Tanzania Lines (aka rugby scrum) and episode 4 of Tiny House Tanzania
This week I am back with a conversation about waiting in lines here in Tanzania and then episode 4 of Tiny House Nation.
I think the best description I have heard about Tanzania lines is that they are like a rugby scrum where everyone locks up and tries to push the pile one way or the other. It is common here to come into a place of business or especially a government institution and walk directly up to the counter or person seated at a desk and hand them your paperwork or start discussing your issue regardless of the person they are currently helping or the mass of people waiting to get to the front.
For example at the gas station, the motorcycles and tricycles and people carrying empty cans just walk right up to the gas attendant and expect immediate service despite the line of 4 trucks. (By the way all gas stations here operate on the gas attendant system to make sure everyone pays).
That image above is common when I go to fill up. That is four motorcycles, one van, 15 cans from pedestrians and two tricycles jumping line at one time and one attendant to cut on the pump.
This happens at the Tanzania Revenue Authority, post office, barber shop you name it. It also happened at the bank while I was trying to get an account set up. At the counter they have the normal bank method of controlling access with the flexible webbing between posts however people just go in and out of the line as they please, and go up to the counters to try and jump in front of everyone. The big difference between here and the US, is they survive that action. In the US, everyone in line would give them a piece of their mind. Not here.
It causes a lot of problems. For instance the people who are helping with accounts never get to deal with just one customer at a time, often 4 or 5. They never get to finish paperwork before they have to do something else. And everything here is done through paperwork still so the papers just sit around. Often you have to go back several times to get a problem resolved because of the number of times they get interrupted and put your paperwork in the wrong place.
Ok that was my gripe for the week.
This week I was plastering the walls. I hope you enjoy my example of peanut butter consistency because I am sure some of you hate that phrase as much as I do from DIY shows.
https://youtu.be/AsmEb8VgbZ8
I think the best description I have heard about Tanzania lines is that they are like a rugby scrum where everyone locks up and tries to push the pile one way or the other. It is common here to come into a place of business or especially a government institution and walk directly up to the counter or person seated at a desk and hand them your paperwork or start discussing your issue regardless of the person they are currently helping or the mass of people waiting to get to the front.
For example at the gas station, the motorcycles and tricycles and people carrying empty cans just walk right up to the gas attendant and expect immediate service despite the line of 4 trucks. (By the way all gas stations here operate on the gas attendant system to make sure everyone pays).
That image above is common when I go to fill up. That is four motorcycles, one van, 15 cans from pedestrians and two tricycles jumping line at one time and one attendant to cut on the pump.
This happens at the Tanzania Revenue Authority, post office, barber shop you name it. It also happened at the bank while I was trying to get an account set up. At the counter they have the normal bank method of controlling access with the flexible webbing between posts however people just go in and out of the line as they please, and go up to the counters to try and jump in front of everyone. The big difference between here and the US, is they survive that action. In the US, everyone in line would give them a piece of their mind. Not here.
It causes a lot of problems. For instance the people who are helping with accounts never get to deal with just one customer at a time, often 4 or 5. They never get to finish paperwork before they have to do something else. And everything here is done through paperwork still so the papers just sit around. Often you have to go back several times to get a problem resolved because of the number of times they get interrupted and put your paperwork in the wrong place.
Ok that was my gripe for the week.
This week I was plastering the walls. I hope you enjoy my example of peanut butter consistency because I am sure some of you hate that phrase as much as I do from DIY shows.
https://youtu.be/AsmEb8VgbZ8
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