Friday, June 16, 2006

The Best Delay

"Your reclaim will be proceed in the best delay ..."

...... such was the reassuring message that I received from the Royal Air Maroc website today when I updated my address for their files. Apart from the glaring grammatical mistakes, I was a tad bewildered by the "best delay". Is there such a thing as the "worst delay"? "Mediocre delay"? "Fair-to-middling delay"? Being a pretty impatient person, I can safely say that there is no such thing as a "best delay" in Cat in Rabat world; any and all delays irritate me beyond reason. While puzzling over the semantics of "the best delay" (a not too distant cousin to the "good penalty" & the "necessary evil"), I cannot but ask myself why Morocco's national airline can't hire someone who passed a level beyond Elementary English to translate their site? Not only would it be a good investment but it would prevent people like me from taking potshots at it. That alone should be an incentive for them.

Now, why was I updating my particulars for RAM?

Well, back in July as I was preparing to leave Canada, I thought it a prudent thing to acquire a Royal Air Maroc flyer card. True, I had never flown RAM and, truer still, I have yet to fly with them - but it seemed a good idea at the time. And truth be told, sometimes it's nice to receive a piece of mail that doesn't include a "payment due" date on it. From the accompanying letter I received, I can see that my card was processed on April 24th 2006, while I actually received it last week. So it's pretty safe to say that it took 11 months for a piece of plastic to be issued and mailed to me. And for once it's not Poste Maroc's fault. Not entirely.

"With nearly 50 years of experience, Royal Air Maroc has built its reputation on the professionalism and competency of the Company staff".

Now that I actually possess a RAM ticket (purchased 2 months before receiving my points-dispensing card), I am feeling less than confident about their "professionalism" and "competency". If it takes a year to mail out a loyalty card, how long will the flight be? Perhaps I should have checked out the flight plan - is the flight to Montreal via Jakarta or Mumbai - before booking? Or worse still, how long will I be sitting in the boarding area, or on the tarmac? Should I bring extra batteries for my mP3 player? Gads, this is shades of SudanAir (a.k.a. In sh'allah Air) all over again. I can only hope that Allah wills my flight home in as swift a manner as possible, with only the "best delay". Because you know, if I'm on that flight, there will be a delay.

7 Comments:

Blogger Me and my camera said...

I pass a restaurant every day that says, "Reputable since 1955". Although I've only been commuting this route for a week, I've seen the restaurant (at Bathurst and Dupont) many times before, and I always wonder if perhaps they actually opened in 1943, but didn't get their shit together until 1955.

I love those signs: "Quality since 1968" "Trusted since 1972". What were they before those years, producers of crap who couldn't be trusted?

Your post made me think of that.

And these from an English-speaking country!

8:05 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're coming home??? When will this auspicious event take place?
I will miss my daily dose of your Rabat ruminations!
Thanks for the book recommendations - I just started the Zahir.
Hope to see you if you can spare uno momento when you return.

Sarah

11:48 a.m.  
Blogger Cat in Rabat ( كات في الرباط) said...

Sarah ~ I emailed you this weekend!

1:50 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I emailed RAM about all the errors on their stupid website - twice. No response.

The newsletter is slightly improved, but still has sort of nonsensical stuff.

You'd think they would run this stuff past an English speaker or two before it goes to production.

8:10 p.m.  
Blogger Cat in Rabat ( كات في الرباط) said...

They could hire me. I'm cheap (but not a cheap date).

9:45 p.m.  
Blogger Sencer said...

I booked my flight to CMN via an agency in Istanbul and received my ticket shortly with no problem. However, I cannot find my flight at "check yur flight" at RAM's website, the agency insists that there is no problem. What do you say?

9:31 a.m.  
Blogger Cat in Rabat ( كات في الرباط) said...

Hi Sencer: mine isn't showing either. Guess our flights are in Allah's hands. Good luck!

12:11 p.m.  

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