Unit Standard number 119471
Use language and communication in occupational learning programmes
Please complete Activity 1: (Page 68-71)
THE TROUBLES OF SHOPPING IN RUSSIA
by Dev Murarka
A large crowd gathered outside a photographic studio in Arbat Street, one of the busiest shopping
streets in Moscow, recently. There was no policeman within sight and the crowd was blocking the
pavement. The centre of the attraction – and amusement – was a fairly well-dressed man, perhaps
some official, who was waving his arm out of the ventilation window of the studio and begging to be
allowed out. The woman in charge of the studio was standing outside and arguing with him. The man
had apparently arrived just when the studio was about to close for lunch and insisted upon taking
delivery of some prints, which had been promised, to him.
He refused to wait so the staff had locked the shop and gone away for lunch. The incident was an
extreme example of a common attitude in service industries in the Soviet Union generally, and
especially in Moscow. Shop assistants do not consider the customer as a valuable client but as a
nuisance of some kind who has to be treated with little ceremony and without much concern for his
requirements.
For nearly a decade, the Soviet authorities have been trying to improve the service facilities. More
shops are being opened, more restaurants are being established and the press frequently runs
campaigns urging better service in shops and places of entertainment. It is all to no avail. The main
reason for this is shortage of staff. Young people are more and more reluctant to make a career in
shops, restaurants and other such establishments. Older staff are gradually retiring and this leaves a
big gap. It is not at all unusual to see part of a restaurant or a shop roped off because there is nobody
available to serve. Sometimes, establishments have been known to be closed for several days
because of this.
One reason for the unpopularity of jobs in the service industries is their low prestige. Soviet papers
and journals have reported that people generally consider most shop assistants to be dishonest and
this conviction remains unshakeable. Several directors of business establishments, for instance, who
are loudest in complaining about shortage of labour, are also equally vehement that they will not let
their children have anything to do with trade.
The greatest irritant for the people is not the shortage of goods but the time consumed in hunting for
them and queuing up to buy them. This naturally causes ill-feeling between the shoppers and the
assistants behind the counters, though often it may not be the fault of the assistants at all. This, too,
damages hopes of attracting new recruits. Many educated youngsters would be ashamed to have to
behave in such a negative way.
Rules and regulations laid down by shop managers often have little regard for logic or convenience.
An irate Soviet journalist recently told of his experiences when trying to have an electric shaver
repaired. Outside a repair shop he saw a notice: 'Repairs done within 45 minutes.' After queuing for
45 minutes he was asked what brand of shaver he owned. He identified it and was told that the shop
only mended shavers made in a particular factory and he would have to go to another shop, four
miles away. When he complained, the red-faced girl behind the counter could only tell him miserably
that those were her instructions. All organisations connected with youth, particularly the Young
Communist League (Komsomol), have been instructed to help in the campaign for better recruitment
to service industries. The Komsomol provides a nicely-printed application form, which is given to
anyone asking for a job. But one district head of a distribution organisation claimed that in the last 10
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