Really bad Friday

So today was a really bad day. It started off with me looking for my house keys for 10 minutes only to find them under the bag that I carry with me to the office.

When I walked out of the house this morning I put my cell phone in my pocket, something that I never do. I went to the road side and caught the tro to my office. Well that is nothing new or strange. I sat in the very back row of the tro against the window and held my bag on my lap like I always do and just waited to get to the office.

About 5 minutes into my ride a man got into the tro and sat next to me, and to be honest he just seemed a little off. He sat a little too close (even for Ghana) and kept trying to poke my left side. I pushed back and told him to move over. He said he was looking for someone but I did not believe him.

When we got to one of the major junctions in my town he asked to switch seats with me because he needed to talk to someone at a kiosk so I switched with him. He really did not talk to the man but yelled from the window. He then reached down to the floor of the tro between my legs as if to get something. I told him that it was unacceptable and he could wait until I got off the tro to get what he dropped. Little did I know that what he was doing was stealing my cell phone from my pocket!

I got off the tro at my usual place and realized that my phone was not in my pocket. I looked in my bag to see if I had put it in there but it was not there. I walked into the office and told Michael what happened and he tried to call my number and it rang a few times and then it was turned off. He then asked me what the man was wearing and went off looking for him and my phone.

He came back about an hour later but he had not been able to find the guy or my phone. He went to the next town and waited for all of the tros to come in and asked them if they had picked up a white person and a person that fit the description of the man that I gave. When he got a positive answer he asked where he dropped the other man and then went to that area and looked for him. Of course the man was gone.

I then went to try to replace my phone and the phone numbers. This took me a better part of 4 hours. I first went to Akosombo because I was told that is where I could replace my Tigo chip. On my way there I meant a man named "Ben" who wanted to be my "special friend". I told him the cover story that I use here, that I am married and he said that it was fine, he could be my "man on the side". I got to hear all about his numerous white girlfriends while he tried to help me with my phone problem. I kept telling him that I could handle the issue by myself but he would not leave me alone. Finally the man at the phone store said that I would have to go to Somanya to get the chip replaced. I thanked both the store clerk and "Ben" and got back on the tro.

I stopped in Atimpoko at the MTN store to try to replace my MTN chip and they would not help me. They told me that my Peace Corps id was not a real id and that I needed a drivers license. I then told them that I had used it before and they said they did not care they would not help me. At this point I was almost in tears and I left. I first said that they could learn about customer service from their store in Koforidua and if they did they might actually have some sales.

I then went to Somanya and was helped by the nicest man. I was able to get a new phone (with a warranty), a replacement SIM card (so I have the same number) and I was in and out of their office in less than 30 minutes. I tried to do the same for Tigo but their office has closed in Somanya so I had to get a new number.

I am glad that the day is almost over because I don't think that I could handle much more of this. I had things that I wanted to get done today for Global Mamas and I ended up spending the whole day trying to deal with a phone because I was not paying attention on the tro.

This was an expensive lesson to learn.