Way to Russia Talk Lounge

twicker · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:49 pm Post subject: Russian and American similarities

Since there's been a bit of discussion about this recently, I wanted to go ahead and address the subject of how Russians and Americans can be very similar at times -- and how, simply because an American experiences something at one place in Russia, it doesn't mean that "all" Russians (or even most) are like that.

As it so happens, I'm American, and I've been to Russia. Therefore, I'm going to address similarities between America and Russia. I *strongly* suspect there are similarities between other countries and Russia, too -- I'm just not qualified to speak to them. This may be a good place to speak to those, or may not be -- I don't know if people see enough of them to open another thread. I'll leave that to greater minds than mine. Smile

I also suspect that there are similarities between America and countries other than Russia: since this is a WayToRussia forum, I'm going to ignore those, too.

So ... to get the conversation started, here are some similarities I noticed:

1) You can get good service in Russia, and you can get bad service -- just like in America.

I had both in Moscow (I actually can't remember a time I had bad service in Krasnodar, even though I spent more time there). Sometimes people were attentive and prompt; others weren't. But -- bad service at one place didn't mean that every place had bad service.

2) There *are* people in Russia who are happy to give you a warm smile -- even if they don't know you. And even in Moscow.

I *vividly* remember two people in Moscow who were very quick with their smiles: one was one of the managers at the Art Bar in the Hotel Ukraine, who would always smile the moment she saw you, and would smile every time she came by the table to check on you. The second was, interestingly, one of the security guys at the same hotel: while he was obviously fit and could take someone down if needs be, he was also quick with a smile and with a gesture of help. And he smiled at everyone -- didn't matter who you were or what you were doing.

3) Don't forget: there are people in America who are less than pleasant to deal with.

We have really gloomy or mean people here -- Russia's no different. Just because someone isn't smiling in Russia, it doesn't mean that all Russians are mean or rude or grumpy -- it means that this person isn't smiling. And, just like there are people here in America who don't smile much when they're dealing with you, even if they're *not* being mean (a very good, very efficient, but not very outwardly "friendly" manager of a local restaurant leaps to mind). It may be that the Russians who aren't smiling are simply being business-like. I'm thinking here of much of the service I received, where people would return smiles (mostly), but would not initially give them; they were simply being business-like.

4) Moscow is not that different, in attitude, etc., than most big cities.

I know that there was a very unscientific survey done by Reader's Digest which suggests that Moscow is really rude and such, but I didn't experience it. Yes, I rode the buses; yes, I rode the Metro; yes, I went to plenty of places with plenty of people around. I found a big city, with all the good and bad of a big city: lots of people, little personal space, people keeping to themselves. Kinda New York-ish, frankly. As VitalSigns pointed out, there are plenty of places in the US like this; it sure ain't Kansas.

5) Some businesses work well, some don't: it's a function of the business, not the country.

Example: in Krasnodar, I had to register my passport (always required). I handed it to Svetlana (the woman behind the counter), and, having read that this can take 24 hours or more, I asked how long it would take.

Her reply: "Oh, about 5 minutes."

It actually took much less time than that: she punched the information into her computer, and handed me my passport back. Actual time: about 2-3 minutes.

To use the phone in my room at this hotel, I did exactly what I'd do in the US: I picked it up, I called -- charges automatically applied to my room charge.

Then, in Moscow, at the Hotel Ukraine, I again had to register my passport. I didn't bother to ask how long it would take -- after all, I could look out the window of the lobby and see the Russian White House of Government. If it takes 2-3 minutes in Krasnodar, then it can't take any longer in Moscow, could it?

I was told that it would take 2-3 hours.

?????

Now, people in Russia would tell me, "Oh, of course it takes so long! This is Russia!" But that's just it: it's not Russia, because, if it had been Russia, then it would've taken just as long in Krasnodar. Since I already knew that it didn't require nearly that much time, I knew it wasn't Russia: it was the Hotel Ukraine.

And then I was told that, to make a call, I'd have to go to this little booth and give them money, which would be credited to my account. I said, "Can I just have it charged to the room?" "Oh, no! That is not possible." Again, some people (including Russians) that I mentioned this to said, "Oh, well -- that's Russia." And again, no, it's not -- because it worked very differently in Krasnodar.

Moral of the story: if a business, or person, is doing something really silly, it's not Russia, any more than it's America if a business or person here is doing something really silly. It's the business, or it's the person -- it's not Russia.

So ... there are some of the similarities I noticed, particularly ones that might otherwise be written off as, "Oh, well -- that's just Russia."

Anyone else have some similarities that travelers need to keep in mind (particularly ones that can help avoid forming/confirming stereotypes)?

Poka i udachi!

surfguy · Lounge Wizard Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 6996

The key thing is...why compare? We know what the countries are like. If there were not differences then why go to some where that is just like here. Might as well stay here. Anyway glad you are enjoying Russia-I am too. Just got off the phone with my woman there. She's moving into her new apartment and is excited to do that. Life is good there and not everyone wants to leave.

twicker · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:28 pm Post subject:

Hi, Surfguy -- great question. Since this has come up before, and I do have some thoughts on it (go ahead, die from shock), and people seem to have strong feelings about the specific question of why compare, I created a quick thread to discuss it:

Talk Lounge -- Why Compare?

As always, caveat emptor. Poka!

Ronin · Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:20 am Post subject:

twicker,

Indeed, regardless of where we live, we all have more similarities than can mention. Because of this fact it is often more significant to discuss the important differences (since there are far fewer of them). This is a natural thing.

I can see that when one is immersed in examining differences for a long time, one may get a bit saturated with how Russians are so different than Western folk. One has to pull their head out once in a while to gain some perspective and realize that no matter how much we learn about our differences, at the core we are much more alike.

Ronin_RWP