Job Discussion Forums

[Sashadroogie]

Ah burasi Turkiye! How a nostalgic tear seeps from my eye! Garfield, you say? And no sound? Not even the awful dubbing? With lining such as this, who could quibble that the silver is a touch tarnished?!

[eclectic]

thanks, coffeespoon!

[dagi]

[quote="coffeespoonman"]Dagı, you're right. It's not Turkish. There's nothing Turkish at all about color printing. I should have said 'This is soooooo Turkish bureaucracy.'

Having never dealt with immigration in my own country, I can't comment, but it does seem particularly typical of Turkish bureaucracy to require things to be a certain way despite all logic. In what way is a color printout even vaguely necessary? For what reason does every office need 17 passport photos of me when they've already got a stack of them in the file they've been building on me for the last 4 years?

Again, you're right. Lokum is soooo Turkish. Ayvalık tost is soooo Turkish. Color photocopies have nothing to do with the Turkish people. A thousand apologies.[/quote]

Even colour printing is nothing specific Turkish. It's specific Immigration's bureaucracy.
This summer I had to visit the US embassy to apply for a visa and they top the Turks off when it comes to requirements for paper work. One has to pay 15� just to get an appointment for a starter.
I also have years of experience with Immigrations in the Netherlands and they equal in stupidty and lack of logic with the Turks and the Americans.
Really, that is nothing counry specific. IMHO the major requirement to work for immigrations is to be a complete tw*t!

[eclectic]

Dagi is right. Govts r right to hire blockheads to work in Immigation bcuz it will discourage people from going thru the pain in the ass process and it gets alot of high school dropouts working for a dollar an hour.

[fishmb]

I suppose the only thing country-specific about it is that we're in Turkey... So it seems to make sense to complain about Turkish bureaucracy when dealing with Turkish immigration, American bureaucracy when dealing with American immigration, etc.

[eclectic]

true.

[TeachEnglish]

The difference between the bureaucracy in some countries mentioned and Turkey is for those countries.. people are dying, killing themselves to get into.. and it is no excuse for their rudeness and stupid ways of doing things. Here in Turkey, the bureaucracy seems to be discouraging and meant to deter one from trying to be legal here, live here, work here, and spend money here. You would think the officials would try to make it a little bit more appealing for us foreigners to come here, live, work, and spend money. After all, isn't it usually about money anyway. The Turks are no strangers to trying to get every dollar, euro, pound or whatever out of foreigners, anyway they can.

[fishmb]

Seriously, I just went out to dinner at a touristy restaurant off Istiklal because my sister's visiting from the US and they brought us out at 1.5 L bottle of water and a bread basket, without us ordering it, and on the check they charged us 9TL for that one bottle of water and bread basket. They wouldn't do that to Turkish people because if they tried it they would know what's up and send it back, but they're perfectly happy to take advantage of people who don't know any better.

[fishmb]

And before anyone gets on a high horse, by "they" I don't mean the Turkish people. I mean the narrow section of the Turkish population who makes a living exploiting foreigners.

[eclectic]

well I woulodnt take that scheisse for a minute. I'd say "here's my cell phone, please call the police so we can discuss the charges Im bringing against you" to the waiter/manager.

[keitepai]

I doubt if the police would take any notice of you complaining (honestly). When I first came here I would say the same but now I know Istanbul I would expect the police to say "Well, if you didn't want it why didn't you say" It is basically your responsibility to stand up and shout at the time - it works very well unfortunately.

I am also due for a residence permit visit and must traipse in with the whole family with an 8:45am appointment. At least the kids might like the Garfield movie! Luckily the school rep seems to get us to the front of the queue very quickly.....I wonder how?!

[TeachEnglish]

I have been to places that are not even touristy.. off Bagdat Cadde. on the Asian side of Istanbul and my Turkish friend asked for a menu in English for me.. and the menu came with higer prices. I know of other restaurants in Sultanahmet where the yabanci prices and Turkish prices are different. This is common here but does not seem honest.

[fishmb]

keitipai is right. I'm slowly learning that you've got to really be vigilant and not be afraid to get mad and started shouting. You can't ever assume that anyone but you will be looking out for your best interests.

My Turkish friends will be telling me "Oh I got into a big fight with my boss today and really cussed him out." I'm thinking, wow, if anyone at any of the places I worked at in Oregon or Washington did that they would probably be fired. But for her, that's just how she let them know that she's really upset and serious about something, like having too many teaching hours. Sometimes it seems that if you aren't shouting you don't really care.

[coffeespoonman]

In my 4 years here, I've learned that if I don't discuss the price of something beforehand, I WILL be ripped off. When I forget to neogtiate beforehand, I am ALWAYS bitten by it. Unfortunately, at that point, after you've got your d�r�m in your hand or those t-shirts in a bag, it becomes very difficult to negotiate.

But I think it's not really about foreigners (I speak Turkish well enough, and it happens with my girlfriend too, and she's Turkish). I think, rather, it's about opportunity. Most Turkish people have learned that if they don't clarify prices before anything is agreed upon, they will get taken advantage of. It's just the way it's done here, and Turks are used to it. However, most foreigners aren't prepared for it (or can't negotiate because of their Turkish). I think that's why foreigners get ripped off more. Not because they're foreigners, but because they don't know the rules of the game.

[eclectic]

I can always let my new jersey a-hole personality out, skip the niceties and go into every situation involving money like a paranoid schizophrenic, thereby precluding any hint of a chance of a price being assumed or tacitly agreed to before I have actually said so clearly and loudly.