked for my credit card again and I thought we’d start the process once more and perhaps charge the drive a couple times to my account! A quick check of something and I was given the OK.
Back at the hotel and feeling rather satisfied at my proactive decision, I started backing up photo files to the drive. I was able to partition it (divide it into two sections) so one partition would hold photo’s and the other would backup my hard drive.
Somewhere in the copying and backing up process, the thing froze. For three days, I’ve tried every disk utility option available, searched the internet, tried other options and nothing would work.
This morning, my friend Mary told me where the local Mac/PC store is so I walked there and stumbled upon another computer store on the way.
Neither place was able to get any read on the drive. They assured me I was having a hardware problem and would need to return the drive….where I bought it….in Makassar…back in Sulawesi. Right!
The Mac/PC store told me there was a place in Denpasar called Rimo on Diponegoro Street which was a large computer shopping center. “Yes, Rimo can exchange for you”…I should have know that sounded too good to be true.
I talked to Bayu (one of the men working here), rented his motorbike and headed off with little idea of where I was going. Nyomen drew me a map that was quite detailed. Unfortunately, I must have started on the wrong road and never saw the land marks he highlighted!
So here’s what I did and be alert, this represents the “unmanly” portion of the day. Two or three times, I stopped and asked for directions! I know, how bizzarre, I asked for directions.
OK, the complete disclosure, I asked directions at least 20 times!!! I asked policemen, parking lot attendants, shop owners, hotel reception desk staff, the security guard in the parking lot, the little man on the side of the street, three guys in front of the hospital, the motor bike riders beside me, pretty much everyone. Eventually, I was able to find Rimo and stopped in the parking lot wondering, “is this really worth it??? And, how am I going to get back since I have no idea how to even begin?”
Up the stairs, I was guided to the center that works on hard drives and they checked it out for me. Nothing! It was definitely faulty as they couldn’t even read the drive. They reminded me that the warranty was only good in Indonesia so I’d have to go back to Makassar where I bought it or take it to Jakarta. Riiiiiight!
“Is there anything we can do” was met with blank stares and comments about it not working. Finally, I asked if anyone there could help. He pointed to the labels on the outside of their drives indicating a warranty was included, labels which my drive was missing.
Once again, he confirmed that no one else would be able to help me! Trusting my own experience and persistence rather than taking his word, I wandered around looking for another store. One very helpful man asked if he could help me.
I told him what was happening with the drive. He looked concerned and pointed to a computer center that could help me. It was the one I just came from.
Now, I’ll pause for an important reflection! Many times, I’ve had a thought that it’s a good thing that I’m a facilitator as it helps me get things accomplished. I’ve even written about that. Today, I realized it has nothing to do with being a facilitator, I’m good at communicating!
Good means flexible, adaptable, creative, persistent, more flexible, taking another track to express what I want to have them understand. With this young man, I did the same thing. He didn’t understand so I said it another way, then another and another before he finally realized what I was trying to communicate and help him understand. Today, I realized the ability to communicate creatively, patiently, finding new and alternative ways to say or ask something, that’s what really helps me get results. In this case, I got understanding!
Then, the young man did something stunning: he went the extra mile! I’ve heard many people describe men in Indonesia as generally lazy, they smoke and drink, sit around and watch the women take care of everything. In many places, that’s generally true.
This young man started punching keys on the computer, talking to colleagues, going back and talking to a manager, punching more keys, then writing something on a piece of paper for me. Knowing that I’d be leaving the country and couldn’t do anything about an Indonesian Warranty from the US, he looked up the warranty repair service for Indonesia. It isn’t all on Java, turns out there is a center in Denpasar.
He looked up Western Digital Warranty center on the web, wrote down the address and phone number for me and via a huddle with his peers, gave me directions for getting there! Very cool! Amazing really, one more time of getting help above what I thought possible.
I headed off for the short drive. Of course, it would be short if I knew where I was going, had a clue about the proper starting place and after passing the same hotel four times, I found the place about an hour later.
Miraculously, I only had to ask directions about a dozen times to get there! The last person I asked, a security guard at a shopping center, got out a piece of paper, drew a map, and precisely told me where to go, where to turn and what to look for! Perfectly clear! I only had to ask five more people after that to eventually get there so I guess he wasn’t the “last” one after all!
Bernardus at the Western Digital place was very helpful. I showed him the receipt, explained it was only four days old and told him what was happening. He and a colleague checked it on three different computers and NADA, it wouldn’t work.
They looked up the serial number, discovered it’s a different variation they they have and then they had me wait patiently while they checked with Jakarta for authorization to see if they could do something about the drive for me. An hour later, I finally learned that they would have to send it to Jakarta for approval and send one back.
Earlier, I learned that the drive I bought is the “old” version and a newer, faster 3.0 version was released 2 months ago. I asked if it would be possible to upgrade and pay the difference. Bernardus told me it would be very complicated to exchange mine and pay extra for the new model. It would cost about $200,000 or more to upgrade and be very difficult. “Better you keep this” he said. I let it go deciding that a functional drive would be better than no drive.
Authorization complete, they had a new drive on their desk and I thought that was mine. Whoa, not so fast! They had to sent the old one to Jakarta, get authorization and send a new one which would arrive in three to five days. Then Bernardus surprised me showing the same initiative I’d seen earlier. He apparently asked his manager who asked Jakarta and they authorized upgrading my unit to the new unit for only $50,000.
Persistence pays! There were several times I wondered if I was waisting my time!!! Maybe I should just turn around and find my way back to Ubud. However, the pursuit felt important so I persisted. Now, I’ll have a much faster and more efficient model checked by the factory in Jakarta and pick it up when I return to Bali in a few weeks!
Before I left, I asked him for directions back to Ubud. He pointed, told me where to go, and I was off. It’s an interesting experience driving a motor bike in the most congested city traffic I’ve ever ridden in, being cautious and careful amidst the crazy car and motor bike drivers, and having no clue where I was headed. I drove through some tiny alley type road, small houses and rice fields on the side of the road, children playing, dinner cooking and no idea if I was headed in the right direction. Another dozen or more stops for directions and I finally popped out of the wilderness of Bali and into the familiar environs of Ubud. What a different day than what I had “planned” and so fulfilling.
At least this time, I wasn’t riding a PINK motor bike!