Sunday, February 5, 2012

Eating Humble Pie

If you read my last post, you know that I had a run-in with a parking attendant here in Jinja recently. I must say that it is one I am not proud of ...
After going to the parking office and being assured that I was in the 'right,' (and told that I only had to pay one ticket for each hour) I felt justified somehow in not paying the parking attendant the two tickets he was demanding.
Now I must tell you that it is very true that the parking attendants do attempt to scam you (at least us mzungus - white people) on a regular basis. From asking you for money with a story like that they did not receive their paycheck this month to giving you used tickets and so on. I know that this current parking attendant wrote a dishonest time down on my ticket as it was nearly 40 minutes off.
But besides those facts ... I was still clearly wrong. A friend pointed out to me where the law is stated in writing. And it is definitely one ticket per hour UP TO THE TWO HOURS which means that my hour and a quarter would have owed the parking attendant two tickets, not one as I had previously been lead to believe (and believed whole-heartedly)!!!
Well, once I realized this truth, I knew that I needed to go to the parking attendant and ask for forgiveness. You can imagine how surprised he was when this belligerent white lady knelt before him in broad daylight amidst a busy Main Street and asked for his forgiveness ... I was delighted to find that he still had his job and that he was willing to extend grace to me.
But I must say that eating humble pie is not my favorite pastime ...

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