Feeling a bit under the weather here, but before I go lay down I wanted to make a post regarding the issue of customer service, which is a topic I've covered briefly in the past in other blog posts.
Yesterday we had to get a few things done for my ID card renewal. Firstly, my wife had to get a declaration notarized, but it was a holiday week this week for Bulgarians, so many places are closed. However, we have a notary clerk we really like using and we went to her office. We rang the buzzer and the owner came to the door, obviously alone. All the lights in the office were out, other than her personal room, and she was obviously in surprise that there was someone at the door. I think what happened was that she was the only one in the office due to vacation for everyone else and was simply catching up on work or something and we happened to catch her, but she was gracious enough to get us in and out in about 4 minutes.
The lady rocks. We use her every time even though it's a 30 minute trip because she's always has a smile on her face, even when her office is packed and she's running around like a chicken with her head cut off.
This is a rarity in Bulgaria. The issue is that people don't make much money here, so they don't feel any real motivation to come to work, much less be happy while they are at work. The average wage is roughly the same as Mexicans make...something around 8-10k USD per year. This is the average, mind you...not what people with higher education make. I'm talking store clerks, warehouse workers, etc. It is blatantly evident in almost every store you enter, because the employees are obviously disgruntled over their jobs and would rather be somewhere else. We saw the same attitude less than 15 minutes later when we stopped into Office 1 to get some copies made on our way to the police station. The manager asked one of the employees to come help her with something and his comment was "fine, but don't expect me to enjoy doing it". Both my wife and I were in shock.
Along with the issue of poor wages is the lingering effects of communism. Many of the older generation dislike capitalism because the only way capitalism works is if you, the individual, put forth extra effort. In the communist era, their needs were taken care of. They would work the bare minimum and still make as much money as the guy working triple the hours, or triple the production. Everyone got used to doing next to nothing and having the government just hand them a check. Now that they have to work for their money, all they do is complain about how "unfair" the new system is. Keep in mind this isn't everyone, just "many" of the older generation (50+).
So, when you have the older generation complaining about having to put forth extra effort, and the younger generation bitter about the low wages, you end up with shitty customer service on either end. And while I can blame the older generation for having their heads up their asses, I can't fault the younger generation for being upset about their current situation. For example, I had a pizza delivery guy come to the door a couple of weeks ago tell me he's working 60 hours a week for about 400 USD a month, the equivalent of 600 leva per month. He was in awe over the fact that I sit on my ass in front of a computer and make 1500-2k USD a month for the same amount of hours. Now, by my standards, 1500-2k a month is low fare. In my previous occupation I made 6-7k a month, on average. However, the difference is that in the US our living expenses were 4500 a month, but here they are roughly 400-500 USD a month.
The point is, customer service and happiness related to your job can only exist if the job you are doing is A) something that you enjoy doing; and B) something that you are getting rewarded for in an appropriate fashion.
For example, trash guys in America make a damn good wage...better than the national average, the last time I checked. If you toss in benefits the local trash guy makes 50k+ a year, and in some cities make over 60k. Why do they get paid so much for a "menial" task? Because it's a shitty job, that's why, and the only way to get people to do it is if you pay them a wage that makes the job meaningful to them.
It's a sad situation. There's a reason that Mexicans flood into America to work. As much as I hate the fact that I was losing work to the illegal immigrants when I was running a construction company, I never once blamed the Mexicans. If the only way I could put food on my table was to sneak across the border into, say, Canada, and make 3 to 4 times what I would make in my home country, you can bet your ass I'd be running the risk, simply to make sure my wife and kids (which I don't have, but for the sake of argument) are taken care of. It's the same thing here. The Bulgarian government complains that Bulgarians don't want to stay in the country, and each year more and more of the younger generations are abandoning ship to find jobs and make lives in other countries where the wages are acceptable.
Corruption has a large part to play. For years the Mafia has had its dirty little claws in the Ministries and as a result money that should be going towards increased wages and otherwise has been padding their pockets instead. There have been some really good changes made in the past couple of years that are pushing the Mafia out of power, but you have to wonder if its happening fast enough to fix the problem within the next 15-20 years.
Anyway, I could go on with some more, but I feel like shit, so I'm going to go lay down for a few hours and continue this another time. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave 'em.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Spoke too soon!
As is the nature of such things, I spoke too soon :) Perhaps next time I should knock on wood.
It's 4 a.m. and I'm awake, curse of a slight fever and raw throat, courtesy of a sinus infection/cold that just kicked my patootie in. I started feeling the onset late last night around 8 p.m., and by 10 p.m. it was full-on.
I've had chronic sinus issues my whole life, with a record 16 sinus infections in the winter of 2005/2006. It was at that point I went to my doctor and said doc...wtf! Fix me! Faced with several options including sinus surgery, I opted to try a nasal spray and he gave me a prescription for Flonase. Lo and behold the next year my sinus infection problem vanished almost completely. I've been down to only 2 or 3 a year now, max.
However, I've been getting lax on using the nasal spray, and that could be a contributing factor. I generally only use it once every 2-3 days, which for the last couple of years seems to have worked just as well as once a day. But I have to admit in the past couple of weeks I kind of forgot to take it on a regular basis and I think I only used it 3 times. However, the weather here has been crazy as well, and yesterday could be the cause. I went out to get my ID card renewed and wore pants, a long sleeve + short sleeve T-shirt, and a sweater because I thought it might be chilly due to the wind. Before long I was sweating like a banshee, and after a couple hours of that we got home. I immediately changed into shorts + a t-shirt and we went back out to get something to eat from the suvleki stand up by the park. It was windy, and it started cooling off considerably, and by the time we got there I was quite cold...chilly, even. A few hours later...bam.
I can tell when one is coming on. Where other people might feel the symptoms over a period of half a day or so, I go from feeling absolutely fine to full-on sick within 2 hours. The first sign is the tickling in my throat which signals the sinuses draining, then it gets raw, and one side of my nasal passage starts to get stuffy. Within 2 hours my throat is like sand paper and within 4-5 hours I have a fever. Sometimes it's worse than others, but I haven't had a serious case in nearly 4 years now.
Apparently I have a buildup of scar tissue and/or some sort of blockage in my sinus cavity that prevents it from draining like normal. Mucus builds up and acts like a holding tank for bacteria, which causes sinus infections. I've been terrified of letting a doctor probe my nasal cavity because the idea of sinus surgery terrifies me. I have this mental imagery of a plumber with a rotor rooter tool inside of a pipe system, clearing out the blockage. Flonase has worked for me quite well because it acts as a steroid anti-inflammatory, which brings the swelling in my nasal passages down and allows my sinuses to drain properly.
But, I have to admit, I think I may opt for the surgery in the next few years if I can get over my fear of it. It's not that the nasal spray doesn't work...it works great, as long as I use it 3 or so times per week. It's that I am continually stuffy, and as I get older I've been thinking ahead to the time when I'm 65+. Do I really want to deal with sinus problems that far down the road, or do I want to deal with the issue now, while I'm still young and heal up relatively fast?
In either case, this is my first sinus infection in over a year. Getting out of the construction industry helped a lot, mostly because I am no longer around all of that dust. I did have a slight cold last winter, but other than colds/sinus infections, I rarely ever get sick. Just my time of the year, I suppose :)
In either case since I'm up so early, going to get some work done since I'll likely be sleeping this off during the daytime hours at some point today. I have a cup of hot tea brewing, and it's calling my name.
It's 4 a.m. and I'm awake, curse of a slight fever and raw throat, courtesy of a sinus infection/cold that just kicked my patootie in. I started feeling the onset late last night around 8 p.m., and by 10 p.m. it was full-on.
I've had chronic sinus issues my whole life, with a record 16 sinus infections in the winter of 2005/2006. It was at that point I went to my doctor and said doc...wtf! Fix me! Faced with several options including sinus surgery, I opted to try a nasal spray and he gave me a prescription for Flonase. Lo and behold the next year my sinus infection problem vanished almost completely. I've been down to only 2 or 3 a year now, max.
However, I've been getting lax on using the nasal spray, and that could be a contributing factor. I generally only use it once every 2-3 days, which for the last couple of years seems to have worked just as well as once a day. But I have to admit in the past couple of weeks I kind of forgot to take it on a regular basis and I think I only used it 3 times. However, the weather here has been crazy as well, and yesterday could be the cause. I went out to get my ID card renewed and wore pants, a long sleeve + short sleeve T-shirt, and a sweater because I thought it might be chilly due to the wind. Before long I was sweating like a banshee, and after a couple hours of that we got home. I immediately changed into shorts + a t-shirt and we went back out to get something to eat from the suvleki stand up by the park. It was windy, and it started cooling off considerably, and by the time we got there I was quite cold...chilly, even. A few hours later...bam.
I can tell when one is coming on. Where other people might feel the symptoms over a period of half a day or so, I go from feeling absolutely fine to full-on sick within 2 hours. The first sign is the tickling in my throat which signals the sinuses draining, then it gets raw, and one side of my nasal passage starts to get stuffy. Within 2 hours my throat is like sand paper and within 4-5 hours I have a fever. Sometimes it's worse than others, but I haven't had a serious case in nearly 4 years now.
Apparently I have a buildup of scar tissue and/or some sort of blockage in my sinus cavity that prevents it from draining like normal. Mucus builds up and acts like a holding tank for bacteria, which causes sinus infections. I've been terrified of letting a doctor probe my nasal cavity because the idea of sinus surgery terrifies me. I have this mental imagery of a plumber with a rotor rooter tool inside of a pipe system, clearing out the blockage. Flonase has worked for me quite well because it acts as a steroid anti-inflammatory, which brings the swelling in my nasal passages down and allows my sinuses to drain properly.
But, I have to admit, I think I may opt for the surgery in the next few years if I can get over my fear of it. It's not that the nasal spray doesn't work...it works great, as long as I use it 3 or so times per week. It's that I am continually stuffy, and as I get older I've been thinking ahead to the time when I'm 65+. Do I really want to deal with sinus problems that far down the road, or do I want to deal with the issue now, while I'm still young and heal up relatively fast?
In either case, this is my first sinus infection in over a year. Getting out of the construction industry helped a lot, mostly because I am no longer around all of that dust. I did have a slight cold last winter, but other than colds/sinus infections, I rarely ever get sick. Just my time of the year, I suppose :)
In either case since I'm up so early, going to get some work done since I'll likely be sleeping this off during the daytime hours at some point today. I have a cup of hot tea brewing, and it's calling my name.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Another busy month!
So here I was, a week and a half ago, thinking about taking the month of May off in its entirety. Then I had a nice project offered to me that was going to take the first couple weeks of the month, and today I had the same client send me a mail saying one of their writers dropped the ball on another portion of this particular contract and they needed someone to pick up the slack.
Enter me.
This particular project has been an absolute blast. I can't divulge too many details at present as I'm under an NDA, but let's just say it has to deal with history, specifically UK history. As a huge history nerd in my younger years (ok, I'm still young, but still!) the project has had me literally begging the alarm clock to go off in the morning because it allows me the chance to go research some of the things I've been passionate about since my childhood and teenage years: medieval history. This latest addition gives me another 2 weeks worth of work, so I get to spend the whole month researching medieval history from all parts of the UK. An absolute dream gig.
And I get to have the added bonus of all of this research going into my pile of helpful clues/concepts/ideas for my fantasy writing, since there is an underlying medieval theme there as well.
So I'm absolutely hyped about this month's work :) Hopefully everyone else is going to have as wonderful of a May as I am!
Enter me.
This particular project has been an absolute blast. I can't divulge too many details at present as I'm under an NDA, but let's just say it has to deal with history, specifically UK history. As a huge history nerd in my younger years (ok, I'm still young, but still!) the project has had me literally begging the alarm clock to go off in the morning because it allows me the chance to go research some of the things I've been passionate about since my childhood and teenage years: medieval history. This latest addition gives me another 2 weeks worth of work, so I get to spend the whole month researching medieval history from all parts of the UK. An absolute dream gig.
And I get to have the added bonus of all of this research going into my pile of helpful clues/concepts/ideas for my fantasy writing, since there is an underlying medieval theme there as well.
So I'm absolutely hyped about this month's work :) Hopefully everyone else is going to have as wonderful of a May as I am!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Newness...
Finally got my new desk and chair today, so I'm adjusting to a new corner of the room and enjoying the newfound freedom. We also took some pictures today when we headed out to the military parade (today was a national "4th of July" type day for Bulgaria, and the entire week is a holiday...yeah, they take 6-8 days off of work...and have several such holidays per year. Gotta love Europeans!) so I'll have a new profile picture up soon here, as well as updating my Facebook and Twitter profile pics.
May's schedule is going to be fun. I took the month of April off from novel writing, although I did write a short story in there somewhere. However, this month I'm getting back into the schedule. I've got a deadline to make, and I've taken just about all of the slack I can take and still get it done by Christmas. I'm currently getting up at 7, working out from 7:30 to 8:30 (I do 12 kilos on the elliptical, + Pilate's and 5 kilo weights), then showering and settling into the work routine somewhere around 9 a.m. I'm usually done with my work by noon, although it can sneak to 1 p.m. if I slack off and browse sites or listen to music while I work. Then I take a break for an hour or so and come back and put in a few hours of chapter work, usually shooting for 1500-2k words per day. At least, this was the schedule I kept prior to April, and I'm going back to it.
Downside is my lower back has been hurting like hell for a few weeks now, which has been putting a crimp in my Pilate's. I think I might have wrenched something, so I've been avoiding doing any stressful workouts that might irritate it, and I'd been feeling fine until today. I stood in one spot for nearly 3 hours during the parade today and by the 2nd hour my lower back was in agony, and is still bothering me as I write this at 8 p.m at night. I've noticed it gets really bad when I do certain Pilate's exercises, so I decided I'm going to simply avoid doing those for the next couple of weeks and see if it doesn't heal up. If it's still bothering me I'm going to go see a doctor to make sure nothing is too tweaked out. Not sure what I did, but I have extremely flat feet and poor posture, which I'm sure contributes to the issue. Still, it's odd, because it hasn't been an issue until a few weeks ago, so I'm not sure what I did.
Anyway, that's it for now. I've got a few articles to do this evening, plus get those two short stories back out in submission that I've been meaning to do for the past week. Hopefully everyone's month of May is looking up! Mine is shaping up to be a fine one, and I'm pressing ahead looking towards that debt-free marker that's just around the corner in a couple of months!
May's schedule is going to be fun. I took the month of April off from novel writing, although I did write a short story in there somewhere. However, this month I'm getting back into the schedule. I've got a deadline to make, and I've taken just about all of the slack I can take and still get it done by Christmas. I'm currently getting up at 7, working out from 7:30 to 8:30 (I do 12 kilos on the elliptical, + Pilate's and 5 kilo weights), then showering and settling into the work routine somewhere around 9 a.m. I'm usually done with my work by noon, although it can sneak to 1 p.m. if I slack off and browse sites or listen to music while I work. Then I take a break for an hour or so and come back and put in a few hours of chapter work, usually shooting for 1500-2k words per day. At least, this was the schedule I kept prior to April, and I'm going back to it.
Downside is my lower back has been hurting like hell for a few weeks now, which has been putting a crimp in my Pilate's. I think I might have wrenched something, so I've been avoiding doing any stressful workouts that might irritate it, and I'd been feeling fine until today. I stood in one spot for nearly 3 hours during the parade today and by the 2nd hour my lower back was in agony, and is still bothering me as I write this at 8 p.m at night. I've noticed it gets really bad when I do certain Pilate's exercises, so I decided I'm going to simply avoid doing those for the next couple of weeks and see if it doesn't heal up. If it's still bothering me I'm going to go see a doctor to make sure nothing is too tweaked out. Not sure what I did, but I have extremely flat feet and poor posture, which I'm sure contributes to the issue. Still, it's odd, because it hasn't been an issue until a few weeks ago, so I'm not sure what I did.
Anyway, that's it for now. I've got a few articles to do this evening, plus get those two short stories back out in submission that I've been meaning to do for the past week. Hopefully everyone's month of May is looking up! Mine is shaping up to be a fine one, and I'm pressing ahead looking towards that debt-free marker that's just around the corner in a couple of months!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Holiday
It's been a great four-day weekend. Technically tomorrow is still going to be a holiday, but we are doing some necessary shopping (like a new desk + chair for me) as well as going over to a friend's for fajitas. I was initially planning on taking next week off, but I had another project offered to me and I took it.
Good thing, too, because I just realized I had forgotten my Bulgarian residency card was up for renewal on the 9th of May. I thought it was due in June, and was off by a month. It's about 400 USD for a year, and on top of a desk and chair I'll likely be dropping over 600 USD next week, so it's a good thing I had another project roll in or I'd be cutting into our credit card pay-off fund :)
On the plus side, Demand Studios is a great way to supplement income. You can do 3 articles in an hour, which is worth 50 USD, and if you do that every evening you can easily pull an extra 250 dollars a week (that's 1k a month folks), so I'm going to be spending my evening hours doing at least 3 of those. Normally I only use DS for those times when the other work is a bit thin, but I'm going to be doing some in the evening hours as well to make up for my forgetting about my residency card.
The plus side is this is the last time I have to renew the card. After living here for 2 years while married to a Bulgarian resident/citizen, you can switch your temporary residency card over to a permanent residency card, so next year when this time rolls around again I'll be able to get my permanent residency and not have to worry about it ever again. Thank goodness because dealing with the Bulgarian bureaucratic system is like having your teeth pulled out at the same time you are getting your pubic hair ripped out by a midget with a nail gun who's simultaneously driving nails into your feet and ripping out your toe-nails.
Getting my residency card consists of: going to the police station and getting the application paperwork. Getting new passport photos. Getting a declaration from my wife, stating that she is "providing" for me while I'm here (as in, providing a place to stay), which we then have to get notarized. And unlike in the US where any bank can provide notarization, here there are special offices that deal with notarization, and they are always 2-3 hours behind in waiting lines. Then, after that, you have to get everything copied in triplicate, then go back to the police station and stand in line again, pay a fee, stand in another line, pay another fee, stand in another line, turn in the application, then wait 2 weeks, come back, stand in another line to get your card, and dread having to come back and do it again next time. And to top it all off, remember that customer service I mentioned doesn't exist here? Now imagine all of what I just said, only with people who don't believe in queues, butting in front of you, clawing their way through, and people behind the counter who seethe with hatred over the fact that your Bulgarian language skills aren't up-to-par (a sentiment I recall having myself in terms of people who come to America but don't speak the language, so I can't fault them for it). So my wife usually comes along (bless her heart) to make sure I don't get screwed somewhere along the line.
Anyway, that's my vacation blurb. I'm cooking steak and eggs and potatoes for breakfast (sooo healthy I know! It's my cheating weekend!) and I've got taters and eggs boiling to make potato salad this afternoon. Talk to you next week sometime!
Good thing, too, because I just realized I had forgotten my Bulgarian residency card was up for renewal on the 9th of May. I thought it was due in June, and was off by a month. It's about 400 USD for a year, and on top of a desk and chair I'll likely be dropping over 600 USD next week, so it's a good thing I had another project roll in or I'd be cutting into our credit card pay-off fund :)
On the plus side, Demand Studios is a great way to supplement income. You can do 3 articles in an hour, which is worth 50 USD, and if you do that every evening you can easily pull an extra 250 dollars a week (that's 1k a month folks), so I'm going to be spending my evening hours doing at least 3 of those. Normally I only use DS for those times when the other work is a bit thin, but I'm going to be doing some in the evening hours as well to make up for my forgetting about my residency card.
The plus side is this is the last time I have to renew the card. After living here for 2 years while married to a Bulgarian resident/citizen, you can switch your temporary residency card over to a permanent residency card, so next year when this time rolls around again I'll be able to get my permanent residency and not have to worry about it ever again. Thank goodness because dealing with the Bulgarian bureaucratic system is like having your teeth pulled out at the same time you are getting your pubic hair ripped out by a midget with a nail gun who's simultaneously driving nails into your feet and ripping out your toe-nails.
Getting my residency card consists of: going to the police station and getting the application paperwork. Getting new passport photos. Getting a declaration from my wife, stating that she is "providing" for me while I'm here (as in, providing a place to stay), which we then have to get notarized. And unlike in the US where any bank can provide notarization, here there are special offices that deal with notarization, and they are always 2-3 hours behind in waiting lines. Then, after that, you have to get everything copied in triplicate, then go back to the police station and stand in line again, pay a fee, stand in another line, pay another fee, stand in another line, turn in the application, then wait 2 weeks, come back, stand in another line to get your card, and dread having to come back and do it again next time. And to top it all off, remember that customer service I mentioned doesn't exist here? Now imagine all of what I just said, only with people who don't believe in queues, butting in front of you, clawing their way through, and people behind the counter who seethe with hatred over the fact that your Bulgarian language skills aren't up-to-par (a sentiment I recall having myself in terms of people who come to America but don't speak the language, so I can't fault them for it). So my wife usually comes along (bless her heart) to make sure I don't get screwed somewhere along the line.
Anyway, that's my vacation blurb. I'm cooking steak and eggs and potatoes for breakfast (sooo healthy I know! It's my cheating weekend!) and I've got taters and eggs boiling to make potato salad this afternoon. Talk to you next week sometime!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Why do you struggle?
Last post of the night, as it's 1:30 a.m. and I'm drifting, but I got to thinking about something that bothers me about many of the freelance writers out there: they just don't seem to want it badly enough.
If you have a goal in life, you do everything you can to achieve that goal. If you can't run, you walk, and if you can't walk, you crawl, and if your legs are amputated and all you can do is pull yourself along, then that's what you do. Why? Because you want to reach your goal.
Let's say you have a family to feed. Now, I'm a bit jaded in the sense that it's just me and my wife and no plans for children, but let's just say that you do. Wouldn't you do anything in the world to provide for your progeny? Anything at all?
So why do so many freelance writers struggle? Do they simply not want it badly enough? Or does it have more to do with working outside of your comfort zone?
Let me give you an example. Let's say you are a manager of a bank, making 50k a year. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that you lose your job, and there are no other bank jobs to be had. The only jobs available are to clean porta-johns for 38k a year, or to work part time in your particular niche market and make 15k a year. You are married, have two kids, and you need to make at least 30k a year to combine with your spouse's income to hit at least 50 or 60k and have a livable amount of income.
This is an exaggerated example, but the point I'd like to make that is that it seems to be there are a lot of freelance writers out there who claim they want or need income, but they are unwilling to do work that they deem beneath them, or out of their comfort zone. The question I have to ask is: how badly do you want it? I regularly see writers refusing work because it's not what they "want" to be getting paid, yet in the same breath complain about how they are unable to pay their bills. I'm sorry, but that's just moronic. There is work out there. Sure, it might be comparable to sucking human feces from a porta-john with a giant vacuum, but the fact is, the work is there, the money is there, and you have the capabilities.
You can either put food on your family's table, or they can starve. Me, I'm not afraid to don a pair of gloves and wear a respirator.
If you have a goal in life, you do everything you can to achieve that goal. If you can't run, you walk, and if you can't walk, you crawl, and if your legs are amputated and all you can do is pull yourself along, then that's what you do. Why? Because you want to reach your goal.
Let's say you have a family to feed. Now, I'm a bit jaded in the sense that it's just me and my wife and no plans for children, but let's just say that you do. Wouldn't you do anything in the world to provide for your progeny? Anything at all?
So why do so many freelance writers struggle? Do they simply not want it badly enough? Or does it have more to do with working outside of your comfort zone?
Let me give you an example. Let's say you are a manager of a bank, making 50k a year. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that you lose your job, and there are no other bank jobs to be had. The only jobs available are to clean porta-johns for 38k a year, or to work part time in your particular niche market and make 15k a year. You are married, have two kids, and you need to make at least 30k a year to combine with your spouse's income to hit at least 50 or 60k and have a livable amount of income.
This is an exaggerated example, but the point I'd like to make that is that it seems to be there are a lot of freelance writers out there who claim they want or need income, but they are unwilling to do work that they deem beneath them, or out of their comfort zone. The question I have to ask is: how badly do you want it? I regularly see writers refusing work because it's not what they "want" to be getting paid, yet in the same breath complain about how they are unable to pay their bills. I'm sorry, but that's just moronic. There is work out there. Sure, it might be comparable to sucking human feces from a porta-john with a giant vacuum, but the fact is, the work is there, the money is there, and you have the capabilities.
You can either put food on your family's table, or they can starve. Me, I'm not afraid to don a pair of gloves and wear a respirator.
The Trade Off
No matter where you live in the world, there are always going to be things that you nit-pick about in your location. It might be the food, it might be the way the coffee is made, the cars people drive, the cultural traditions...there are a variety of things which can crop up.
In our case, it's customer service and pride in your work. Neither exist in Bulgaria.
Please note, this is a generalization. There are those who exist outside of the following stereotypical descriptions, but they are rare.
Customer service does not exist. I've covered this in another blog post, but it ties into what happened to us today, so I thought I'd re-touch on the matter. Here, the customer is never right. In fact, the customer's only right is the right to be flat-out ignored and pointed in the direction of the door should they bring to the attention of the clerk the negligent attitude displayed.
If you hop on over to my wife's blog you can get her side of the story as well, but what it boils down to is this: a couple of weeks ago she and her mother went out to buy a new bed for our bedroom. No one thought to measure the size of the mattress (I was not involved in the process. I'm not blaming anyone, but let's just say that the matter was entered into with a rushed state of awareness and some things were left to the side, only to come bite us in the ass later), and lo and behold when the bed is delivered, it's larger than the mattress. The memory foam topper that was ordered was also larger than the mattress, because they ordered it to fit the bed.
K, no big deal. Order a new mattress. Her mother dealt with it, because it was her gift to her daughter. Now, here's where matters get sticky. Because customer service does not exist here, certain questions are never asked, such as: what kind of a mattress are you after? Apparently, here, there is no difference between a box-spring/frame+mattress hybrid and a regular old mattress. So, when the mattress was ordered, no questions were asked. The guys show up today, and it takes them (no joke) 20 minutes to get it up our 6 flights of stairs to our apartment. They were also 5 hours late. They were due here at 4 p.m. and didn't show up until 9 p.m.
We go to unwrap it and it's....not a mattress. At least not what the two of us were expecting to be a mattress. Instead, it's a mattress+box spring/frame combo that weighs well over 100 lbs. But we didn't pay for it (the whole thing was a gift) so we don't have much room to bitch, and considering the fact they were 5 hours late and it's been such a hassle to get this all worked out in the first place...well let's just say I threw my hands up in the air and said F-it, let's make it work. Then I find out...it's built out of square. More than 1/2" out of square. Which means it doesn't want to fit into the bed frame.
What followed was an hour's worth of grunting and heaving as I forced the damn thing to fit within the confines of the frame, with a little squeaking as things adjusted and were forced into square. Not an easy task, and one that had me wishing for good old American craftsmanship and customer service, because if it were built in America it would likely have fit in the first place without me having to break my neck.
Now don't get me wrong. I grew up as a third generation craftsman in the ceramic tile and natural stone trade. I've been on job sites since I was 5 years old, and I have seen some horrifically bad construction in my day, but today's experience just sort of put me in mind of some of the things I miss. Which aren't much. I very rarely miss anything about the US.
The point is...it grates me the wrong way on occasion. Last year we had a horrific experience that I simply have to explain so you can understand just how bad things can be in certain parts of the world, so you can appreciate the things you take for granted. We live in an apartment building, on the 6th floor. We got a notice on our door that plumbers would be coming in to replace pipes in the floor above us and below us, in the shower room.
The first thing that happens is the guys walk into our apartment smoking cigarettes. They then proceed to put out their cigarettes on our tile floor, leaving the cigarette butts behind, completely IGNORING the fact that my wife and I were raising holy hell over the matter. They rip holes in the wall, create a shitload of dust and mess, rip out the old pipes, put in the new pipes, and then leave. Without cleaning up one iota of their mess. They did this to half a dozen apartments. Then they have the gall to present the apartment complex with a bill, expecting 400 dollars from each apartment.
Now, in America two things would have happened. First, the company would have been sued. Secondly, they wouldn't have received a dime of their money. Here, there is no such thing as a Better Business Bureau or anything of the nature, and when we complained, (I did more than complain; I went on a 45 minute F-bomb laced cursing spree that involved hurling pieces of pipe down the hallway) everyone simply shrugged their shoulders and we were told "tough luck. That's just the way things are here".
While I do agree that "the customer is always right" is an over-used gig in the States, and too often people become arrogant to the point of ignorance, believing that they are in the right by default, it has its benefits in the sense that it has created a sense of responsibility that doesn't allow for such happenings as occur here.
What have I learned? That despite the many benefits we have in living here vs. in the US, such as an extremely low cost of living, the opportunity to travel to all sorts of great European destinations out our back door, and being close to her family, there are nonetheless a few trade-offs that you get in return, such as a lack of customer service and common courtesy, as well as people taking pride in their work and giving you honest and accurate craftsmanship.
Still, we do love it here, and we would rather have to put up with a couple of inconveniences in comparison to the literal boat-load of them back in the US. The main thing is the cost of living. Our bills are 500-600 USD a month. Tops. That's everything. We lived fairly bottom-of-the-middle-class road in the US and our bills were 4500 a month. I'm willing to put up with a little bit of inconvenience to get away with such cheap living.
In our case, it's customer service and pride in your work. Neither exist in Bulgaria.
Please note, this is a generalization. There are those who exist outside of the following stereotypical descriptions, but they are rare.
Customer service does not exist. I've covered this in another blog post, but it ties into what happened to us today, so I thought I'd re-touch on the matter. Here, the customer is never right. In fact, the customer's only right is the right to be flat-out ignored and pointed in the direction of the door should they bring to the attention of the clerk the negligent attitude displayed.
If you hop on over to my wife's blog you can get her side of the story as well, but what it boils down to is this: a couple of weeks ago she and her mother went out to buy a new bed for our bedroom. No one thought to measure the size of the mattress (I was not involved in the process. I'm not blaming anyone, but let's just say that the matter was entered into with a rushed state of awareness and some things were left to the side, only to come bite us in the ass later), and lo and behold when the bed is delivered, it's larger than the mattress. The memory foam topper that was ordered was also larger than the mattress, because they ordered it to fit the bed.
K, no big deal. Order a new mattress. Her mother dealt with it, because it was her gift to her daughter. Now, here's where matters get sticky. Because customer service does not exist here, certain questions are never asked, such as: what kind of a mattress are you after? Apparently, here, there is no difference between a box-spring/frame+mattress hybrid and a regular old mattress. So, when the mattress was ordered, no questions were asked. The guys show up today, and it takes them (no joke) 20 minutes to get it up our 6 flights of stairs to our apartment. They were also 5 hours late. They were due here at 4 p.m. and didn't show up until 9 p.m.
We go to unwrap it and it's....not a mattress. At least not what the two of us were expecting to be a mattress. Instead, it's a mattress+box spring/frame combo that weighs well over 100 lbs. But we didn't pay for it (the whole thing was a gift) so we don't have much room to bitch, and considering the fact they were 5 hours late and it's been such a hassle to get this all worked out in the first place...well let's just say I threw my hands up in the air and said F-it, let's make it work. Then I find out...it's built out of square. More than 1/2" out of square. Which means it doesn't want to fit into the bed frame.
What followed was an hour's worth of grunting and heaving as I forced the damn thing to fit within the confines of the frame, with a little squeaking as things adjusted and were forced into square. Not an easy task, and one that had me wishing for good old American craftsmanship and customer service, because if it were built in America it would likely have fit in the first place without me having to break my neck.
Now don't get me wrong. I grew up as a third generation craftsman in the ceramic tile and natural stone trade. I've been on job sites since I was 5 years old, and I have seen some horrifically bad construction in my day, but today's experience just sort of put me in mind of some of the things I miss. Which aren't much. I very rarely miss anything about the US.
The point is...it grates me the wrong way on occasion. Last year we had a horrific experience that I simply have to explain so you can understand just how bad things can be in certain parts of the world, so you can appreciate the things you take for granted. We live in an apartment building, on the 6th floor. We got a notice on our door that plumbers would be coming in to replace pipes in the floor above us and below us, in the shower room.
The first thing that happens is the guys walk into our apartment smoking cigarettes. They then proceed to put out their cigarettes on our tile floor, leaving the cigarette butts behind, completely IGNORING the fact that my wife and I were raising holy hell over the matter. They rip holes in the wall, create a shitload of dust and mess, rip out the old pipes, put in the new pipes, and then leave. Without cleaning up one iota of their mess. They did this to half a dozen apartments. Then they have the gall to present the apartment complex with a bill, expecting 400 dollars from each apartment.
Now, in America two things would have happened. First, the company would have been sued. Secondly, they wouldn't have received a dime of their money. Here, there is no such thing as a Better Business Bureau or anything of the nature, and when we complained, (I did more than complain; I went on a 45 minute F-bomb laced cursing spree that involved hurling pieces of pipe down the hallway) everyone simply shrugged their shoulders and we were told "tough luck. That's just the way things are here".
While I do agree that "the customer is always right" is an over-used gig in the States, and too often people become arrogant to the point of ignorance, believing that they are in the right by default, it has its benefits in the sense that it has created a sense of responsibility that doesn't allow for such happenings as occur here.
What have I learned? That despite the many benefits we have in living here vs. in the US, such as an extremely low cost of living, the opportunity to travel to all sorts of great European destinations out our back door, and being close to her family, there are nonetheless a few trade-offs that you get in return, such as a lack of customer service and common courtesy, as well as people taking pride in their work and giving you honest and accurate craftsmanship.
Still, we do love it here, and we would rather have to put up with a couple of inconveniences in comparison to the literal boat-load of them back in the US. The main thing is the cost of living. Our bills are 500-600 USD a month. Tops. That's everything. We lived fairly bottom-of-the-middle-class road in the US and our bills were 4500 a month. I'm willing to put up with a little bit of inconvenience to get away with such cheap living.
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