Politics

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.