Phaffing with Phaxes

After getting home from Ueno Park, I was just about to start cooking dinner when Gaba rang me and said that there was a problem with my Alien Card, and that it was going to expire soon. I said it must be because I only had the receipt when I signed the contract and that I had the actual card now.

He said that he needed it tonight because my schedule (which needs submitting by the 10th February for March) was locked until they had the card's details.

So I went to the convenience store about 3 minutes walk away, over the busy road, and deciphered the Japanese to photocopy and fax both sides of the card. It cost Y10 per copy, and Y50 per fax.

Then I went home, thinking everything was fine and dandy, but I rang them to make sure, and they that something had come through, but it was blank.

So I went back, and asked a store assistant to help me. He did exactly the same as I did, and it seemed to work. So I went home again. They rang and said that they had received the document but it had arrived at half the original size and was illegible.

I went back to the store again and asked the same man if he could enlarge it for me (that took all my powers of ingenuity as he didn't speak English) and we faxed it again. This time I rang Gaba from the shop and asked if it had worked. They told me it had come through at half-size again and it must be a problem with their fax machine. Grgh.

So I spent all that money (I know it's not much but it's still a waste) on nothing.