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Discrimination: no consumption voucher for me!
2009-01-20
Discrimination: no consumption voucher for me!
As you probably don't know, part of the Taiwanese approach to avert the economic meltdown is handing out NT$3600 (about 80 Euro or 200 GBP) in consumption vouchers to everyone in Taiwan. At least that's what I thought until I was told that tourists are not eligible. Angry at having waiting for over an hour in the baking sun while the guy in front of me picked up 48 vouchers for his extended redneck family, I tried calling President Ma to ask why there is this discrepancy. Before they asked me to never call this number again, I was told that if the policy allowed tourists to receive vouchers, that would include all illegal foreign laborers, such as Canadian kindergarten teachers. In their mind, somehow, this seems to be an acceptable explanation.
Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I'm afraid I may have already entered the "distress stage" of the culture shock model:
Everything you're experiencing [is] starting to feel like a thick wall that's preventing you from experiencing things.
Exactly! Not having received NT$3600 is preventing me from experiencing a wonderful evening at one of Taichung's famous KTVs.
[Inspired by this post on Forumosa]
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