We don't often have to deal with obnoxious people, but today is one of those days, unfortunately. I message a man who booked three weeks ago to confirm that he is definitely coming tomorrow night. He replies in the affirmitive and asks for directions. The next thing, his daughter messages me to confirm the price. Her answer is 'That's great.' However, half an hour later she phones me to ask how the pricing system works. I explain that the price per person decreases if more people stay. There is a pause before she launches into a tirade of nastiness, demanding how we can charge what we do. I explain again, and I am then told that we are more expensive than the last place she stayed at in Bulawayo!
I have gone past trying to make people happy; I advise her to find somewhere else, preferably the cheap place she stayed at the last time she was here. 'No, no, no,' she insists, 'my father made this booking so we have to stay.' I am not sure I see the logic in this line of reasoning, especially as she won't let the matter drop and starts again. 'So you are not going to bring your price down?' Funnily enough, no. This woman obviously has no idea of psychology. Being nasty does not automatically qualify you for a discount. I do not want her to stay; she is the kind of person who will look for everything that is wrong. Again, I suggest that she finds somewhere else to stay and this time she says that everywhere is booked up. I assume she means all the very cheap places. Ten minutes after the end of our call, she cancels. What a relief.
In the evening, we go to speech night at Ellie's school. The guest speaker talks about maintaining the essence of what makes a Zimbabwean education unique. Here is another subject I could do a PhD on. If there is any subject that is bound to bring people to blows at dinner parties, it is not politics (we all united on the fact that the government is useless), it is education. The Zimbabwean education system used to be the best in Africa, but it has deteriorated greatly over the last few years. The private school system has survived, but at great cost. There are many good things about it, but it is struggling. Based on the old British public school system, it represents values that are often highly contradictory in nature. Good manners are always impressed (to the extent that boys are taught to doff their hats), but only recently have any of the boarding schools begun to take the issue of bullying seriously. I agree with the speaker that Zimbabweans do work hard and their attitude is highly valued in countries where people have not grown up in a system where seniority is respected.
However, as a Head once told me, our school system is a replica of our government. We give far too much attention to the people at the top and treat those at the bottom with little respect. We also teach pupils to keep quiet, constantly reminding them that those who don't toe the line, won't be rewarded. We don't teach them to question or challenge the system within which they exist. The challenge for us is to be able to move with the times, but also maintain what is good about the system.
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