
Chenlu and I are embarking on a two-week trip back to China. She is going to visit family and I am going to visit factories. It has been planned for quite awhile, and I will try to add a daily edition to my blog about my visit to China.
The first entry was supposed to be from Beijing, starting about right now. We were to arrive Saturday night late and be in our hotel waiting for a three-day visit to the capital city. Needless to say, that did not happen as we encountered one of the more difficult and stressful days I have had in quite awhile.
On Thursday, I learned that our container of product held at customs in Long Beach was being held longer because we had an legal/marking issue UL. I awoke Friday morning to an indifferent couple of directors from New York, who accused us of illegally marking product and threatened to eliminate our quarter million dollar inventory and essentially put out us out of business. The car was packed in the office parking lot as I feverishly read and assembled our "case" to present to them showing a clear-cut mistake on their part. I left late for the airport.
We arrived at the American Airlines terminal 9 minutes to late to check-in bags on the plane for an international flight AND my passport was rejected as a damaged from sunscreen stains from the summer. It was clearly legible, and both the US Immigration Department (added pages) and the Chinese Embassy (Visa) reviewed and modified it for my impending departure.
I hate American Airlines (note: my absolute no-brainer, worst customer service company in my 20+ years as an adult!) as they eliminated any hope of me catching a flight that day, this weekend, or even within the next month! Two hectic hours later, I flights, visited a Beverly Hills Passport Specialist, US Immigration Office and the Ticket Counter for Cathay Pacific, all of which accepted my passport and denounced American Airlines for their absence of leniency.
With calm, the reproach to the AA counter resulted in a lengthy meeting of "the witches of AA-LAX" to which they agreed to "let" me go this time, of course, there is no guarantee next time.
Ugh! The weekend was shot, Beijing was eliminated from the trip, my wallet was zapped excruciatingly so from the rebooking, but we cashed in some rewards and stayed at a nice hotel at the airport and dumped our frustration into a calm dinner and quiet night of comfort.
Earlier this week, I watched a movie with Kathy Bates and Matthew Maconahay (Failure to Launch). I remember thinking that Kathy Bates is like Morgan Freeman, as an actor that plays many roles in big movies, with such ease. The "witches" of AA-LAX remind me of one her most famous character roles that she played: Annie Wilkes in Misery!