Living in a third-world country like Pakistan has its advantages, incredible as it sounds. For instance, you don't have to wait fifteen days before a doctor gives you an appointment. You can buy medicines without a doctor's prescription. You can get cheap smuggled auto parts and even car engines that have been stolen or taken from damaged vehicles. But the downside is that if you get an inflated electric or gas bill it's almost impossible to persuade the company that there is an error in the bill and it should be revised.
Of course this kind of thing was very common before the electric supply company and the telephone departments were privatized. I once got a bill from Karachi Electric (before privatization) for a phenomenal amount, which was revised only after I had paid a bribe equivalent to a quarter of the bill amount. As for telephone bills, almost every month I would be charged for calls made to Ireland or Australia, which I had to pay, otherwise the telephone would be disconnected. In some cases, I did manage to get refunds, as in the case of a "ghost phone" which was not in my use. But usually one had to suffer and wonder why one's father had to choose this country to live in when many had migrated to civilized countries like Uganda or Nigeria (in 1947).
So when I got an inflated gas bill the other day I lost no time in going to their office and got the bill rectified. This was due to the fact that the meter reading on the bill was much higher than in the photo of the meter on the day the reading was taken. It was only due to my education that I was able to do so. An illiterate Pakistani would have been shooed away and told to pay or do without gas for the rest of his life.
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