October 5, 2008

"La Seguridad" Is Priority "Número Uno"

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned a few times, I work as a teacher at a call center inside a “Free Trade Zone.” Basically, these Zones have “restricted access,” and they are guarded at the entrances and usually have perimeter walls with razor wire around the entire complex.
Inside the Zone I work in, it’s almost like a little city, and in that city there are businesses, cafeterias, banks with ATMs, and any other amenities you could ask for in order to live a full, productive life… except houses, that is. Still, it’s basically like Raccoon City from “Resident Evil,” except it’s not underground, and the guards here are much more apathetic.
In any case, the company I work for has a few ATMs located directly inside the building, to make withdrawing cash easy and safe for employees. The other day, I was going back to my desk after getting a mug of coffee, and I walked past some guys restocking the ATM machine. I thought I’d walked right into the middle of a joke already in progress. Here’s how it goes:

Q: How many Costa Ricans does it take to restock an ATM machine?

A: Four.
1 - A guard employed by the bank, to put money in the machine.
2 – Another guard employed by the bank, to lean on the wall with his hand resting on his gun, watching the first guy.
3 – Another guard employed by the bank, to hold the video camera and film the first two guys as they restock the machine.
4 – A guard from my company, to stand in the background and watch the first three guys, making sure they don’t try anything funny.

And, I suppose, we could also count the many employees who stopped to watch the scene unfold.
Aah, Costa Rica.
Hey, you know, I heard in some countries they have these things they call “checks,” and you can send them through a system called “postal service” to pay for bills.
Now that’s weird.

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