Thread: двухместный однокомнатный

Yes... I have noticed that in Belarus some things seem to be made a bit more complicated and time consuming than what might be needed --- at least if the objective is speed, saving time and money.
It does not overly bother me though and I do not pass any judgement on it.

I am staying at a sanatorium at the moment, and here, for example, in order to pay for "extras" (minerals for special bath water!) I had to visit three separate offices: One to get the form (document) that was needed, one where the necessary information was filled in by a nurse and a third place to actually pay the bill. Finally I had to go back to the original place and give them the reciept and the form.

Booking the sanatorium was also extremely bureacratic. Instead of simply letting people submit payment with credit/debit cards, you had to print, scan and upload various documents several times. The process is complicated and there are many possibilities to make mistakes. You were also supposed to visit a physical bank to pay the bill, then scan and upload (etc, etc!) and when I instead did an international transfer via telephone banking, this caused lots of frustration at the booking office.

I am not necessarily saying that any of this is very bad.
It depends on whether one thinks that saving money and time is always the most important aspect of any activity. I don't think it always must be.

When I visited a health clinic in Belarus I was blown away by the speed, modernity and fabulously high level of professionalism. There was both flexibility and speed. It should be said that this was a private clinic, but it was not expensive - 35 Euro for a FULL health check!

My mother often told a story about how she was shopping in a department store in St Petersburg, in Soviet times. She had to visit three different counters if I remember correct, to pay for her purchase and get a bag, and there was a queue. As a result it took a very long time to make even a few small purchases at the biggest and most modern department store in St Petersburg. People who heard the story said that the only reason for the setup was to create jobs, although I personally don't know whether that is true or not.

Anyway I suppose that kind of setup is long gone from commercial places, but maybe it lives on public institutions.

Originally Posted by Hanna

People who heard the story said that the only reason for the setup was to create jobs, although I personally don't know whether that is true or not.

Уверен, что нет. Причины таковы:
- Не видели себя со стороны.
- Не видели, что может быть иначе.
- Не ставилась задача упростить людям жизнь.
- Не было конкуренции в сфере услуг.
- Убеждённость в том, что за нашими людьми нужен особый контроль.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Anyway I suppose that kind of setup is long gone from commercial places, but maybe it lives on public institutions.

Да, в общем, конкуренция заставляет бороться с бюрократизмом. Но конкуренция у нас ещё слабая, так как нет настоящей свободы предпринимательства.

P.S. Теперь Вам будет проще понять некоторые особенности нашей жизни:
1) Почему продвижением информационных технологий занимается сам президент Медведев (казалось бы, что это мелкий вопрос не его уровня).
2) Почему многие дают взятки (Чтобы упростить себе жизь. Взятка воспринимается как средство борьбы с бюрократическими правилами).
3) Почему у нас люди нигилистически настроены к любым законам и правилам (потому что видят в правилах новый мучительный алгоритм потери времени).