BYOTP is Bad Enough, But BYOT?
My trip to Moscow in 2005 revealed that customer service there is, uhm, rudimentary (to be kind). From the hotel receptionists who apparently learned their craft in the Gulag to the waitresses who returned at about the same frequency as Halley’s Comet, cheery and prompt service was a rarity.
But who was I anyways? Just a mere American academic, not a big spender. But the lack of a service mentality extends even to those whom the powers that be want to court in order to get them to spring for big rubles, such as potential customers for Russian military and civilian aircraft:
Russia showcases its latest achievements in the aviation industry at this week’s MAKS airshow outside Moscow, but most of the $10 billion deals sealed are between state-run organizations, while visitors to the airshow are reminded of Russia’s lack of organization.
. . . .
Moments after Mr. Putin had praised the great advances in Russia’s aviation industry, a MIG-29 fighter jet was forced to abort its display flight due to a technical malfunction. Less than 24 hours later, the country’s space agency,
. . . .
For the public, the airshow has become a reminder of Russia’s underdeveloped infrastructure and general lack of organization. The just 35-kilometer distance from the Moscow city centre takes around two and a half hours by public transport.
Getting there by car is no better. The Moscow traffic police shine in their bright white uniforms, but forget to actually do their job and guide the traffic, which leads to massive jams. This year, however, the organizers had anticipated the lack of parking spaces, but instead of actually adding more, they decided to solve the problem by charging 2700 rubles–the equivalent of $93–for a space.
Finding the way around the twelve huge pavilions with hundreds of company exhibitions proves an equal challenge. Organizers provided no information about where each company is located, and when asking at the information stand, an uninformed girl suggested buying the airshow program for 700 rubles ($24).
And then of course there is the ever-relevant issue in Russia: they forgot the toilets! None of the area maps at the airshow shows any, and after a 20-minute search, a single portable toilet finally appeared–without toilet paper, of course.
Those of you thinking of visiting: don’t say you weren’t warned!
My trip to Moscow in 2005 revealed that customer service there is, uhm, rudimentary (to be kind). From the hotel receptionists who apparently learned their craft in the Gulag to the waitresses who returned at about the same frequency as Halley’s Comet, cheery and prompt service was a rarity.
And what should they do try to improve their service? Lick your royal boots?
As for the article, it is typical of the lazy, cosseted, Lonely Planet tourists passing for journalists who write about Russia – in this case, ignore the show (which is becoming more well-known and successful with every passing year) and whine about the friggin’ toilets.
Not to mention this is all lies anyway. This article was translated on Inosmi and this is what one commentator had to say about it:
Только сегодня был на МАКСе. Автор просто наглый лгун.
Говорю это не потому “что поцреот и в России всё хорошо” , а потому что сам охренел от уровня организации. Собственно всё было как говорит этот писака , только наоборот. Дошло до того , что по возвращению , организовали на станции ещё 5 касс за столиками на улице ,для тех , кто не купил обратный билет. Единственно , что выбесило , это огромные очереди утром на входе.
Just today was MAKS. Author is a brazen liar. Saying this not because I’m a putzriot and everything rocks in Russia, but because was amazed myself at the level of organization. Everything was as described by the hack, except opposite. Even at the station there were organized stalls for those who didn’t buy a return ticket. Only bad thing were the huge queues at the entrance.
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — August 20, 2011 @ 6:44 pm
I’ve read so many blatant lies about Russia that yes, it’s hard for me to buy this, so S/O’s post didn’t surprise me when my BS meter was high. And was 05′ really the last time the Professor has been to Moscow? I suspect he’d find it far more high tech than his native Chicago, at this point, though traffic is likely equally bad or worse in Muscovy. And there’d be a hell of a lot fewer potholes at least inside the MKAD ring when compared to inside whatever (Chicago not having a true outer loop highway due to Lake Michigan geography and other oddities)
Comment by Mr. X — August 20, 2011 @ 9:18 pm
Is the parking solution a free market one or not?
Comment by So? — August 20, 2011 @ 10:13 pm
And what should they do try to improve their service?
Their job?
Comment by Tim Newman — August 21, 2011 @ 2:21 am
Потемкинский “Буран” выставили на авиасалоне МАКС-2011
Comment by peter — August 21, 2011 @ 2:28 am
Russians might say they focus on substance and can’t spend time on pleasantries. But that would be a lie since . . . .
RUSSIA LOSES MAJOR SATELLITE
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8709625/Russia-loses-contact-with-Europes-biggest-communications-satellite.html
RUSSIA STEALTH FIGHTER FAILS TO LEAVE GROUND AT MAJOR AIR SHOW
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jKW5XKOE9-KlDbRiOXV0mZeVrhvA?docId=021ee7f01b114252bfdfdc4485e5754b
RUSSIAN AIRLINER FULL OF BEES
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/bees-on-a-plane-highlight-vips-sins/442295.html
Comment by La Russophobe — August 21, 2011 @ 9:48 am
“ignore the show which is becoming more well-known and successful with every passing year”
Talk about lazy pseudo journalism!!! NOT ONE SINGLE FACT put forth to substantiate this hilarious claims!! SUBLIME MANIAC is truly one of the world’s greatest hypocrites even in the context of Russia, and that’s saying something.
Comment by La Russophobe — August 21, 2011 @ 9:51 am
“this is what one commentator had to say”
More “REAL” journalism from SUBLIME DRUG ADDICT???? He “proves” his point with AN ANONYMOUS COMMENT ON A PRO-RUSSIA BLOG and doesn’t even post the link to it???
Is that really the best you can do, SUBLIME FREAK? Even by your standards that is disappointing.
Comment by La Russophobe — August 21, 2011 @ 9:53 am
Good photos of Russian Federal Road M56-doesn’t look as though it was designed with inside the MKAD Lamborghinis in mind.
http://www.ssqq.com/archive/vinlin27c.htm
Comment by pahoben — August 21, 2011 @ 11:03 am
In Russia one quickly learns to always carry pocket tissues. You should have asked, I’d have advised you.
And if it took you 2 1/2 hours to get there via public transport, clearly you didn’t take the metro to the elecktrichka train station which runs to Zhukovsky. That route takes about an hour.
You should be criticizing the hosts who led you on a wild goose chase, failed to show you the rows of toilets nearby the concession area, and pretty much hung you out to dry.
Next time you visit Moscow use this Golden Rule:
Follow the crowd, they’re all going the same place you’re going.
Comment by gardener1 — August 21, 2011 @ 11:11 am
I find Mr. X’s comments puzzling. When he writes about the US he always takes the anti elite viewpoint but in reference to Russia he always takes the pro elite viewpoint.
I agree with gardener-it is hard to find deep fault with the functionality of the public transport system inside Moscow. It efficiently moves a whole lot of people every day. If you can navigate your way through it is far more efficient than traffic jammed personal transportation.
Comment by pahoben — August 21, 2011 @ 11:45 am
He “proves” his point with AN ANONYMOUS COMMENT ON A PRO-RUSSIA BLOG and doesn’t even post the link to it???
I did post the link but SWP’s Russophobic 😉 spam filter censored it. You can easily find the article by searching for, say, the first sentence “Только сегодня был на МАКСе. Автор просто наглый лгун” on Google.
Inosmi is not a pro-Russia blog, it is a website that translates foreign articles into Russian and commentators discuss it. Every ideological stripe is represented among the commentators.
As a self-styled Russia expert, one would hope you’d know that.
And what should they do try to improve their service?
Their job?
Their job is to do their job, not pander to people with entitlement issues who make wise-ass cracks comparing them to Gulag guards and Halley comets on their blogs.
Whenever I traveled as a tourist in Russia, I did not find the service in restaurants or hotels to be any worse than when I traveled as a tourist in the US or Europe.
They are common people who, unlike SWP or myself, do real and useful work for a living. They do not deserve our contempt.
Потемкинский “Буран” выставили на авиасалоне МАКС-2011
What’s wrong with that?
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — August 21, 2011 @ 11:53 am
Their job is to do their job, not pander to people with entitlement issues who make wise-ass cracks comparing them to Gulag guards and Halley comets on their blogs.
Correct, but most of the time they don’t, which is why they get criticised.
Comment by Tim Newman — August 21, 2011 @ 12:28 pm
Whenever I traveled as a tourist in Russia, I did not find the service in restaurants or hotels to be any worse than when I traveled as a tourist in the US or Europe.
Incidentally, in which hotels have you stayed in Moscow?
Comment by Tim Newman — August 21, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
Ah yes brings to mind the good old Intourist days on Tverskaya.
When the refurbished Metropol reopened it had the absolute quietest rooms I have ever experienced. That place was built like a fortress and once you closed the door you were isolated from the rest of the world.
Comment by pahoben — August 21, 2011 @ 12:50 pm
I just remembered the Kosmos-that place turned into a real pit. I have no idea what it is like now.
At one time I lived in the same building as Dzhabrailov-the Chechen who killed his American co-owner of the Radisson. I always remember him as a very small slight man surrounded by six huge bodyguards with automatic weapons.
Comment by pahoben — August 21, 2011 @ 1:04 pm
Incidentally, in which hotels have you stayed in Moscow?
I’ve never stayed in Moscow hotels. I did stay at several hotels in 2005 while traveling about the Golden Ring. Some were good, some were adequate.
None were anywhere near as bad as the London hotel I stayed in which had bed bugs (and which was several times more expensive than the aforementioned Russian hotels).
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — August 21, 2011 @ 2:31 pm
None were anywhere near as bad as the London hotel I stayed in which had bed bugs (and which was several times more expensive than the aforementioned Russian hotels).
This is hardly surprising because 1) British hotels are traditionally appalling, and 2) one would expect a provincial hotel in Russia (or indeed anywhere) to be cheaper than a hotel in London. Had you compared a hotel in Moscow with the hotel in London you would probably find there was little to choose between them in terms of price and quality of bed.
Comment by Tim Newman — August 21, 2011 @ 2:45 pm
SUBLIME MENTAL PATIENT:
Do you think ANYONE will overlook the fact that the SOLE basis for your comment was an ANONYMOUS COMMENT ON A BLOG which you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to substantiate just because you focus on absurdly irrelevant nonsense while ignoring that main point?
Aren’t you ASHAMED to engage in the VERY SAME PSEUDO JOURNALISM that you criticize?
You also GIVE ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER to substantiate your claim about the air show. MORE pseudo-journalism, more ape-like hypocrisy.
For your information, MANY posts BY LARUSSOPHOBE have been published on INOSMI. Your suggestion that we do not know what it is is as barbarically ignorant as all your other statements. But the VAST MAJORITY of comments on that blog are pro-Russian nationalist, and the anti-Russia material that is published there is published to give red meat to those forces, not to illuminate Russians. As a self-styled Russia expert, one would hope you’d know that.
Comment by La Russophobe — August 21, 2011 @ 5:54 pm
SUBLIME PSYCHOPATH:
How come OUR links post just fine? And why do you IGNORE them? Are they magically invisible to Russophiles on this evil blog? We post them AGAIN:
RUSSIA LOSES MAJOR SATELLITE
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8709625/Russia-loses-contact-with-Europes-biggest-communications-satellite.html
RUSSIA STEALTH FIGHTER FAILS TO LEAVE GROUND AT MAJOR AIR SHOW
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jKW5XKOE9-KlDbRiOXV0mZeVrhvA?docId=021ee7f01b114252bfdfdc4485e5754b
RUSSIAN AIRLINER FULL OF BEES
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/bees-on-a-plane-highlight-vips-sins/442295.html
Comment by La Russophobe — August 21, 2011 @ 5:56 pm
How do you use communication with a communication satellite? It almost sounds absurd. The communication satellite is supposed to communicate and it failed to communicate. Ooops… George Orwell comes to mind.
On the bright side, the satellite must have been operated by “the hotel receptionists who apparently learned their craft in the Gulag.” Let’s hope the satellite’s communication will return with the same frequency as “the waitresses who returned at about the same frequency as Halley’s Comet.” 🙂
Comment by John — August 22, 2011 @ 12:37 am
“Потемкинский ‘Буран’ выставили на авиасалоне МАКС-2011
What’s wrong with that?”
1. Nothing. As long as you are on the right side of the plane! And you don’t purchase it. Or definitely not flying.
2. If the Russian leadership knows about the pathetic plane, and does nothing, its simply an intentional lie and a scandal. If the Russian leadership does not know about the Potemkin Buran, then its incompetent. I go with the first version, even though the second one is quite tempting and so “post-modern” Russian…
Comment by John — August 22, 2011 @ 12:45 am
Russia bet on Qadaffi, lost, and saw its stock market fall to its lowest level in a year:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-22/russia-s-micex-index-heads-for-11-month-low-as-oil-prices-fall.html
So how does Russia respond? By backing away from lunatics like Assad and Ahmadinejad? Nope! Like the nation of idiotic gorillas that Russia is, it repeats the same mistakes over and over and over again, and moves CLOSER to them.
http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2011/08/20/365061.htm
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jL8NspwiWh34m9n6N5J4cCCnBonw?docId=CNG.278f9d820a1f216c793eed28ab2562c0.f1
That’s to say nothing, of course, about watching the USSR be destroyed by the KGB and then handing power to the KGB amid the rubble.
What a country!
Comment by La Russophobe — August 22, 2011 @ 5:54 am
KGB ruler in hand, Russia once again begins barring citizens from leaving the country.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/12000-debtors-barred-from-traveling/442403.html
Who said Russia could never go back to the Soviet darkness? That person was either an idiot or a liar.
Comment by La Russophobe — August 22, 2011 @ 6:25 am
For your information, MANY posts BY LARUSSOPHOBE have been published on INOSMI. Your suggestion that we do not know what it is is as barbarically ignorant as all your other statements. But the VAST MAJORITY of comments on that blog are pro-Russian nationalist, and the anti-Russia material that is published there is published to give red meat to those forces, not to illuminate Russians.
So is this an admission that La Russophobe doesn’t exist to “illuminate Russians”, but to “give red meat to those [pro-Russian nationalist] forces”?
And is it not telling that exposure to “anti-Russia material” (i.e. Western propaganda) is, in fact, highly reliable at transforming Russians into pro-Russian nationalist?
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — August 22, 2011 @ 12:54 pm
KGB ruler in hand, Russia once again begins barring citizens from leaving the country.
And in the US, some states can imprison you for not paying debts.
What does that make Obama in your eyes? A Gestapo ruler?
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — August 22, 2011 @ 1:01 pm
SUBLIME ALCOHOLIC:
Your mendacicty is truly breathtaking!
(1) TWO THIRDS of US states DO NOT allow that practice, you illiterate goat.
(2) IT’S THE STATES, not hte federal government, you ignoramus.
(3) The point isn’t what happens to real debtors but whan happens when the practice is expanded to innocent people for political purposes, you pea-brained dolt.
(4) The USA has no history of banning its citizens from leaving the country so as to avoid brain drain. Russia does. Were you unware of that fact, you retarded freak?
Comment by La Russophobe — August 22, 2011 @ 2:30 pm
SUBLIME SOCIOPATH:
The content of LR drives Russian nationalists out of their minds. It provokes a frenzy in them, and INOSMI trades on that. That is why INOSMI publishes LR, and SWP, etc. As a self-styled Russia expert, one would hope you’d know that. Do you suffer from birth defects or are you just a typical drunken Russian fool?
But we are, of course, happy to have LR translated into foreign languages regardless of the reason.
Your notion that our words are capable of “transforming Russians into pro-Russian nationalists” is outrageously offensive to Russians. Were we them, we’d knock you on your cowardly ass for makign a remark like that. That you think so little of Russians does not surprise us one little bit. The fact that Russia has only the likes of you for her defenders says all one needs to know about the sad and sorry state of Putin’s Russia.
Comment by La Russophobe — August 22, 2011 @ 2:35 pm
I’m back in the Rodina after 7 years away and have to say that I’ve noticed some striking changes to Moscow since ’04. Tons more cars on the roads…but the roads are better (if still sloppily) maintained. There’s 1 (count ’em) western-style interchange on the MKAD now. Traffic there is great…everyplace else on the ring road still crawls…but hey! progress! Customer service is improved somewhat but is still woefully bad when dealing with bureaucrats. Waitresses are much improved though…ditto with most of the private sector businesses. Still…the more things change… I got shaken down by a milit… *erm* policeman today for a vzatka. Ah, Russia, how I’ve missed you.
Comment by Swoggler — August 23, 2011 @ 1:02 am
One time my wife and I were walking home late at night in Moscow and making too much noise. We were stopped and my wife didn’t have her documents. I pulled out all the notes I had and it was like twenty rubles. Both of them started laughing. I said look you can have all the money I have on me and pulled out all the change-absolutely emptied my pockets. They grudgingly accepted this pittance and didn’t take my wife to the station.
Another time I was rightfully stopped in Siberia for speeding in a speed trap kind of way. The guy in front of me was driving a big Kamaz and was so drunk he was staggering. When it was my turn in the car I said look let me give you the money here. It will be much easier than paying the fine in town. He sternly looked at me and said, “Putin said NO”. I said it is easier for both of us for me to pay here and in a louder voice he reiterated, “Putin said NO”. I gave up and paid in town.
You increased my nostalgia Swoggler.
Comment by pahoben — August 23, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
Here’s another walk down memory lane for you Pahoben.
This isn’t a big deal…just a cultural quirk really. Russian cashiers hate to make change. Hate. It. In 20+ years of living/working here every time I present a largish bill the recipent rolls her eyes and says “Young man, don’t you have change?”
I would like to say, “Look, lady…if I had 350 rubles exactly I wouldn’t give you a 1000 note ok? But this is what I got when I changed money so make with the abacus and gimme.” But rather than tempt the wrath of babulia I always give a sorrowful dip of my shoulders, shake my head and apologize.
And it’s not just at kiosks…that I could understand. Major supermarkets, theatres, restaurants, cafes, the metro… every cashier, every time. Jeez…a 1000 rubles is only about $33 equivalent. What’s the big deal? I could understand the groans if I dropped a 5k note for a pack of gum at the universam…but a 1k note is like a $20 bill, get over it!
Comment by Swoggler — August 23, 2011 @ 11:59 pm
Yes yes I can hear her voice now-молодой человек… 🙂
Comment by pahoben — August 24, 2011 @ 6:43 am
Russian cashiers hate to make change. Hate. It.
That’s probably because it means they have to go into a Russian bank, something to be avoided at all costs.
Comment by Tim Newman — August 24, 2011 @ 11:07 am