The lighter side of life...

Every day brings amusing stories here – I thought I would share a couple with you. The first one could really have happened anywhere, come to think of it, but I loved that it happened in Afghanistan.

At work, we have a protocol if something goes wrong with our computer. We have to send an email to a central address for the IT department, which is called AFGO Helpdesk. They then send us a reply and we resolve how to resolve the issue. One day last week, I managed to spill an entire mug of coffee (and it was one of those Starbucks city mugs – if you know what I am referring to, you realise how darn BIG they are and how much coffee they hold!) all over my desk, myself and my computer! After I finished staring in amazement for a few minutes at the sheer volume of liquid dripping on to the floor, I pulled myself together, hurriedly put the laptop onto a nearby desk, rescued the papers and tried to mop up the mess. When that didn’t work, I went down to admin, looking for the cleaner. I was assured he would come eventually and so trudged back upstairs to look at the mess. Sadly, I had also added hazelnut syrup to my coffee, so not only was everything wet, it was sticky as well. I was fairly desperate as I had an incredible amount of work to do and didn’t really have the time to waste with this. My computer had shut itself down and when I tried to turn it on again, I discovered that the keys wouldn’t type – so I couldn’t put in my password to get it going again. Getting really desperate at this stage (and totally covered in coffee, so wet, sticky and with brown stains down my white shalwar!) I picked up the laptop and plodded down to IT. I walked in the door, in my somewhat frazzled state and launched into my tale of woe…”I have spilled coffee all over everything and my computer turned itself off and now when I tried to turn it on the keyboard won’t type – non of the keys work and I have to finish my proposals and I’m covered in coffee…” and the IT guy turned to me and said, in total seriousness, “Have you sent an email to AFGO Helpdesk?”

Another story that cracks me up, but that I was sadly not present for, involves a bunch of my colleagues driving in a marked car through the streets of Heart when another car starts driving alongside them and honking madly. The guys are screaming out of the window at our car and waving some material and the screaming and honking and yelling continues, with words like “emergency” and “you must stop” being thrown around. Our guys ignore them and keep driving (worried that they are about to be robbed or blown up), but the Afghan car doesn’t go away. Our guys are becoming quite nervous in this situation and feeling very vulnerable. Eventually, when the car of Afghans becomes even more insistent, the driver of our car decides to see what they are going on about and pulls over. A man comes over from the Afghan car, frantic with worry and clutching the piece of material he had been waving out of the window, saying, “you have to help me – you have to tie this tie for me – I don’t know how”…

I have more, but will save them to pepper through my postings in order to lighten things up on occasion.