Shopping Russian Style…
In the West, we enjoy the benefits of capitalism. In other words spending our money is made as fast and painless as possible. This is true from the local grab-n-go’s to mega-mall warehouses, which are the modern models of efficiency.
Then there is Russia. In your stay you will no doubt want to buy something. There are basically four styles of stores; kiosks, local stores (kind of like the mom & pop variety), flea markets and the modern malls. The most interesting are the local stores. They are perhaps the most prevalent and well established. What makes them interesting is that they still adhere to the old Soviet style of purchasing goods, which has little in common with western ways.
So lets say that you wanted to pop in the local grocery store and grab a quick jar of caviar. For a first time Westerner, the process of buying something can be like this:
- Get in line to select the product you want. There can be several lines so don’t stand in the wrong one.
- You’re probably standing in the wrong line but won’t realize it for about 5 minutes. You figure out that the caviar is serviced under the meats server, not the dry goods server.
- You go to the correct line.
- After 10 minutes wait, you get to the server (an babushka that always seems to be annoyed)). She waves her hands, babbles something in Russian, then point to a ticket with a number on it. You realize that you need a ticket to get served.
- You go to the ticket machine, grab a ticket and go back to the line again
- After 10 minutes you get to the server that is so happy to see you again. You point to the jar of caviar and eventually she gets what your interested in. If you’re lucky she will even take it from the shelf for you to inspect (not).
- You tell her you want one jar and your point one finger up to indicate how many you want… she babbles some Russian in a very annoyed manner. This verbal exchange is repeated several times. Eventually see get tired of asking you if you want something else and then writes something down on a tablet and gives you the sheet. The person behind you shoves you out of the way.
- You scratch your head and look around to see where everyone else goes who is give these papers.
- You discover they all go to the corner of the store were there is a 1meter by 1meter iron bar cage. This is where the cashier receives the paper orders and cash then returns a receipt.
- You also found out that there is a line for this as well.
- After waiting in line for 10 minutes you get to be face-to-face with the woman cashier. You would swear that she was a twin of the server you just had that pleasant conversation with. The caviar had a sign on it for 150 rubles.
- You slip the paper order and a 500 ruble spot in the small plastic plate that you saw everyone else do. The cashier is looking at you in an even more endearing expression than ever. She slaps the plate on the counter several times, babbles in Russian and waves the 500-ruble note in front of you as if you had insulted her. You shrug your shoulders and say, “I don’t understand.” You both repeat this verbal exchange several times.
- Eventually, she rolls her eyes and says sometime in under her breath in a despicable tone. She throws your change (short a few rubles) and receipt in the plate and shoves it toward you.
- You gather the plate’s contents and are quickly shoved aside by the person behind you.
- Now you are not quiet sure what to do to recover your goods so you cover your bases and take another ticket and wait in the meats line again.
- Ten 10 minutes later you get to gaze on that oh so happy face again. She grabs your ticket and start babbling in Russian in a questioning manner. You realize that she is asking you what you want
- You put the receipt on the counter. She grabs it and inspects it carefully. She then grabs a jar of caviar and slaps it on the counter.
- You grab the jar and the person behind you shoves you aside.
- You finally get your hands on the product so you inspect the jar of caviar and find that the date code says it is not fresh or she has mistakenly given you the smaller jar of caviar… well that is a longer story that is fit for another thread.
- You take you lumps and are glad that you made it out with something, but you are not out yet.
- Where are the bags? You look around and discover that they aren’t giving out bags. Everyone brings their own bags. You’re lucky that you only bought one item. You slide the jar in your jacket pocket and leave.
Think of the local stores as LensCrafts… everything in “about an hour.” This may sound like something that I made up... It is not. Think of it as a cultural experience. Your RW most likely goes through this every day, albeit much more effectively.
Ronin
More Reading: Brovosolutions.com - Shopping Soviet-Style (added 6/08).
Last edited on Wednesday October 1st, 2008 08:30 pm by ronin1
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