The Saga . . . .



Beirut, early morning



Aren’t you eager to know what happened today at The Ministry of Higher Education? I’m almost embarrassed to bring up the topic; my credibility is at stake here.

Well the e-mail man said they had sent an e-mail on April the 6th, and he showed me the proof. It wasn’t really much proof, as it was a request to have an e-mail sent, but not a copy of the actual mail.

I asked to have a copy of the actual mail, as my university insisted that they had not received anything; he insisted it was sent as it had the stamp and signature of Dr. J, someone really way high up in the department.

This went on for a while until I put my reading glasses on. I mean, I had to figure out what was going wrong, since both parties are claiming something, and I cannot verify either claim.

You know this game ‘spot the difference’? I figured it out. I had provided them with the e-mail address of examencommissie.svj@hu.nl. They had sent it to examencomissie.svj@hu.nl. I know, it’s just one silly little m. What is odd though is that when you send a mail to a non-existing address, it bounces back right away. Well, not with these guys.

I was pretty speechless. While driving to the Ministry I had thought that we had pretty much exhausted all possible fail scenarios. Apparently not.

Mr. AB, was pretty speechless as well. How incompetent can one get? Even he thought that this was too much. He decided to take matters in his own hands. He disappeared for half an hour, and came back with – as requested – a copy of an e-mail that he had - right then and there - sent to my university. From an oficial .gov.lb address. I checked it. 

I now have proof that they have, indeed, after some 18, almost 19 months, actually succeeded in sending an e-mail to my university.

Not let’s wait and see what the Dutch make of it. We’re pretty well known for our bureaucracy too. Lots of things that can still go wrong.

Beirut, early evening