I’ve been meaning o write, but unfortunately I have been in a very bad mood lately. It has been about 2 straight weeks that I keep hearing bad news after another. Most of them have to do with the messed up system here or simply the lack of self respect of the local population.
I know I am usually not the one to let these things get to me but when the cup is full … it spills.
The first story is about a restaurant owner who was visited by the sanitary people. They inspected the kitchen and dining area and found nothing to be out of the norm. But they said that they were forced to write them a fine anyway! WHY? because otherwise their superior may visit in the following week and decide to inspect the meat – at THEIR laboratory! what does this mean? it means that this “superior” would be new free to inject anything he wants in the meat on the way from the restaurant to the lab and then have it tested and the results could be that this restaurant serves bad meat (you get the idea).
The next story is about a small lahmajoun joint that employs 2 workers. The owner pays their share of the pension. HOWEVER, he was visited by the sotsiab (social insurance department) who claim that he has to pay more. He has been refusing since everything he’s done has been in order. They started visiting him during the busiest hours of the day asking him to open his books and check the data. This is unacceptable because these few hours are when he actually makes the day’s worth of work. Finally he caved and offered them a $50 gift (bribe). Their and answer was – “What $50? We want $100 each.” - The guy sells lahmajoun $0.25 !!!
The third story is about one of the taxi drivers from the usual service that we use. He started telling me about the business he had and that he wanted to close it down a few years ago. During that time he had met a befriended a man from the political sphere. This man had convinced him not to lose it but sell it to him. They signed some papers – but being the innocent guy that he is, he neither asked for copies or anything – well they were close friends after all… To make a long story short, the new owner of the company never transferred the company to his name. During 3 years he made profits and used the company name but apparently didn’t pay his taxes. Today, this poor taxi driver owns the Government $800 – that’s a lot of money that he doesn’t have. Why do people do this to each other? where is the self respect and the respect of a fellow friend?
Did you know that registered NGOs have to pay $10 per month for the pension program EVEN if they are not operational and have not employed anyone?
Did you know that the Government just came up with a new law that all the basement s of buildings belong to them so if someone has not legalized their basement when they had bought them for $4,000 in the mid-nineties has to now BUY it again from the government for $40,000? I can’t argue the fact that the country has to establish more regulations and create a more transparent environment etc etc etc – but we all know what the system was like early to mid-nineties – what paperwork what legal documents? People were grateful when they were able to fix up a basement and sell some available products.
Many stories later, it was my turn. I needed to send cargo shipment by UPS. After my third call, I got a quote on the cost of shipping and other details. I asked if there was anything else I need to know. Finally, I sent the merchandise and the money with one of our volunteers. It was simple, fill in the blanks, pay the guy and VOILA! but of course it wasn’t so. WE were supposed to take the shipment to Cargo terminal near Zvartnots, We were supposed to deal with the bullies sitting behind the glass ignoring half of what you had to say. We were running up and down flights of stairs only to have the lazy girl at the desk say, “why didn’t you bring the yellow paper? you have to go back up and ask the guy in room #219 to give you a copy” When you go to room #219, they guy says “well you need to get that paper stamped by the guy on the first floor so I can give you the yellow copy”. We spent the WHOLE day sending 2 boxes – A WHOLE DAY! because no one took the time to stop and explain the procedure from beginning to end. They all knew what they had to do and would tell you to go to the next person once it’s done – he without any explanations or details.
I need a vacation – I need to get out of Armenia for a while!
I know I am usually not the one to let these things get to me but when the cup is full … it spills.
The first story is about a restaurant owner who was visited by the sanitary people. They inspected the kitchen and dining area and found nothing to be out of the norm. But they said that they were forced to write them a fine anyway! WHY? because otherwise their superior may visit in the following week and decide to inspect the meat – at THEIR laboratory! what does this mean? it means that this “superior” would be new free to inject anything he wants in the meat on the way from the restaurant to the lab and then have it tested and the results could be that this restaurant serves bad meat (you get the idea).
The next story is about a small lahmajoun joint that employs 2 workers. The owner pays their share of the pension. HOWEVER, he was visited by the sotsiab (social insurance department) who claim that he has to pay more. He has been refusing since everything he’s done has been in order. They started visiting him during the busiest hours of the day asking him to open his books and check the data. This is unacceptable because these few hours are when he actually makes the day’s worth of work. Finally he caved and offered them a $50 gift (bribe). Their and answer was – “What $50? We want $100 each.” - The guy sells lahmajoun $0.25 !!!
The third story is about one of the taxi drivers from the usual service that we use. He started telling me about the business he had and that he wanted to close it down a few years ago. During that time he had met a befriended a man from the political sphere. This man had convinced him not to lose it but sell it to him. They signed some papers – but being the innocent guy that he is, he neither asked for copies or anything – well they were close friends after all… To make a long story short, the new owner of the company never transferred the company to his name. During 3 years he made profits and used the company name but apparently didn’t pay his taxes. Today, this poor taxi driver owns the Government $800 – that’s a lot of money that he doesn’t have. Why do people do this to each other? where is the self respect and the respect of a fellow friend?
Did you know that registered NGOs have to pay $10 per month for the pension program EVEN if they are not operational and have not employed anyone?
Did you know that the Government just came up with a new law that all the basement s of buildings belong to them so if someone has not legalized their basement when they had bought them for $4,000 in the mid-nineties has to now BUY it again from the government for $40,000? I can’t argue the fact that the country has to establish more regulations and create a more transparent environment etc etc etc – but we all know what the system was like early to mid-nineties – what paperwork what legal documents? People were grateful when they were able to fix up a basement and sell some available products.
Many stories later, it was my turn. I needed to send cargo shipment by UPS. After my third call, I got a quote on the cost of shipping and other details. I asked if there was anything else I need to know. Finally, I sent the merchandise and the money with one of our volunteers. It was simple, fill in the blanks, pay the guy and VOILA! but of course it wasn’t so. WE were supposed to take the shipment to Cargo terminal near Zvartnots, We were supposed to deal with the bullies sitting behind the glass ignoring half of what you had to say. We were running up and down flights of stairs only to have the lazy girl at the desk say, “why didn’t you bring the yellow paper? you have to go back up and ask the guy in room #219 to give you a copy” When you go to room #219, they guy says “well you need to get that paper stamped by the guy on the first floor so I can give you the yellow copy”. We spent the WHOLE day sending 2 boxes – A WHOLE DAY! because no one took the time to stop and explain the procedure from beginning to end. They all knew what they had to do and would tell you to go to the next person once it’s done – he without any explanations or details.
I need a vacation – I need to get out of Armenia for a while!
posted by Raffi N at 10:54 AM
1 Comments:
Raffi, next time try FedEx... I received a big shipment from Armenia... in like 3-5 days. Excellent service.
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