tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post2221420948745840992..comments2023-05-17T12:20:39.152+03:00Comments on IZMIR BLOG - Information, stories, tips and hints about Izmir: Bitch-Slapped - Not service with a SMILE!Izmir Bloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10743913495661502073noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-1494795609045242792008-10-13T04:54:00.000+03:002008-10-13T04:54:00.000+03:00I lived in Turkey for 18 years and during that tim...I lived in Turkey for 18 years and during that time, there were so many chances with regard to service. If there is one thing that really annoyed me about Turkey was what I called that beggar mentality.. so many people expected something for nothing and on the other hand, they expected to be treated like a beggar. <BR/>Example: Modernity has reached many parts of Turkey these days, but up until recently, paying bills or any official form of business would pretty much take a full day. You sit in a crowded bank.. because the banks opened at 9, took an hour break at lunch and closed at 4. Open on Saturdays, you must be joking. You take your number and wait.. 32.. 33.. 34.. and then suddenly 90.. and somebody marches in out of nowhere in front you (lucky 35) And why? because there were two levels of service.. one for the Mr. Riff and Mrs. Raff and the other level for the important people. The wives, mothers fathers, lovers of important people. They cant wait and why should they? You know what the worst part, the most maddening part was? I was the only one who even seem to notice anything out of order!<BR/><BR/>So I am now back in the USA and I have had a few dreaded things to do with government offices. And things could not have gone smoother, people were helpful, informative, and as I was leaving I happened to see a booklet at the exit. "How are we doing?" it read. I examined carefully and rolled my eyes back. It was a questionnaire from the city government asking citizens to give ratings to the quality of service they received.Nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03686282358562565742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-12504273823165492502008-10-11T01:03:00.000+03:002008-10-11T01:03:00.000+03:00Hi,I agree with what you said about leave out issu...Hi,<BR/><BR/>I agree with what you said about leave out issues that are not anything to do with the original post.<BR/><BR/>But when you say you haven't seen anything like this with your employees and also that it is exactly the same in the UK, Germany and many other countries, i fail to agree. I have been to many countries English speaking and non English speaking coutries and i haven't seen such bad behaviour. The instances i wrote about are just the ones i remember. I have assimilated a little more since being here and have begun to forget some of the instances and treat them as normal.<BR/><BR/>Today for instance, i went in to an office to discuss something. The lady on the phone saw me come in, no aknowlegement whatsoever, no nod of the head, no one second pause of the conversation to say, "I'll be with you in a moment!" just a rude as you like continuation of her conversation with her mother about nappies and other unforgettable stuff, for 10 more minutes. She could have said, "I'll call you back there is a customer here!" She could have said, "Sorry, this is a really important call to my mother about my one eyed, one legged, half deaf child who is in a critical condition on a life support machine!" She could have even said, "F@@k you, I'll be ready when i'm ready freak!" Anything is better than nothing, and even in the rudeness of 'f@@k you' sentence above it would still be reassuring because then at least i would know that she was dealing with me at some stage in the next 24 hours. In the end it wasn't an important call, her one legged, one eyed, half deaf child wasn't really ill, he was just angry that he couldn't see - sorry i forgot to mention the child was blind as well. Now, to me her behaviour was just plain rude.<BR/><BR/>Maybe she does this because in Turkey family is more respected than anything else and i am not saying this is wrong i am just saying that if you are at your work place, you do your work. If you are in your break, you have your personal phonecall. And like i said previously a huge amount of Turkish people are not like this but i still say i don't see this behaviour as much in other countries. Admittedly, there is a huge list of countries i haven't been to, but the countries i have been to I haven't seen bad manners this much. Who's to say that the people who are dishing out the bad manners even know they are being bad mannered. Maybe they don't know! Like me getting used to some things that i once considered rude, they are also used to it.<BR/><BR/>The previous poster who replied (TurkishRU) said and i quote, "talk to the manager that's a lot more helpful than a tirade on the net". I don't believe what i wrote was a tirade,i believe all i am doing is being truthful about my experiences whilst in Turkey which is exactly what a blog is about. (I must add a Thank you for Izmir 2 Blogger for allowing me to blog here also) Some people throw things out there maybe interesting, maybe boring, maybe controversial, but the good thing about controversial things is they get people talking and no matter what you say about it, it is sometimes for the good of things. Maybe in the holiday resorts someone may read this and say, "only say Buyurun 10 times and not 100 times and then we may get a sale because the foreigner may then browse in my shop and not just pass it by" Good or bad these are my experiences and that's all there is to it. <BR/><BR/>Maybe later i can write about my good experiences in Turkey but like i said before my post was not a tirade because a tirade would just be bad points and i did offer some good points about Turkey and Turkish people. I'm not anti-Turkey just anti-bad manners.<BR/><BR/>Bitch-Slapped BloggerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-50573962174793337042008-10-10T19:02:00.000+03:002008-10-10T19:02:00.000+03:00leaving the Iraq issue aside as it doesn't belong ...leaving the Iraq issue aside as it doesn't belong to this conversation, i have to say that i find most Turkish employees courteous and polite. true, some are not, but, just like "anonymous" (sept. 29), i have also seen similar behaviour in Germany AND the UK. when you encounter this, you simply ask to talk to the manager. that's a lot more helpful than writing tirades on the net. ;) respectfully, non-Turkish reader of the Izmir Blog. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-46194756898807466552008-09-29T04:56:00.000+03:002008-09-29T04:56:00.000+03:00Ok, first of all i am guessing you are Turkish and...Ok, first of all i am guessing you are Turkish and this is why you have taken offence. Secondly, the fact that you are Turkish means that as i have seen you will defend all things Turkish including things that are on some occasions wrong. I never said all Turkish people were bad. Unfortunately, i meet some of the bad ones, the rude ones and the downright nasty ones, but as i said in my post, i do find superb people as well. <BR/><BR/>I am not a nasty person in my heart and you are perhaps right about the fact that foreigners wherever they are sometimes have a rough time. After all, there will always be someone who is jealous that some guy coming to their country could possibly be earning more than them and may be living a richer lifestyle than them. That is not something i wish to get in to because this is up to the business that employed the individual, and is usually based on a skill-set that perhaps the managers couldn't find in their locality.<BR/><BR/>One thing i completely disagree with is what you wrote about Iraq what has Iraq got to do with anything regarding me. This is a govermental decision and i play no part in this and anyone who mentions this tedious and rather boring subject has to re-assess their level of intelligence. The whole country didn't support the war because in the UK, there may be different problems that there aren't in Turkey, but one thing we are is free-thinkers. We don't all follow one person and we definitely don't all follow one flag. You may be right when you say that people may hate UK citizens for fighting in Iraq but i see these people as people who rarely check facts and generally follow everything that a few people tell them. People tend to just use the Iraq issue becaue they didn't like UK citizens in the first place. <BR/><BR/>In Turkey there is a precedence that i haven't seen in other countries where many people go elele (hand in hand) like a day out on a school trip. Break free a little, do your thang, and don't keep blaming the worlds' troubles on Iraq. <BR/><BR/>If i go anywhere in the world i expect decent customer service and no matter if there are problems in Iraq, Russia, Georgia or wherever you don't have to take bad service from anybody. Business is business and there is a code of conduct wherever you are.<BR/><BR/>And finally, the fact that a country (?) could have possibly slaughtered a million or so people in their past and yet not stand up to be judged, then why should i stand up to be judged for something that my army is currently doing.<BR/><BR/>Bitch-slapped bloggerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-68012213770963233182008-09-29T03:36:00.000+03:002008-09-29T03:36:00.000+03:00I am wondering where were you living before!? I li...I am wondering where were you living before!? I lived in Germany as a foreigner and beleieve me I have been through much worse... So basically foreigners are generally accepted as a second tier person. This is not specific to Turkey, on the conterary Turkish people generally love foreigners and tend to build a relationship with them unlike the majority of Europe including England. But don't forget the fact that English government is equally quilty of the death of over a million Iraqi people in the past 5 years..and some hundered thousands in the rest of the world, basically some people may have an offensive approch to English guys as well (I believe it is an unappropiate attitude) like the carparking guy. Every result has a reason. Still I believe and seen that Turkish people are much more friendly, helping and hot bloded comparing the rest of Europe by far...especially considering Izmir. I think you should reconsider your thoughts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-4092132852176445482008-09-27T08:58:00.000+03:002008-09-27T08:58:00.000+03:00Reporting her attitude is something you owe yourse...Reporting her attitude is something you owe yourself first and foremost. It equals standing up for yourself and asking for respect. <BR/><BR/>You might be one <B>among many others</B> subject to/ reporting this kind of behavior and eventually it will make a difference and call for change.<BR/><BR/>"Qui ne dit mot, consent" say the French (Silence implies consent)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-79079290956672135802008-09-24T17:58:00.000+03:002008-09-24T17:58:00.000+03:00The only problem here is the actions are not so bl...The only problem here is the actions are not so blatant and it is possible she is not aware that she is giving out this service without a smile. Working in banking, she is probably intelligent enough to be sarcastic and not get caught abusing customers in a round about way.<BR/><BR/>Also as i say i can't report everybody and since i have had many experiences like this maybe it is somewhat the norm and that is something that as a foreigner without full citizenship would not be able to change and even as a foreigner with full citizenship would not change.<BR/><BR/>Bitch slapped bloggerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31302518.post-44439402292249055242008-09-24T11:26:00.000+03:002008-09-24T11:26:00.000+03:00Ask to be serviced by some other employee (the nic...Ask to be serviced by some other employee (the nice one) and report her behavior to management. How else will it change?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com