Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Ready for business in this part of the world?

I am not talking Business Etiquette, what to wear, to shake hands or not and what topics to avoid.... no,no!  I will sum it all up in one sentence: why make things easy when you can complicate them? It is to the point that, coming from abroad, at some point, you cannot but wonder if it is done on purpose, for some obscure reason you have yet to discover...


Seriously; when I say nothing is easy, pictures of the way people and buses drive come to my mind, the way we queue at the supermarket or the post-office where having a number still does not guarantee your turn, the way one needs another form, another signature and twenty more phone calls to conclude a process...etc


Some days I can take it really well, almost laughing at the absurdity and "chutzpah" of some, it is almost like watching a show, you are the spectator, even if sometimes you have a part to play and you wonder how it will all end.... Other days I am really not in the mood and prefer to stop in my tracks and go back to packing more Sophies HaGirafot in the quietness of the office...
So whenever I go and visit the stores, I always expect "walls" because hey, it cannot be simple! Of course I did get my share of issues but I really cannot complain: they were all valid, pertinent and they helped me understand more what the business needed.


Those past days I struggled a lot though. A container was waiting at customs and the transport company was not moving fast enough... Finally after a week I recieved the merchandise. It took that long to understand each other, understand the process and what the problems were and with whom to talk to finally get the merchandise. And I was lucky to have help in that process... Again because of what should almost be an adage for the region" nothing can nor should be easy"... it would be too much fun!


Could this part of the world be compared with Golf?

 Arnold Palmerone of the greatest golf players once said:
“Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening - and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”

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