Every now and then one of the below questions pop up in my mind. Most of the time I do not have an answer, nor a hypothesis. Will somebody help me?
Why the buses drive so close to the pavement?Honestly a couple of times I almost got slapped by their right huge mirror waiting at the traffic light! I have also saved a few of my friends by pulling them back as the bus passes. Are buses commissioned to slap up us when we careless look at our phone waiting for the slow traffic light to let us pass?
What’s the deal with the 3 months notice for quitting the gym, the mobile phone company, the home insurance, etc?I am convinced that this is an evil way to make us pay for services that we do not need anymore. We are all so busy. Why do I have to remember to send a registered letter to say that I want to stop my gym subscription or the phone company or the legal insurance? Why do they need the 3 months? What will they do differently? They just count on the fact that we forget and then we continue paying. FOR ANOTHER WHOLE YEAR!
Why the stores close by 6.30pm or so?We are working till 7pm most days. Why do I have to dedicate my Saturday morning to shopping for things I could have done during the week on my way back home? Plus this would give more job opportunities. People are willing to shop here, you can see how crazy the stores are on Saturday and Thursday night.
What about all these fully capable people begging for money?There has not been a single day that I have been to a Starbucks and the same lady has not harassed me for money. She seems in good health. When she approaches me, she gets a sad face. Later I see her with her friend smoking around the corner. If I see them, why the police does not? Actually tonday I went to withdraw money and outside the ATM space at the door, there was on the left side somebody begging for money and on the right side a policeman. The city collects enough taxes to be able to take care of these people properly so they do not have to beg for money or harass the citizens.
What’s up with this construction everywhere all the time?Is this how the city spends the tax money? It is one of the most beautiful, well organized, in great shape cities. But you always find construction and road work where you do not expect it. Check only around the lake, from rive to Paquis and Jardins Anglais. Plus it takes forever. More hours for the crew to be paid? Even the taxi drivers complain about it. Once somebody told me that during the summer one can find more than 200 roadworks around the city. And it is a small city, let’s admit it…
What happens at the airport recently with these 45-minute queues?I used to brag to my friends abroad that I can leave home 1 hour before the flight, be at the airport within 15 minutes, go through the security control within 5-10 minutes and be at the gate 30 minutes before the flight takes off, when the boarding usually starts. Well forget that nowadays. I have arrived at the airport several times, only to find the line going all the way to the escalator!!! Madness! And there are around 10 machines to check our stuff. So what is it? Suddenly millions of people are traveling more than before? They changed the system to an inefficient one? They hired more people? Less people? Seriously I just don’t get it!
How do I stop getting adverting in my mailbox despite the NO PUB sticker?I thought this little sticker would save me the extra move of taking everything and sticking it in the paper junk mailbox. And most importantly save me the guilt of so many trees being destroyed for nothing, since I have no interest in these flyers. But no. I still get a considerable amount from supermarkets, beauty stores, etc.
And a rather funny one…
Have you ever seen anybody picking up a newspaper from the open boxes and then pay? I am not saying that they do not pay. Actually this is one of the trivia I share with people outside Switzerland. That there is so much trust here that the boxes are open and first you take the newspaper and then you pay. Amazing, no? But thinking about it I have never seen anybody opening the box and getting a newspaper. Let alone pay. LOL. Is this system really working? Very curious.
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