As you all know, this week initiates my new practice of answering YOUR questions about Japan and Japanese. So I really appreciate all the emails that have come in, with both support and questions, on this new endeavor.
Oh wait, nobody sent any email. I hate you all.
BUT, redemption is not out of your reach. Next week I'd like each of you to think of a question about Japan, and send it in to godzwilla@gmail.com.
...
Seriously? NOBODY had any questions? Not even a "How are you?" I mean, my life isn't all shits 'n giggles, you know. I have a relationship, a school, even an imaginary pet squirrel named Mr. Nutsenburg who causes trouble to no end. Sigh...well, this is ALL going into my fanfic.
I want some emails damnit.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Godzwilla and an ATM from Hell
Note: You'll notice that I now have video and pictures, linked in the top right column of the blog. The videos will be rather frequently updated but pictures will be monthly, as flickr accounts are expensive and I have a space limit. As such, I am expecti....I am OPEN to flickr account donations.
So Japanese money can, at sometimes, be a bit tricky. One dollar is equal to (about) one-hundred yen. A yen is essentially a penny. So if you want to say $40.00, you say 4,000 yen. And 4,000 yen just happens to be the amount of money I wanted from the ATM recently. However, I was immediately attacked by the freaking Hitler of ATMs.
Godzwilla, while awesome though he is, CAN be defeated.
I arrived at the ATM and naturally the line was freaking HUGE. 20 people, literally circling the ATM in a spiral line. After about 20 minutes, I get to the machine. Naturally, it's all in Japanese. "Duh" you may ignorantly reply. But you see, I have found the only ATM in Japan that doesn't offer an English submenu. All ATMs are legally supposed to be bi-lingual now.
I manage to sort my way through the menus and make it to the withdrawal page. It's at this time that the A(dolph)TM decides "Hiz money, much likez da Switzerland, IZ MINEZ" and freezes. I wait, in panic, for 10 minutes at this ATM as the line gets longer behind me. Instead of acknowledging there was a problem, of course, I decided to press the unresponsive screen randomly to keep up the lie that everything was ok. After 5 more minutes, someone in line builds up the courage to speak to me and immediately points out that you have to press "Accept" on the num-pad, not the touch-screen.
"Ah..."
Alright, so we're golden. Sunset's coming up, flowers blooming, etc.. I type in my desired amount of yen, 4000, and away we g-...the hell? Had I not stopped myself, I would have just entered $4,000 as my desired withdrawal.
Well at this point, I'm pissed. The ATM doesn't have English (I'll bet the nazi bastard had German) but when it detected my foreign ATM card, it immediately set everything into dollars. I almost overdrafted my account by $3,900 (I'm poor damnit) and been screwed to the wall. The line was so long that I was literally standing next to the person at the end of the line (it spirals around the ATM) and I'd been there for literally 13 minutes by now. But I NEEDED some cash. I reset everything, went back to the withdrawal page, and entered 40 dollars. Out pops 40 yen (40 cents) and a receipt.
"Oh hell no."
The ATM had decided to, again, screw with me by turning the currency BACK into yen. I had typed in "40 yen" and gotten 40 cents. And you know what? There's a baseline charge of $2.50 to my account for withdrawals here. I just lost $1.10, 15 minutes of my life, and any shred of respect from 20-odd Japanese people. Took my change and left, humiliated.
Could've been worse though, right?.....right?
*sigh*
So Japanese money can, at sometimes, be a bit tricky. One dollar is equal to (about) one-hundred yen. A yen is essentially a penny. So if you want to say $40.00, you say 4,000 yen. And 4,000 yen just happens to be the amount of money I wanted from the ATM recently. However, I was immediately attacked by the freaking Hitler of ATMs.
Godzwilla, while awesome though he is, CAN be defeated.
I arrived at the ATM and naturally the line was freaking HUGE. 20 people, literally circling the ATM in a spiral line. After about 20 minutes, I get to the machine. Naturally, it's all in Japanese. "Duh" you may ignorantly reply. But you see, I have found the only ATM in Japan that doesn't offer an English submenu. All ATMs are legally supposed to be bi-lingual now.
I manage to sort my way through the menus and make it to the withdrawal page. It's at this time that the A(dolph)TM decides "Hiz money, much likez da Switzerland, IZ MINEZ" and freezes. I wait, in panic, for 10 minutes at this ATM as the line gets longer behind me. Instead of acknowledging there was a problem, of course, I decided to press the unresponsive screen randomly to keep up the lie that everything was ok. After 5 more minutes, someone in line builds up the courage to speak to me and immediately points out that you have to press "Accept" on the num-pad, not the touch-screen.
"Ah..."
Alright, so we're golden. Sunset's coming up, flowers blooming, etc.. I type in my desired amount of yen, 4000, and away we g-...the hell? Had I not stopped myself, I would have just entered $4,000 as my desired withdrawal.
Well at this point, I'm pissed. The ATM doesn't have English (I'll bet the nazi bastard had German) but when it detected my foreign ATM card, it immediately set everything into dollars. I almost overdrafted my account by $3,900 (I'm poor damnit) and been screwed to the wall. The line was so long that I was literally standing next to the person at the end of the line (it spirals around the ATM) and I'd been there for literally 13 minutes by now. But I NEEDED some cash. I reset everything, went back to the withdrawal page, and entered 40 dollars. Out pops 40 yen (40 cents) and a receipt.
"Oh hell no."
The ATM had decided to, again, screw with me by turning the currency BACK into yen. I had typed in "40 yen" and gotten 40 cents. And you know what? There's a baseline charge of $2.50 to my account for withdrawals here. I just lost $1.10, 15 minutes of my life, and any shred of respect from 20-odd Japanese people. Took my change and left, humiliated.
Could've been worse though, right?.....right?
*sigh*
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