Techie was stung by a wasp, held overnight by Chinese police, then trapped in a 13-hour meeting

Welcome to another installment of On Call, The Register's Friday column that shares your tech support stories.

This week we're taking a detour into tech sales, courtesy of a reader we'll Regomize as "Carson," whose employer sent him to China without first securing a visa.

The adventure began when a colleague called with a fateful question: "Can you travel to China tomorrow to attend a sales meeting about our short messaging and notification products?"

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UK-based Carson was available, but doubted his employer could obtain the necessary visa in time. "I was told not to worry; the company would arrange it," he told On Call. So he agreed to go.

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"I was up bright and early the next morning when I felt a sharp pain," he wrote. "There was a wasp in the leg of my jeans which had stung me three times. That did not bode well."

Nor did the prospect of spending the 12-hour flight to Hong Kong in economy.

"Normally I would have been in business class for a flight of that length but there were no seats left at such short notice," he wrote. "It was not pleasant with a swollen and throbbing thigh."

At the transfer desk in Hong Kong, Carson explained that he still lacked a visa for mainland China, but that his employer was trying to secure one. After making a flurry of calls, airline staff issued him a boarding pass and told him to hurry or he would miss the flight.

And then his employer called with instructions not to board until told to do so.

Carson became that passenger holding up the flight until his phone rang again and a colleague assured him that someone would meet him in Shanghai.

"I was, indeed, met at Shanghai Airport, airside," Carson told On Call. "My colleague informed me that I was to be denied entry to China because I lacked a visa. A couple of large policemen took possession of my passport and escorted me through baggage claim and into a smoke-filled room."

The local police told Carson he would have to pay a fine, but that they would not accept a credit card.

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"I had no Chinese money because it was illegal to import or export it. So I was marched to a bureau de change that exchanged every banknote I had on me – $250 – for Chinese banknotes."

Carson's fine was the equivalent of $247.

"I was told I would be placed in a hotel overnight, under guard, and deported in the morning," Carson wrote.

His employer intervened and arranged a better hotel, sparing Carson a night sharing a room with Chinese police.

Carson might reasonably have expected to sleep after that ordeal. Instead, colleagues piled into his hotel room to work on the sales presentation they still hoped to deliver.

His police guards stayed to watch as the preparations stretched through the evening and finally ended at 3am.

Carson finally caught three hours of shuteye before the police woke him, escorted him to breakfast, and then to the airport.

"I had to buy a ticket back to Hong Kong and oddly, only first class was available. The police took me to the first-class lounge then to my comfortable seat. Only when sitting down with my seatbelt fastened did I get my passport back."

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While Carson was being expelled, his visa finally came through. He was therefore soon aboard another flight to Shanghai, where he arrived at night and met a waiting taxi driver... who delivered the news that the bid team was now 300 km away in another city.

Carson got in the cab and arrived at midnight.

"The meeting was with a team representing a state organization. It started at 9am and ended at about 10pm," he told On Call. "I gave a 15-minute presentation but most of the meeting was conducted in Mandarin" – a language Carson does not speak.

"After helping to tidy the meeting room and grabbing a quick beer with a Hong Kong-based colleague, I went to bed at about midnight before getting up at 6am for my taxi to the airport."

Carson eventually made it home and, in his email to On Call, rated the adventure: "Not my best trip."

What's the worst business trip technology has inflicted on you? The first step of your journey to an appearance in On Call involves clicking here to email us your story! ®