Friday, April 3, 2009

Different, but Same Same

We recently got back from (a fabulous trip to) Vietnam where a common saying in sales pitches is "same same, but different." The line is hilarious, and has become a bit of a motto or slogan within the tourist component of the country (I can’t speak to the local experience). You can buy t-shirts and postcards with the line on it, and you are bound to hear it at least once a day. While the line gets a chuckle at first, the more we heard it, and used it, the more we felt it grow on us: like it really does fit as a descriptor for so many things in life.

Although I love this line, and I feel there is an unacknowledged accuracy to it that many people simply overlook, it is often cited in a mocking or deprecating tone by people who feel they have been swindled into a knock off product or less-than-promised experience (which can often times be the case, but certainly isn’t always the case). For example, once in Vietnam you may be lured into purchasing a little beach getaway trip departing from one of the bigger cities, and although the pictures of your beautiful beach vacation look divine, when you get to the beach it may be filthy with garbage and have a no swimming sign up. See: same same but different. Same same in that you are indeed on a vacation on a beach, but different in that it isn’t the fantasy beach vacation that you thought you were buying.

I suppose that in some ways the sentence serves as a reminder that looks can be deceiving, and when making any sort of transaction you need to be clear and forthright about what you are looking for and what you can expect. Or, perhaps the line is just a simple truth about many products and services (the world over), the effects of globalization and all.

Hmmm, evidently there is a lot that can be discussed regarding this catchy little line. But lest I get lost in all its possible nuances, I will carry on to the second part of my story.

So upon our return I received via post my freshly “repaired” computer. This pesky little computer has been falling ill since early in its young life, and at this point I am far too familiar (and frustrated) with the customer service staff to expect any sort of sign that they understand the symptoms I am describing. Or to expect that they offer any hint at clear insight or information as to what exactly is going on with my computer, or who specifically will be tending to it. So, having shipped off the little bugger before we went on vacation, I received it back shortly after our return. Nicely timed if I do say so myself.

When I opened up the shipping box I found a concise notice that assured me in no particular detail (or any detail whatsoever) that the computer has been fully repaired. Skeptical at the lack of description I turned to my "newly repaired" laptop, popped the screen up, and uncovered a shockingly dusty keyboard. A little surprised that the computer has come back to me this much dustier than it was on departure, I refocus my attention on booting up my little rockstar. Hmm. The obnoxious bootup error screen is unfortunately the first thing I see when I try and start my newly repaired computer. Oddly enough, it is exactly the same screen that I saw just before I sent it away. And so I paused. Same error screen; more dust; generic letter reassuring me that all is well.

take pause here people

Is all really well? Has anyone actually looked at my computer? Is it actually fixed? How can I tell? I can’t call the person who worked on it, their number would be unlisted if their name was even provided. Should I call the helpline in India and see if they know any more than I do? It seems unlikely that they would given how little they know every other time I call. Crap. I feel like I’ve just been snowed, big time.

And in that moment, in that realization, it struck me: different, but same same. For all our “advances,” for all our fabulous systems, and stunning implementations, for all our supposed growth, and all our cited difference, in a great many ways countries the world over are all still “same same.”

In this case, the only difference is that in Canada, I can’t actually speak to the person who supposedly worked on my computer. In that moment I pined for Vietnam. I wished I was in Vietnam or in any country where I could ask a person directly whether they were scamming me or not, see their face, check out their posture, ask many many probing questions to try and figure out whether anyone had actually worked on the laptop. But I was nowhere like that. I was in Canada, where all I have to cling to is a few words on a generic piece of white paper “your computer has been fully repaired”

sure it has.

I know that there are endless differences between nations, big, bold, glaring differences: socialism, capitalism, health care standards, living wages, education standards, accessibility, human rights, oppression, and on and on it goes. But I think that within all those differences, tucked neatly between all the people that make up these nations, there are also a fair number of similarities, little, inconspicuous, fundamental similarities. Different in many ways perhaps, but also same same.

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