February 18, 2004
Business as usual
I know why Romania’s economy isn’t so hot. It’s because:
- everything takes forever,
- everything needs a gazillion plus one forms to be filled out,
- every single form needs a signature, and
- every single form needs at least one stamp.
I was at Astral.ro today to buy a cable internet connection. It struck me as funny that I had to go there physically so get the subscription but maybe that’s me.
I was there for 90 minutes. I had five different forms that needed to be filled and signed. I had to go to the cashier and wait for another twenty minutes all the while the woman worked on my forms, stamped them, handed them back me to get them signed a second time, collected my money…
It’s a very inefficient and highly customer unfriendly procedure. I mean – you want to give them money, why are they making it so difficult for you?
I ended up paying twice for the TV cable subscription which is a precondition for the cable internet and which we already have. Don’t ask.
The connection setup will be done, well, in about four weeks or so. [Sigh]
When I talked to Doug about my profound insight into Romanian economics, he answered that this is precisely what he was working on this afternoon. Good for him. Good for Romania, too.
On a brighter note, I did find an umbrella stroller today. After two days of driving all across town and paying double the price as in Germany -- but we do have an umbrella stroller now. Happiness comes in many forms.
Posted by claudia at February 18, 2004 04:31 PM"I know why Romania’s economy isn’t so hot. It’s because:
- everything takes forever,
- everything needs a gazillion plus one forms to be filled out,
- every single form needs a signature, and
- every single form needs at least one stamp."
You are Hernando DeSoto, and I claim my five pounds. Or 230,000 Lei, as the case may be.
Bernard Guerrero
Posted by: Bernard at February 18, 2004 06:13 PMIt struck me as funny that I had to go there physically so get the subscription but maybe that?s me.
Funnier than this is that the system of paying the local taxes via the Internet requires that you go in person to the municipal council to pick up the login information.
Obviously, if you go to that building, you could simply pay them there.
I was there for 90 minutes.
Hah! That's private bureaucracy. You should see state bureaucracy at work...
Is there a very high level of trust in Romanian society? I remember in the Philippines they had to have multiple people doing the same job (buy your purchase from one cashier, go to other cashier who reads your bill and makes sure it's correct, etc) to make sure employees weren't stealing things.
Is that a problem in Romania too?
Posted by: Mike Ralls at February 24, 2004 01:13 AM