Yep, thats pretty much SOP around here.
What you need to understand is the culture to understand why things like this happen. I'm definitely no authority on the issue but have lived here long enough to get a clue of what goes on or doesn't go on in these peoples minds.
I find it kind of a conundrum actually. I'll try to explain that. I hear guys, especially the married guys tell you how strong RW are, how if you are not a man they will tear you a new one. As true as that is, it only applies to the marriage.
When it comes to dealing with store clerks, or the internet office or the phone company & yes even the sad excuse for a damn bus driver, these people wouldn't say sh!t if their mouth was full of it! Anybody who is perceived to be in what is considered a position of authority is not to be trifled with. My wife gets ticked at me because I erupt on some of these a-holes. She says you can't talk to him/her like that she/he is such & such. Well I got news for you babe, I'm a taxpayer just like everbody else in this damn country & if I don't get the service that I am paying for, somebody is bloody well gonna hear about it!!!
I believe it is a holdover from Soviet times when opening your mouth could in reality get you shot. Nowadays this is not so but people are still afraid to stand up for their rights. That on top of the fact that many of them don't even know what their rights are. Many of them especially those over 40 don't even know that there are laws here to protect them & to protect their rights. They are on the books, but nobody takes advantage of them & uses them to right wrongs against them.
The other thing that happens like clockwok is, it doesn't matter one iota what Putin says. Sure the money gets transferred for all these projects, he makes sure of that. What he doesn't make sure of & control is the number of hands it passes through & the number of pockets it falls into before it gets to the people who are supposed to get it. If he could change that, things would change dramatically.
I just edited an article last night on how many millions of roubles were stolen from the defence budget. Money that was allocated for apartments for servicemen & new weapons & millions just went astray. Yeah right. There are a couple of Generals & Captains with new Dacha's though!!!
Russia wants to join the WTO & they want the west to invest in Russian oil & Gas, I say NO WAY. If I was the west I would boycott the friggin' place until they get their act together. The government destroyed Yukos, because Putin was insulted, no biggy just one less Oligarch to deal with but now they are going after BP. Gazprom is the biggest natural gas distributor in the world & is now a monopoly & no other company in Russia can sell their gas without dealing with Gazprom & if Alexi Miller takes a dislike to you or your company, your done, plain & simple. He'll bankrupt you & he can do it.
Starting business in Russia is one of the biggest jokes I've ever come across. They want our money they want us to invest, but they make it so hard that unless you have the tenacity of a wolverine, you best stay home!
I say the west should pull out of here until these a-holes can get more civilized because as long as the west keeps pouring money into the country the status quo will continue.
Don't get me wrong, the ordinary people are great & I have no problems with them at all other than for being such a proud people they sure let fools run all over them. But they deserve more than the crooked bunch of thieves that are running the asylum.
Just my take on what I see everyday.
