Question for all you very wise expats:

If a simple procedure that is supposed to take 30 minutes ends up taking 30 days because of…maybe culture, maybe just this particular slow idiot, what can you do?

LONG STORY:

For X procedure I need ONE chopped letter, nothing out of this world. Everything is approved by everyone but somehow it takes 20 days (slowing everything else down). I can be patient and kindly remind the proper bureaucrat to “please let’s try to have this ready by today” he replies with:

“Don’t worry, I am your friend”
“Yes, I will have it ready by tomorrow 9am, promise”
“Don’t worry, I will call your boss directly and explain it to him”
“Hehehehe, take it easy”

I’ve read everywhere that a laowai mistake is to try to make things work like in (insert western country here). You have to be patient. Also read that once you fight with some authority, you are OVER, no more guanxi, no more nothing. So then how the ~#$% do I get this letter? By the time I finally got it I had 6 more letters to be chopped and I am already sick of begging this guy to DO HIS JOB!

I read in some post here that you have to get in their face and threat to go to the media, or tell their bosses, or make them loose face somehow. So I gave it a shot, not screaming or cursing, but pretty damn pissed. He did gave me the letter by the next morning but now he does not talk to me or look my way, which would be fine with me if it was not that I still need documents from him!

I do not want to act like a chauvinistic pig, and I know I am a guest in THEIR country but when it is the same story with ANY contractor I have hired, the landlord, the manager in the building, the real estate agent, the guy who fixed my computer, the travel agent, etc, etc, etc, etc. How can anybody get ANYTHING done here?

Please shed some light on this newbie on the verge of genocide!