Russians Wait The Longest

From the Moscow Times:
"At 27 Minutes, Russians Wait in Line the Longest"

People spend an average of 27 minutes waiting in line in Russia, longer than anywhere else in Europe, according to a new survey. Russia's dismal showing is mainly because of long lines at post offices and banks, as well as the fact that workers at places where Russians line up never do anything to reduce the lines, said Oksana Aulchenkova, head of the Nextep marketing company, which carried out the survey. Italy had the second worst result, with lines taking 14 minutes on average, while Sweden and Britain provided the fastest services, with two- and three-minute lines, respectively. The 18-country study examined lines in grocery stores, banks, post offices, drug stores, fast food restaurants, bus stops and train stations. The average time that Europeans spend in a line has doubled from five to 10 minutes since 2008, the survey said.

^ Having lived and visited Russia I can say first-hand that there is no such thing as Customer Service in Russia. I am not simply talking about dealing with the Russian Government (ie getting a visa, registering your visa and migration card, etc) since most Governments in the world have similar problems. Just going to a small store in Russia requires a lot of work and time. For the majority of stores you have to: go into a store and go up to a counter, then wait to have an assistant show you an item (everything is behind the counter,) then you have to go to the cashier (kassa) and wait to tell the person which section you want the item from and the price, then you pay. You then go back to the section and wait again for an assistant to take your "check" make sure it is correct and then get your item. This has to be done in each section of a store and that in itself takes forever. Then you move on to the next store and repeat the process. It is the same process at the bank when you want to change a foreign currency into Rubles.

I have gone to places (like the train station, post office, etc) and have waited in line a long time just to get up to the front and have the person put a sign in the window and walk away (they have decided to take a long break) and there is nothing you can do about it.

The system in Russia (especially trying to do basic, everyday things) is still based on that of the Soviet Union. While there are no longer rationed items or bare shelves the long lines still continue to plague the ordinary Russian. ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/at-27-minutes-russians-wait-in-line-the-longest/410025.html