I just received an email from BLOM Bank Lebanon
I tried to send a complaint through their site and got a website debug error. Very professional indeed! That’s the quality assurance you get from the largest bank in Lebanon. Yay!
*shrug*
Spamming in Lebanon
What Is A Postal Code?
- October 23, 2013
- Blogging
A question like “what is a postal code?” may seem trivial to people all over the world. But in Lebanon, where postal services are still hanging on to our deep rooted traditions of the pre-1934 era, the answer is not an obvious one. But when a postal services employee asks the question, it becomes a little too much.
A month or so ago, I tried to hunt down my apartment’s postal code. I had a couple of items I purchased returned to sender after LibanPost failed to “find” my address. And I was able to get it from someone who seemed to know what a postal code is at LibanPost customer services. Apparently he was the only one in the company who knew!
This whole post was triggered by a very funny (or not, you decide) telephone call I received in the morning asking me to come collect my parcel from the LibanPost office in downtown Beirut. The guy asked me if it was the first time I got parcels delivered, I said no of course. He said that they couldn’t find the address. So I asked him what was he looking for. He read the address to me and it was perfectly findable on Google maps (after all that’s where I got the names of the streets from). I asked him was there a postal code on the label and he was dumbfounded. I told him it was an 8 digits number. He looked and voila, there it was. Next thing he said made me real sad though, so I laughed. He said: “that’s a long number and it’s not a phone number”. I explained it was a Postal Code, and that I got that from their offices. But that did not ring any bells. He just said in a very forced politeness: “Come get your things from Riad el Solh office, TODAY!” I guess he let go of the “or else” part, thankfully.
I’m pretty sure no one reads my rant blogs. In fact I hope no one is reading this one …
Update: I went to pick up my new cycling jacket, and the nice guy at the Riad el Solh post office told me that it was their duty to deliver the mail to my doorstep and that the caller was probably some new guy taking shortcuts. And that next time I should take his name and report him. Well, I have a few things in transit at the moment. Let’s see how it goes 🙂
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Diet Day Three (When It Crashed and Burned)
- March 30, 2013
- Food
Breakfast: mortadella and rockets wrap. So far so good.
But then it hit me: We’re going up to Bekaa to visit Pia’s aunt. Plenty of food today! Here’s a sample (low quality pics from my phone!):
Tabbouleh:
An assortment of sauteed wild greens and fresh “Aisha Khanum” beans the traditional vegetarian way:
Wild thym:
Wild dandelion with caramelized onions on top:
The beans again:
Pickled green olives:
Pumpkin Kibbeh with Spinach, Chickpeas and Walnuts:
I really did not eat that much, but I knew that the diet was over. The next day we were invited to a friend’s house (a sushi chef) and he made the most beautiful sushi/maki plates. His wife and other friends made Pancit, roasted chicken legs with rosemary, organic green salad, and about 10 other things. And then a couple of days later we were invited for a barbecue dinner at my in-laws. And more invites are lined up for the coming days and weeks. So I’m giving up…
Or maybe I’ll restart again in a couple of days. Meanwhile, I finished baking a wonderful whole-wheat sandwich loaf with honey and olive oil. The smell is great and I’m pretty sure it tastes great as well.