Oh yeah, Orange is my favourite colour!

That's it Bouygues. I am fed up with your service. I waited patiently for almost four weeks for the internet to function at our apartment. As soon as they sent us a notice of upcoming bill, the horns I was hiding came out. I am no longer a quiet foreigner who does not speak French. We are canceling what we have got. You do not deserve our money! We are switching to Orange, which is the key brand of France Telecom, and they now offer an internet and a cell phone bundle for €60, including free international calls which they did not offer before. Even if their fee is a bit more, it is better than something that does not work.

What is amazing here in France is that in order to talk to a customer's service or technical service, you have to pay for your call. And this special four digit number is not reachable by Skype. We have no phone line (as the internet does not work), and we did not have a cell phone (as Bouygues did not allow us to have a phone with contract). We finally convinced a Bouygues staff to call this number using their phone. This was after my plead in French! Now in order to cancel, we had to send them an official letter by snail mail (do we still say this?) and we have to wait for their response. Gees. Is this 1980s?

I find so many things are similar here and in Japan, particularly how the foreigners are not given any rights. And, the fact everything has to be done by a hard copy, and how tedious everything takes... I do not mind the process. I can take it. However, there is one big difference! There is no apology in this country. In Japan, you will hear some sort of apology for the inconvenience even if they do not really mean it. C'mon, at least apologize once Bouygues. For taking 4 weeks to start our internet service and not being able to realize it is not working, and for charging us for nothing...

I am reading a classic in the world of Japanese anthropology by Tadao Umesao, and he talks about the countries that developed in the centre or at the margin. China or India are introduced as the ones in the centre and Japan and Pakistan at the margin. When he traveled in India and Pakistan in 1950s, he noticed the difference in people's attitude in their superiority and inferiority. Japan, being the marginal country when Chinese dynasty was in its prosper, always seems to have a sense of inferiority to others. Apparently Germany also fits in this category as they were the marginals when the Roman empire flourished. France, obviously is in the centre.