why it's so hard (an illustration)

i know i have told some of you that life is just harder here, which is at times pretty frustrating. i have a little illustration for you:

my watch had been slowing down... sometimes in the mornings i had to adjust the time a little. and then last week it finally stopped working. this is slightly traumatic for me - admittedly i have an obsession with my watch, and i use it in class all the time, it keeps me on schedule (yes, there is a clock on the wall, but it's not always subtle for me to check it) and it tells me the date. so two tough days of school. and it's not that i wasn't trying to solve this problem before this - i had been looking around everywhere i could think of for a while to find a battery for it. but no luck.

so i had mentioned my problem to my friend hannia, who gives me a ride to school most days, and she mentioned a place near the supermarket. i had seen this place before, but never been in or really even looked inside. she tells me she took her watch there once to be fixed. they sent it to the main store in san jose or something and it was back in 3 days. so i'm thinking, right, i just need someone to put a battery in, it couldn't possibly need to be sent out.

well, it's wednesday, i've been on vacation for a while now. and today i brought it to the store. i tell the girl what i need. she says i'll need to leave it. sure, sure, i say. for a few days. even though i only need a battery? yes. and do you know how much this will cost? about 1 mil = $2. now to me, that doesn't seem very economical, sending out a watch to have a battery put in that will earn about $2. but that's what i'm talking about. why does it have to be so hard?