Friday, June 4, 2010

Don't trust everyone you meet!

When I first arrived in Nairobi, my Namibian friend who is married to a Kenyan man warned me about conman. When she explained to me about how she has lost money trying to buy a car etc, I was saying to myself that, how can I let someone full me you know? Not long ago I received a note from my son's school telling me to pay for the music lessons that I have paid already. If not of the security for my son, I could have mentioned the school's name because they have pissed me off. Once my son leaves this school, I'll re-post and mention the school's name. At the beginning of the term we all received a letter stating that the owner of the school has fired the secretary because she stolen money. I could not believe that this lady did this, because she was one of the reasons I registered my son to this school. She was very nice, and inviting, always smiling, and making us feels welcome. When I visited other schools, some secretaries didn't smile etc. Since the school has started, my son told me he was taking computer and music lessons; thus I thought they made a mistake that I paid for both the computer, and music. I was just thinking that maybe she has made mistakes that some parents paid for two activities, but I was not sure how to ask them. So when I received the note asking me to pay for the music lessons, I thought in the system it says we have paid for computer, because last term we paid for the computer. I wrote them back and told then that we have paid for music not for the computer. On top of that, I went to the school with the receipt. The new secretary asked me to leave the receipt with her to show to the music teacher. I was not comfortable with her request thus I asked her to give me a note that says I have left her with my receipt. The following day I returned for my receipt, and she called the owner of the school to talk to me. She said, she had seen my receipt and it does not have her school stamp. I was just in shock. So I asked her "what do you want me to do". She had fired the previous secretary one week after the school reopened because she claimed that she has stolen from her. She kept insisting that why did I accept a receipt without a stamp? I told her that she should inform all the new parents to accept only stamped receipts. She said all over Kenya the government has announced never to take receipts without stamps. Hallow I'm not from Kenya, and I don't know everything that is going on here. She kept on saying that everywhere in the world people accept receipts with stamps only. I have lived in the US for the past 8 years, and I don't remember receiving a hand written receipts with a stamp on it especially when I pay for an on going service like school fees etc because everything is computerized. Even if I had lived in Kenya for over 5 years, and was aware of the situation, people do make simple mistakes. It's not impossible to overlook a simple receipt. Ok if the secretary has conned me, is that my fault? My mistake was paying by cash. If I have paid by check then I don't even have to prove my points to her, just show her the bank statement period. Maybe if she computerize her system, she can avoid these issues. I have learned my lesson, never ever pay by cash especially when you move to new places. If you have no check use money order or something like that.