Cause and effect

For me time flies here in Tirana, although things get done very slowly here....As mentioned previously, I wish I could operate in a quicker way, but daily living here goes on at a different pace than in the U.S.

Yesterday, I spent over 2 hours at a local branch of City Hall just to obtain a number so that I could be on line in another office for a procedure I had to take care of. The cause was lack of simple procedures, the effect an irrational, and unpleasant condition leading to an irritating, and chaotic situation that frustrated everyone.

The worst part is that, like I have experienced many times in the past also in Italy, bureaucracy is the name of the game in government services. Lots of unnecessarily convoluted procedures, lengthy services, and poor dealings. Everyone pushes their way around to get the attention of whomever has to take care of them, and natural outcomes are arguments no end.

The line I was on yesterday (not really a line, but a bunch of people pressed against each other, elbow to elbow, in an extremely narrow space) happened to have been composed mostly of women. All of a sudden, a burly, middle aged man came barging into the group and, yelling to his heart content, pushed his way to the front claiming that men had no chance to get ahead with so many women around!! This is quite paradoxical since Albanian society is known to be man dominated.

The other obvious problem is the fact that the office staff lets itself to be interrupted continuously, and thus the service becomes unsatisfactory, it's prone to mistakes, and it takes more time to complete. Two days ago it took 1/2 hour for an employee of a well known foreign bank to exchange some dollars for me. After all the time I allowed her to complete the transaction she mistakenly gave me 5,000 more leks than due.

The frustration at City Hall yesterday was evident everywhere: one of the customers, seeing my head shaking in disbelief, mumbled that the service was 'scandalous', and one of the clerks, at a certain point, stormed out of her cubicle to take a breather from the yelling and the crowd in front of her!

It is unfortunate to conclude that most state or governmental offices are run this way around the world.