There's nothing like sitting in front of your computer, the cursor blinking at you, demanding your attention. Sure, there are lots of things that would sound great on paper, but getting them out of your head and onto the screen is another story entirely. I've been procrastinating on posting this entry for about a week now, and every time I have just enough time to write, all great thoughts go out the window. Most of my great thoughts and moments of Zen are experienced on the marshrutka or bus or dodging mini lakes in the streets. It's just not a good day unless you have to avoid a lake, babushka selling potatoes or dance around the people passing out fliers and advertisements.
Speaking of the advertisements, my friend and I were discussing the various elements of the Russian economy. There are two or three great puzzles which still continue to baffle the travelers in Russia: 1) how do so many 24 hour flower shops stay in business? Is it really necessary to buy flowers at 3am? I know this is really two questions but I'm going to treat it as one. How is it that it is phenomenally difficult to find a pharmacy which sells insulin or knee braces but on every single corner, every 40 meters in the subway and in every alley way, there are flower kiosks selling flowers for about $1?! It doesn't take a college degree in economics to guess that this can't be a very effective business plan. It should be said that it's also never just one flower stand, there are usually three or four all standing next to each other. It's as overwhelming as trying to decide where to buy fresh vegetable, but I should stay on topic- at the moment the topic is about flowers. Just to paint a more vivid picture for you, imagine this: from my apartment building as you exit the building and go into the alley way you'll see a sign for a flower shop. Cross the street and go to the light, and there's a little mini mart, and a women selling flowers. Walk another 100 feet and cross the street again, an lo' another women selling flowers, which look like the same bunch you just passed. Walk another 100 feet and go down the stairs and there are not one, not two, but three different women selling flowers. All of them selling roses, carnations, lilies, and baby's breath. In true Soviet style, every bouquet is exactly the same, as are all the flowers. Happily the women do appear to be different; one with short hair, one with out grown fake nails and another run-of-the-mill babushka. My point is this, that's a lot of flower sellers. A lot. You can't tell me that they are making a profit. How? I do understand the logic of peddling flowers in the subway stations, it works great as a last minute gift, but if you are competing with two other people who are selling the same thing, chances are your profit margin isn't going to be that impressive.
Furthermore, is it really necessary to have about ten 24-hour flower shops within a two block radius? Am I just a cynical American girl who just doesn't understand the appeal of flowers? Let alone understand the appeal of receiving flowers in the middle of the night? Russian women must have an impressive variety of vases to keep on hand for spontaneous floral gifts. On the handful of occasions I've received flowers I've been a little annoyed that I had to put the flowers in a plastic water bottle I had to dig out of the trash or finish a bottle of wine so I could be trendy and put said flower in a wine bottle. Sure this sounds amusing, and it kinda is, but I think it's a little insulting to the flowers. How would you like to be an impressive Tiger Lily only to be displayed in an Aqua Minerale with the top missing?
My friend explained that she asked a Russian businessman how these little businesses operate and his explanation was this: One person owns several kiosks OR several people own several kiosks and share the money.
I am not happy with this answer. Assuming that's all there is to it, how on earth do they make money? This is my main question. How is it profitable for one person to pay rent for 10 different locations, 20 different employees, stock, and basic overhead? Especially when they sell flowers for about a dollar a flower (and it's as if the cost of living in Russia is cheap). When I pointed this out to my friend she also agreed and after a moment the light bulb turned on for both of us; the light bulb is this: This is Russia, and things either work or they don't. This ambiguous economic system clearly works.
Another example of very Russian economics are the people who have a job stamping things and tearing receipts. Again, I wish I were exaggerating or embellishing, but even my active imagination has limits, so this is real. Let me walk you through the long and painful process of buying a USB stick. First, locate desired USB stick, decide on the color and size which is bit overwhelming. Tell one person that you want the stick. Then they will hand it to you since it's behind glass and you can't really touch it. After you get it, and examine the package you have to give it back to the salesman. Then the salesman will walk you the cash register and hand the USB to the cashier. The cashier will ask you if you want a bag (bad America, our obsession with plastic portable containers has destroyed the world) then they will scan it. But you still don't get your USB, no, you take your receipt to the security guard who looks at the USB, then at the receipt then carefully at you just to make sure that you're not trying to pull a fast one. Then he will stamp the receipt, then tear it. See how easy that is?
The same friend was admiring that everyone here does in fact have a job, even if it's tearing and stamping receipts; but you just have to ask yourself if it's worth it or even productive. There's a woman at the bank (yes, I have a Russian bank account because I'm that brave and cool) whose job it is to stamp things. All day. Five days a week, this woman sits in the corner and stamps things. Like all people, there are days when I really dislike my job but I can't imagine a more mind numbing activity then stamping bank statements for eight hours a day. How would that even be presented on a resume? Official Document Stamper? Head of Ink Documentation? This poor lady would really be a buzz kill when complaining about work at parties. People are generally quite animated about complaining and whining about work because most people have to work with the public which means dealing with lots and lots of intellectually deficient people, not to mention asshats and douchbags; but if you only deal with stamps and paper....how would you stack-up against your peers?
Wouldn't it be a little better to take all these people with less then stimulating jobs and make a new market for them? There's a lot of room for economic growth and development in this country if only people would get their acts together. No one ever accused this place of being logical or modern or innovative but that doesn't mean that it can't. I have the honor of working in a fairly well respected city, Akademgorodok which is like Silicon Valley of Russia and there are great possibilities for breakthroughs in all spheres of science and business development. Tragically most people want to immigrate and take their snazzy ideas with them which will help countries like the US, Australia and all of Europe. Has anyone noticed that people say Europe like it's one country? People also do with Africa. But that rant can wait for another day.
Speaking of the advertisements, my friend and I were discussing the various elements of the Russian economy. There are two or three great puzzles which still continue to baffle the travelers in Russia: 1) how do so many 24 hour flower shops stay in business? Is it really necessary to buy flowers at 3am? I know this is really two questions but I'm going to treat it as one. How is it that it is phenomenally difficult to find a pharmacy which sells insulin or knee braces but on every single corner, every 40 meters in the subway and in every alley way, there are flower kiosks selling flowers for about $1?! It doesn't take a college degree in economics to guess that this can't be a very effective business plan. It should be said that it's also never just one flower stand, there are usually three or four all standing next to each other. It's as overwhelming as trying to decide where to buy fresh vegetable, but I should stay on topic- at the moment the topic is about flowers. Just to paint a more vivid picture for you, imagine this: from my apartment building as you exit the building and go into the alley way you'll see a sign for a flower shop. Cross the street and go to the light, and there's a little mini mart, and a women selling flowers. Walk another 100 feet and cross the street again, an lo' another women selling flowers, which look like the same bunch you just passed. Walk another 100 feet and go down the stairs and there are not one, not two, but three different women selling flowers. All of them selling roses, carnations, lilies, and baby's breath. In true Soviet style, every bouquet is exactly the same, as are all the flowers. Happily the women do appear to be different; one with short hair, one with out grown fake nails and another run-of-the-mill babushka. My point is this, that's a lot of flower sellers. A lot. You can't tell me that they are making a profit. How? I do understand the logic of peddling flowers in the subway stations, it works great as a last minute gift, but if you are competing with two other people who are selling the same thing, chances are your profit margin isn't going to be that impressive.
Furthermore, is it really necessary to have about ten 24-hour flower shops within a two block radius? Am I just a cynical American girl who just doesn't understand the appeal of flowers? Let alone understand the appeal of receiving flowers in the middle of the night? Russian women must have an impressive variety of vases to keep on hand for spontaneous floral gifts. On the handful of occasions I've received flowers I've been a little annoyed that I had to put the flowers in a plastic water bottle I had to dig out of the trash or finish a bottle of wine so I could be trendy and put said flower in a wine bottle. Sure this sounds amusing, and it kinda is, but I think it's a little insulting to the flowers. How would you like to be an impressive Tiger Lily only to be displayed in an Aqua Minerale with the top missing?
My friend explained that she asked a Russian businessman how these little businesses operate and his explanation was this: One person owns several kiosks OR several people own several kiosks and share the money.
I am not happy with this answer. Assuming that's all there is to it, how on earth do they make money? This is my main question. How is it profitable for one person to pay rent for 10 different locations, 20 different employees, stock, and basic overhead? Especially when they sell flowers for about a dollar a flower (and it's as if the cost of living in Russia is cheap). When I pointed this out to my friend she also agreed and after a moment the light bulb turned on for both of us; the light bulb is this: This is Russia, and things either work or they don't. This ambiguous economic system clearly works.
Another example of very Russian economics are the people who have a job stamping things and tearing receipts. Again, I wish I were exaggerating or embellishing, but even my active imagination has limits, so this is real. Let me walk you through the long and painful process of buying a USB stick. First, locate desired USB stick, decide on the color and size which is bit overwhelming. Tell one person that you want the stick. Then they will hand it to you since it's behind glass and you can't really touch it. After you get it, and examine the package you have to give it back to the salesman. Then the salesman will walk you the cash register and hand the USB to the cashier. The cashier will ask you if you want a bag (bad America, our obsession with plastic portable containers has destroyed the world) then they will scan it. But you still don't get your USB, no, you take your receipt to the security guard who looks at the USB, then at the receipt then carefully at you just to make sure that you're not trying to pull a fast one. Then he will stamp the receipt, then tear it. See how easy that is?
The same friend was admiring that everyone here does in fact have a job, even if it's tearing and stamping receipts; but you just have to ask yourself if it's worth it or even productive. There's a woman at the bank (yes, I have a Russian bank account because I'm that brave and cool) whose job it is to stamp things. All day. Five days a week, this woman sits in the corner and stamps things. Like all people, there are days when I really dislike my job but I can't imagine a more mind numbing activity then stamping bank statements for eight hours a day. How would that even be presented on a resume? Official Document Stamper? Head of Ink Documentation? This poor lady would really be a buzz kill when complaining about work at parties. People are generally quite animated about complaining and whining about work because most people have to work with the public which means dealing with lots and lots of intellectually deficient people, not to mention asshats and douchbags; but if you only deal with stamps and paper....how would you stack-up against your peers?
Wouldn't it be a little better to take all these people with less then stimulating jobs and make a new market for them? There's a lot of room for economic growth and development in this country if only people would get their acts together. No one ever accused this place of being logical or modern or innovative but that doesn't mean that it can't. I have the honor of working in a fairly well respected city, Akademgorodok which is like Silicon Valley of Russia and there are great possibilities for breakthroughs in all spheres of science and business development. Tragically most people want to immigrate and take their snazzy ideas with them which will help countries like the US, Australia and all of Europe. Has anyone noticed that people say Europe like it's one country? People also do with Africa. But that rant can wait for another day.
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