Queueing in the Czech republic

I remember that one of the first times i visited the Czech republic (Or actually Czechoslovakia as it was called back then) i needed to buy some salami and cheese for a picknick.

So i went to the store and kept an eye open for anyone watching in my direction, and nodded back when i spotted him. This was the Czech way of forming a line. Now my responsibility was to look out for the next customer and nod towards him so he knew that he was after me in the queue. And in the same time trying to keep track of the one in front of me that could be walking around in the shop…

Ok, he’s up to the till so i know its my turn next. When he’s done i walk up and place my order, the clerk writes how much i owe and gives me a note. Now i walk over to the cashier, and queue up to pay my goods.

And yes now i have to queue again to get back to the till and show the receipt and pick up my cheese and salami. Oh by the way can i have a plastic bag? Shure he says and hands me a note with the price for the bag…

You can imagine how interested i was to stand in two more lines just for a plastic bag, so i dug down into my pocket and asked if i couldn’t pay him directly? Found a German mark (About 25p) and handed it to him, he just shaked his head and said sorry i don’t have any change. I responded “No its all yours.”. He looked at me and when he realized that he had heard right he almost shouted out loud, and it was clear that i had made his day.

Lets put it this way i had given him enough money to buy five pints of beer… 5×3 pounds make the equivalent of 15 pounds for a plastic bag, and he can just drop it into his own pocket…

So how come i bring up this old story today? Well i needed to buy some computer stuff, and being a bit on the high end (at least compared to what people use here in Prague) i couldn’t buy it in one of all the Dataart stores that are virtually everywhere here. So i headed out to Alza one of the biggest computer stores in this end of the world. What i found wasn’t at all what i expected…

First i arrived to a big room filled with computers, here i had to queue for a terminal so i could browse their webstore.
Then after placing my order i was supposed to walk over to some cash machines (As in depositing cash) to pay for them. To my luck they had an ATM so i could withdraw some cash, a shame it couldn’t reach my bank…
Ok, over to the machine where you could pick up numbers to get service from the clerks. Ooops 8-10 different options in Czech… Luckely i have picked up some of the language already and noticed the words for credit card (Platebni karta) and picked that queue ticket.
Well done, after some more queueing i managed to pay using my visa card. Now over to the next stop where i had to wait for my number to be called so i could pick upp my stuff.

The story would have been over here, if it wasn’t for the fact that i had received the wrong item… Yes you guessed right, more queueing. This time to reclamations who noted that yes i had received the wrong part and that they didn’t know when they would be restocked. So now he gave me a note to bring with me to the cashier and…
Here i think the clerk noticed the desperation in my eyes so he said “Don’t queue, just walk up to the service desk!”.

So things are improving here inch by inch! Clerks are finally getting service minded!

Or maybe thats what the czechs do all the time, it just took me almost 20 years to understand the system…