Shengliver’s Note: Chenglin the Chinese adolescent learned a lesson the hard way on the art of listening.

Last week, the organisation sponsoring me granted me a bankcard once again. My teacher asked us to go and have the default password changed as soon as possible. At the awarding ceremony, it was a bit noisy so that I did not hear the directions very clearly. After the ceremony, I thought we must activate the card as we had done the last card, before we could use it.

Fortunately, the card was issued by Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), which has a branch just across the road from the school. Without a second thought, I left the campus for the bank office. When I found myself in front of the clerk at the bank counter, she greeted me, “Boy, you must be here to activate your card.” I gave her a nod and handed the plastic over. A moment later, she apologised, “I’m terribly sorry, but we cannot activate it this time. Please go and tell your schoolmates about it.” Hearing that, I was upset. Then I asked her where I should turn for help. Kind-hearted, the lady directed me to try the next bank office up Beijing Road. I said thanks to her before I went off.

Trying to locate the next ABC office along the road, I found I was lost in the jungle of buildings. What luck! Instantly I noticed somewhere ahead a man in police uniform. I went over to him and made an inquiry. The officer on the beat patiently told me how to approach the office. Thank Goodness, there are still more kind people than unkind ones in this world.

Following the officer’s directions, I very quickly reached the bank office. Upon entering the premises, to my greatest relief, I saw merely two customers queuing up at the counter. It was not long before my turn came. To my chagrin, the same problem arose: the bankcard could not be activated at the office. Several desperate attempts futile, I asked the clerk politely what I should do next and where I could make it. Shooting a glance over, the woman snapped, “It’s none of my business.” Oh, my God. There should be such a bank clerk under the sun. I was in despair. What should I do next? My mobile phone was not with me, to make matters worse.

Coming out of this office, I looked about and spotted another police officer in the crowd. The rest was history. He gave me a ride in his patrol car without delay to the next bank office further down the street.

More trouble was in store for me there. Walking into the last bank office, I handed over my card across the counter to the clerk, who demanded my ID card. Having studied the credentials for a while, the clerk matter-of-factly informed me that I could not activate the card alone, without an adult accompanying, because I am still a minor. My God. I should have beaten my head repeatedly against the wall today that I was on the verge of tears on the spot.

In the end, I had no choice but to give it up and start for my dear school. Just before I turned around at the counter, it occurred to me that there was no cash at all on me because I had hurried out of school earlier in the afternoon. Automatically I took one of my cards out of my wallet and inserted it into the slot of an ATM at the bank office. I was instructed by the “Man in the Wall” to set a new password. That was weird. After I keyed in the code I normally use and pushed a few buttons, a couple of banknotes flowed out of the slot. Transaction done, the card was ejected. The moment my eyes fell on it, I could hardly believe it. It was the very plastic that I had been trying so hard to activate but failed. A miracle had happened, oh boy!

All of a sudden, the scene at the ceremony came vividly back to me. While the teacher was explaining in detail how to use the card, I had been chitchatting with others. I had missed the instructions. I needn’t have gone through the hassle of activating the card in the first place. What I needed to do was no more than change the default password! That was all. And my teacher had said that at the meeting.

My reader, as you can see, if there is a speaker around, shut up and prick up your ears. Otherwise, you would be subjected to the same ordeal.