One day if I died of heart attack the murderer would be called MINDLESSNESS

In one single day...

First, my husband and I went to 4 different offices in Toronto trying to get his driving license renewed. The officers there kept telling us that they were not responsible for this and kept sending us to other offices. It turned out that the second office we went to was actually the correct one. The officer sent us away since she didn't take any careful look at the documents we presented her.

Much time wasted, much extra driving cost, many body cells killed due to the anger aroused, only because one person has been absent-minded.

Second, I was trying to contact someone at my university in Brisbane on an enquiry related to my studies. I got her email address and phone number from someone at another admin office, who told me - yes the classic line! - this is not our job and you have to go elsewhere for this. It turned out that the information she gave me was all wrong! A telephone extension of 56757 was mis-typed as 56557, and the last name Umemoto mis-typed as Umemote in the email address. It took me a couple of emails to figure this out and fix it. You think it is not big deal huh? Maybe I should have told you that it had already taken me and my academic supervisor about a dozen of emails to look for an answer to my enquiry (which I don't yet have a complete answer), and to be able to finally pin down a contact person whom I can directly talk/write to.

I wonder how much time in the university has been wasted on matters like these, and how much productivity could be generated if those wasted time is summed up and spent on something more meaningful...

And things like these don't just occur overseas... Yes, that's part of the globalisation phenomena and we are not short of examples at home! A few weeks ago, I received a voice mail from someone calling me for the first time,

"Sorry Phoebe I don't understand what you are trying to say in your email. Could you call me back to explain it?" (hang up)

This was the first time she gave me a call, and she didn't leave her phone number...

One day if I were to die of heart attack I could be quite sure that it does not merely come from overwork, but the stress and emotions stirred up by the mindless co-workers all around us!!!!!