China Mis-Adventure

So today I went to get our school calendar laminated. Easy enough, right? But the thing is is nothing is easy in China. Unless you want to get some stinky doufu... that's a little joke. Seems where ever I go stinky doufu is there to greet me. Phew-wee!
So anyway, I went to get my stuff laminated and it was kkkkrazy! First of all the lamination isn't what you think of in America. They had these huge rolls of laminate, but no heated element to squeeze all the stuff through... the rolls were basically just there and they cut hunks off to match the size of whatever you want laminated. Then they stick it on. You have to specify is you want the front and back laminated or they will only laminate the front. They do actually have a roller of sorts that they use, but don't use well.
I was in a hurry today seeing how I had guest arriving this evening, no food in the house, and still plenty of tidying up to do. My calendar has been taking a beating and I knew if I didn't get it laminated today then I wouldn't have the chance again until next week. So I went off to take care of business. I arrived at the shop around 2:30.
At first everything seemed to be going quite well. Then they wanted to take everything to the back and stick it in the roller. This seemed reasonable to me. I thought it was a heated deal that would seal it up better - not so. What actually happened was the paper on the back of the laminate got stuck on the edge of the laminate from the other side then sealed into the two pieces. It partially covered some of our numbers and caused great huge wrinkles in other areas. When they brought it down and asked if it was ok I just cried. Yes, I literally cried. I had a hard day today and this was just the pin-prick that let the air out of my balloon. I worked hard to bring the needed items from America for our school room and now in a matter of 20 minutes I felt defeated. I know it is only a calendar, but it is the focal point of our morning.
We carefully peeled the laminate off the front of the messy numbers and they re-did each one. They hand laminated the rest. It took 3 hours.... 3 hours!!! Then they tried to charge me $40 US which is highway robbery. I only had 100 yuan on me so that is what I gave them. That is about $15. I just cannot believe how hard it is to get something done here. Done well anyway. I got a meter of laminate from them (10 yuan = $1.50) so that I can just do the job myself next time.
Sweet ladies invited me for dinner. Bless their hearts - they wanted to satisfy their customer. I enjoyed visiting with them anyway. I guess overall they did a good job.... after all, it was made in China.