Better late than never, I guess.

     See this newspaper right here--this RM 1.20-a-day newspaper, The Star?  (US 40 cents,  26 Japanese yen per day.)  How could it have reduced me to a snarling, threatening, foaming-at-the-mouth person?  I'm usually so nice!   (Honestly, I am!)  But by the time this only-in-Malaysia saga was resolved, I'd turned into a harridan whom I didn't even recognize.  Like everything else in this country, it all got resolved eventually and satisfactorily.  But oh, the process itself was painful!


     I've always had a daily newspaper delivered to my door.  Not only do I like knowing what's going on locally and globally, but I  would often use clippings from the paper as teaching material  back in Japan.  There the paper came like clockwork, except on the rather frequent "newspaper holidays,'' which were designed to give delivery personnel a day off.  However, that poor Japanese national English newspaper was suffering from the same problems that now afflict print journalism all over the world--dwindling sales and readership.

   Our daily paper got smaller and smaller year after year.  Regular features disappeared and the paper began to be delivered a day late out where I lived. The sports news had always been a day late, so that became two days late.  By that time, it couldn't be called a "newspaper," but rather, an "oldspaper."  But still, it came, and it came on time, which is to say at 5:15 every morning, even when the snow was up to THERE! 


   So,  we moved to Penang and I checked out the various papers, glorying in the fact that I actually had a choice of three.  What a thrill!   Greatly excited, on June 24, in the midst of a subscription campaign, I went out and signed up for a year of having the paper delivered.  I was told it would start coming on July 1st.  Of course it didn't.  I waited a while, then phoned and asked where my paper was.  "Oh!  Didn't you get the letter?"  "No, sorry.  What letter?"   "The letter telling you that delivery would start on August 1, not July 1."  Hmm. . . . .  OK.   I'm a relatively patient person, so I wait until August 1st, and still no paper.  I go away on a trip and return in mid-August.  Still no paper!  I wait some more.  Finally, at the end of August, I call again to enquire about why I'm not getting my paper.  By this time, I've been sent a year's worth of vouchers to pay my delivery person -- except that I DON'T HAVE ONE.   (And it took one entire work week to convince the courier service to deliver the vouchers, by the way.) 


    More phone calls.  I'm told it's my fault for not having called earlier and more often.  I'm asked who my vendor is.  My answer was, "I don't know.  I don't have one."  I'm told to return the voucher for August, which makes me happy because now at least I don't have to pay for a month's worth of papers that I didn't receive.  I try to do that, but the fellow never comes to pick it up, as we agreed.  (He still hasn't, for all I know.)   However, he does promise me that the paper will start coming on Sept. 1.  


    So, I watch the doorstep like a hawk on The Big Day.  But oh, never mind!   It's the end-of-Ramadan holidays, so "no paper, lah."  I wait a few more days, gathering my strength for the battle ahead -- finding the business office, waving my envelope full of receipts and vouchers, demanding my money back.  (And mind you, I'm not the type of person who demands anything!)    I decided to draw the line in the sand on Monday, Sept. 5th.


       So, what happens this morning, Sept. 4 -- 73 days after I handed over my cash to start the subscription?   The paper comes -- an hour earlier than promised.  Only in Malaysia!