Unfortunately, the list of reason why we dislike living here in Croatia is quite incomplete, because there are of course a lot of minor things, which are either odd or just annoying. Many of these little things are mostly odd for us, because we are not used to them. For example, smoking inside restaurants, bars, cafes, and even on public transportation (yes, that happened even though isn’t allowed). I still remember the time when I turned 18 and it was still allowed to smoke inside and honestly I do not miss those times at all. The smell when you wake up after Saturday night was worse than the hangover. After getting used to non-smoky air inside cafes and restaurants, it was quite a shock when you realized people actually still smoke at a table next to you while you are trying to enjoy your pizza. Luckily, summer is still here and there is possibility to eat at the terrace.
Trashing. There is a little playground next to where we live and there it a trashcan every five meters, all together four of them. Nevertheless people think it is cool to throw their trash everywhere but to the trash cans. And those freaking cigarettes are everywhere!! I can hardly find there clean spot and parents let their children play there. I could understand if there were no trashcans around, then I could blame the city, but it just the ignorant and selfish people who don’t bother to move few meters to put their trash in the right place.
Customer service. I was working for over 8 years in customer service before starting my career in laboratory and this is still sore spot for me. In Finland, customer service is a bit of a pickle. Same time when Finnish people hate aggressive selling (and over-friendly salespeople), they also expect 5 star customer service. Therefore, almost anywhere you go, you get relatively good service. In Poland, I already saw the difference, but here in Croatia I have received at times exceptionally bad customer service. I think I have walked out of the store from here more often than ever in my life, because of total ignorance. It is quite shocking when local people complain that unemployment is a problem and same time those who actually have a job, don’t give a crap about it. It is funny enough that I am actually back at customer service work here in Zagreb, once again.
Our landlady. She is very nice and she speaks great English. It is just that here seems to be okay to tell that something will be taken care of, but never actually is. Every time we have had an issue and reported it to her, she promises to send “a master who will take care of the problem”. We don’t hear about it until we see her again. Although once she came to check the situation herself when we had a problem with the door. She was smashing a door frame with a hammer for good 10 minutes and when it didn’t help, she told that the “master will come later”. Master never came and we still have a problem with the door. Things which need to be fixed are slowly piling up and we probably find new apartment faster than get the old one fixed.
Slooooooooooooooooooooow cashiers. I never used to be fan of self-service cashiers, but after we moved out of Finland, I realized how fast and convenient it was to pop by in a store there. I do not know how paying takes so long time here and I can do it much faster by myself. Cash desks look same here as in Finland, and the rest of the world but people don’t seem to know how to use them. There is a reason why there is this divider in the middle of packing area, but the salespersons never use it. Meaning that after first customer pays, instead of starting to serve new customer, the salesperson has to wait until the first customer has pack all the items. And the packing of course starts after paying, not before even if there is full shopping cart to be beeped through the cashier.
Cash. It took me almost one month to start to carry cash here and make sure I don’t run out of it, because using credit card is not to be taken for granted. We have had few incidents when we had to go look for a cast machine when we were told that cafeteria takes only cash. We also couldn’t find even one restaurant in Slovenia on a way to Bled, which accepted card as a payment method. After being used to literally never carry cash in Finland, it was a bit odd to see how much people still use cash here. Now, I always have some Kunas with me, because situations where you need it might come as a surprise. At least I am no longer the girl who never has money at work.
Obviously, when I make my notes about these things, I can’t really complain. When things are compared with Finland and Croatia, cultural differences are not at the same level when you travel for example to India. Although, I wouldn’t probably move to India so traveling there just made me excited about the differences. Here these little odd or annoying things makes my life difficult daily. I am still aware of the fact we are lucky to be here, not only together, but also we have jobs and nice place to live. That is something to be grateful. And we are.
