2 Years Of Posts, Part 4: Solving Problems In Azerbaijan

I just can't take it anymore! Get me out of here!

This is Part 4 in a series looking back on two years of blog posts in Azerbaijan.  Make sure you check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

How To Get Your Internet Working in Azerbaijan, Posted April 9th 2012

We are now at a point beyond telephones, and come Monday I head over to the internet office myself to try and get thigns done.  The man at the window says I need to speak with Rasim and calls him to ask where he is (because, of course, he's not in the office).  Rasim says he'll be there at 5.  At 5 I head back to the office, the friendly man asks if Rasim is here.  I say 'he said he'll be here'.  He laughs and says 'Rasim always says he'll be here'. 

I've worked in technical support before (basically, every position in Apple retail, at one time or another, becomes technical support) and one of the most important steps is to troubleshoot the simplest solution to a problem first.  Its a massive waste of everyone's time to assume you need to swap out a broken computer when it turns out they simply didn't know how to turn it on.

There are so many aspects of this story that typify some of my least favorite experiences living in Azerbaijan.  The absolute lack in customer service is ever present here.  The unwillingness to expend anything beyond the absolute minimal level of effort is also commonly seen.  Constant cycles of pushing things back to the next day and day after that, again and again and again.  Making up answers to problems rather than admitting that you don't know what's going on.  Its all here in the story of getting my internet fixed.

It isn't a bitter PCV writing these reflections-these are all true to life and you would probably receive similar answers from most Americans who have spent time in Azerbaijan.  Simply put, there is a massive difference in priorities between the two cultures and what is simply accepted as standard operating procedure here would be considered mind-blowingly rude in America.

I reflect on this often in my last months of Peace Corps and even after two years I struggle with it.  Waiting in line, giving honest answers, privacy-these are all things that are so deeply ingrained in the culture of America that I didn't even realize they were ingrained.  But living in Azerbaijan and experiencing the exact opposite of these things on a weekly, if not daily, basis is a jolt-even after all the time I've spent here.

What makes it even more difficult is its not rude here.  I mean, I certainly perceive it as rude, but no one else does.  This incongruence between expectations is exhausting and frustrating and its one of the biggest reasons I'm excited to get back to my cultural homeland.  At the same time, I do appreciate the experience of being exposed to those subconsciously held assumptions about the way people should act, and learning that, just because it is thought necessary in America, doesn't mean it is thought to be necessary the world over.