It’s not the first time we’ve had such a visit – so we went into “automatic mode” and asked – “where are your papers?”.  They fished out their ID-cards and so that part, at least, seemed OK … however, they didn’t have an order explaining what it was they were “investigating” or checking so it was case of “Come back when you’ve got one.”

The order should identify them and the issue being checked … then we know what information they need and we can provide it.  No problem – we’ll provide it, but if we are being asked to “follow the rules” and are going to face the possibility of penalties for “infringements” of the rules and regulations, then it only seems fair and logical to ask that the authorities do likewise.

Once the “check” is over they write a report, (called an Akt), and record their visit in the Inspections Book.  That “paper trail” Provides the proof that the visit took place … otherwise it’s just an “informal chat” …  and one of the problems with “informal chats” is there are no rules to govern them.

I am sometimes amazed that people think the ID-Card is enough … after all, it’s supposed to “identify” the person as working for this authority, or that. However, it’s not enough. Possession of an ID-card does not necessarily mean that they are the rightful owner – especially when they just flash it at you. Not everyone reads a card and I have to admit that, even of they let you read it, (because they are in Russian – or Kyrgyz), it can sometimes present me with problems.

On one particular occasion, a couple of “officials” approached me on the street and one of them flashed his ID at me.  I cursorily looked at it before he folded it up and put it back in his pocket – I looked OK, but I didn’t really make a note of the details, (name, official body, ID number and so on), During the ensuing conversation something “twigged” and started setting off “alarm bells” in my head.  I asked to see the card again and he refused … I said that as a public servant he had to present if and when asked and I wanted to write a note of the details … at that point he started “blabbering” something about being being trainees.  That was enough … I stopped and screamed at the top of voice, “Mitisia, Militsia, Mne noozhen Militsia!”  (Police, Police, I need the the police!).  That was enough for them … they turned and ran.

On another occasion, someone claiming to be an official turned up at the office and, before admitting him, I asked him for his ID card.  He gave it to me.  He actually handed it to me! Now, they are not supposed to do that … they are only supposed to hold it and let you read it … so, I told him that I didn’t believe him and to go away.  I turned around and went back into the office.  He did go away … and he never came back.

On a number of occasions, people have turned up claiming to be officials and when asked for the their ID card they shamefacedly reply that they … “don’t have it”.  It’s in the car, they left it at home or it’s in their “other suit”.  OK … no problem – come back when you’ve got it and then we’ll talk further.

These days, I am pleased to say – things are much better – more disciplined.  Visiting officials nearly always have their cards with them … and they are much more cooperative when showing it to us so that we can note the details and compare it with those on the official order.

As it happens, in this case, an informal chat seems to be exactly what they wanted.  It appears that a question had arisen back in their office about The Silk Road Lodge.  Someone had asked: “Who is the Silk Road Lodge?” and when they went looking they couldn’t find it registered … anywhere.  So, could it be that we were a “shadow” company – working in the “Grey Economy” without registration and paying our taxes … someone had decided to find out.   Hence the visit.

In a way, that struck me as quite funny.  It’s a five storey building in the center of Bishkek.  We have lots of corporate clients and government agencies who use our services It’s not really possible to hide the business.

When we said – “No wonder you couldn’t find us – there isn’t one,” a perplexed look appeared on the face of one of the visitors, and I think I detected a smile breaking out on the other and I could almost hear the anticipated “Aha! – I knew it.”

The smile soon disappeared, however, as we explained … “You looking for the wrong thing.   The Silk Road Lodge is not registered because it’s not a ‘legal entity’ – it’s a ‘department’ of The Celestial Mountains Tour Company – which is properly registered and does pay its taxes – in fact we are subjects of the Large Taxpayers Unit and have been ever since it was established.”

That’s basically all we were prepared to tell them without an official order.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with doing a check on registration and location – but it does need to be documented, or else there is no control.  Without following the proper procedures then anyone could just walk in and present themselves and who knows where that could lead?

Corruption – in the shadows

A few years ago I was asked to be a visiting speaker at a class in the American University of Central Asia, (AUCA). The class was part of a course on Business Studies and was titled Business Ethics.

At first I was reluctant to agree, because I thought they’ll want to hear about bribery and corruption … but talking to the lecturer that had set up the course, it was quite clear that he had a much wider, more inclusive view of what was meant by the phrase “Business Ethics” (… the need to act responsibly, fairly and justly in relation to customers (clients), employees, partners, the community, government, society as a whole – including the contribution that one could make to help the disadvantaged, and the environment … as well as to the investors and shareholders … that, although making a profit is important, the bottom line is not “all important” …) business so, in the end, I agreed.

As a theology student, many years ago, ethics was, in my opinion, perhaps the most important part the course.  The classes on Biblical texts, philosophy, the history of the church, comparative religion and so on, were all valuable in providing a background context … but it was in the classes on Ethics when the academic world intersected with the real world.

It is true that the questions of bribery and corruption did crop up, but the students obviously understood that these were just aspects of a much wider issue of behaving ethically – responsibly – in business.

As it happens, we hear a lot about bribery and corruption here in Kyrgyzstan.

Every year, since 1995, Transparency International publish a Corruption Perceptions Index and Kyrgyzstan and the country often appears near the bottom of the list: currently it is ranked as the 150th place (out of 177 countries and territories).

The President and other leading politicians often makes speeches about the need to combat Corruption and there are frequent reports of officials being arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency complete with estimates as to how much each case has cost the country.   There are, for example, a number of high profile investigations currently underway against the mayors and former mayors of Bishkek and several other cities – not to mention the ongoing dispute over the Kumtor Gold Mine.

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw a news report on the BBC website about the “breathtaking” levels of corruption – not in Kyrgyzstan, nor in Central Asia; not in the developing world but in, of all places, Europe.

The report by the European Commission examines the level of corruption in all 28 European Union countries and states that corruption is so rife that it is costing Europe about 120 billion Euros a year … and in addition to draining resources is eroding trust in democracy.

According to opinion polls, something like three quarters of Europeans considered corruption as “widespread”, more than half that it was increasing and 40% of the businesses surveyed described corruption as an obstacle to doing business in Europe.  In Sweden, (which is ranked 3rd by Transparency International, and so counts as one of the world’s countries almost free of corruption), 18% of the people surveyed said that they knew someone who received a bribe …

To many people, the word “corruption” is synonymous with “bribery“, but although this is perhaps the most common, obvious and visible form of corruption, in fact it is only one aspect. Corruption can involve doing something, (or not doing something), with a view to private gain – especially using a public office to influence events in favour of one party in return for some advantage – not necessarily financial.  Corruption can take several forms, of which bribery is just one … such as:

• the public official (traffic policeman, tax inspector, etc.) pretending to find an infringement of some rule (which is not necessarily that difficult given the way some laws and regulations are phrased) and then accepting a payment (bribe) to overlook the offence; … or
• the public official expecting, (demanding), and accepting payment (bribe) for signing a particular document (license, permission, etc.), or to decide a question in favour of the person making the payment;
• the official using the power and prestige of their office to obtain favours, property etc. that would not otherwise be given to them - known here as “abuse of power”; … or
• the official who uses information gathered in the course of his employment for other purposes -such as “insider trading”; … or
• a person involved in a procurement decision to a relative, friend or close personal associate, perhaps at an inflated cost; or
• the use of one’s position to allocate a relative, friend or close personal associate to a position of power, authority or influence, regardless of their ability or other personal qualities  - otherwise known as nepotism;
• … and so on.

The article, and the others I have seen on the report, which seem to concentrate on four main points:

• the existence of corruption in Europe: this seemed to come as a bit of a surprise … or maybe that was just how it struck me – after all two thirds of those in the survey considered corruption as “widespread”.  I was, however, reminded of:
  • a speaker in a one of the early IBC meetings – the International Business Council which represents the business community here in Kyrgyzstan – who expressed his surprise at the way that foreign businessmen seemed “surprised” when they encountered corruption here … “corruption is all over the world,” he said, “you have it home you just don’t acknowledge it until a particular case hits the headlines”.
  • in a recent presentation organized by the British embassy to explain the recent changes in the legislation enacted by parliament in Westminster and how it could/should/would affect doing business here in Kyrgyzstan, how one of the Kyrgyz speakers launched into a lecture about corruption in the UK – and, in particular, Britain was harbouring the son of the previous President whose name was used in Kyrgyzstan as a synonym for and a  personification of corrupt practices.
    .
• the scale of the problem: the figures resulting from the survey were indeed a surprise  - 12% of the people interviewed across Europe claiming to know someone who had take a bribe indicates that there is clearly a problem – but the fact that the figure for Sweden was actually 18% which raises a lot more questions … and what about the 40%, more than 50% and 75% that crop up elsewhere in the report.
  .
  I note that in the UK achieved the best result across the whole of Europe with the fact that only five people out of the 1115 people involved in the survey, (less than 1%),  said that they had been expected to pay a bribe … even so, 64% said that they believed that corruption was widespread in the country.  Personally, I was surprised that even five randomly chosen people could be found … but I have been out of the country fro a long time and … well … I suppose that things could have changed in that time.
  .
  There is a general impression that corruption is rife in Kyrgyzstan.  An article on the subject in one of the local (government), newspapers, (Slovo Kyrgyzstana - the Word of Kyrgyzstan), ran under the headline “When was the last time you took a bribe?, … or paid one?”  It is often said that court decisions can be bought, that official posts (tax and customs posts, jobs in the traffic police … even the Governors of oblasts or government Ministers) are “sold” by those in authority.  It was allegations such as these, (amongst other things), which helped to bring about the two Revolutions which led to the downfall of the first two Presidents of the new country.
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• the difficulty of detection: because corruption is illegal, it is hidden and conducted in secret – in the shadows … which means that it can be difficult to detect and for us to be certain of the actual overall cost, or damage, that it represents.
  .
  Even though estimates for such figures exist, they are exactly that – estimates … but unlike statistics it is not possible to calculate “levels of significance” or “confidence limits” that enable us to feel any real conviction in their accuracy.In Europe, it is said there are not enough investigators or auditors employed to monitor and regulate, the situation – especially when it comes to the vast budgets of certain departments and programmes operated by the institutions of the European Commission.
  .
  At least here in Kyrgyzstan, we don’t seem to suffer from a lack of agencies or manpower in this respect … as there seems to be a wide variety involved in the investigation and monitoring of public bodies and finance … although one might ask questions about their efficiency and effectiveness … indeed, such questions are often raised.
  .
  To make matters worse, there is a semantic problem … as in, when does a mistake, (a procedural error or an error in judgement), become an example of corruption … where is the demarcation between fraud and corrupt practices … some of the examples quoted in the articles that I read could be classified differently.
  .
• .what to do about it: the report suggests that better controls codes of conduct and standards of integrity need to be in place – especially in regard to procurement practices and financing of political parties … in particular they recommended better enforcement of rules covering potential “conflicts of interest” and improving the variable quality of investigations and audit dealing with across the community – and a hint that additional resources needed to be allocated to support the work of the institutions that are trying to tackle the problem.
  .
  Some countries came in for special comment – especially Bulgaria, Italy and Romania – in particular with respect to judicial procedures and measures for dealing with organized crime.
  .
  One word that crops up several times is transparency – the more open everything is then the more difficult it will be for people to nefarious goings on secret.
  .
  Perhaps the one “one liner” that jumped off the screen was a quote from Cecilia Malmstroem, the Home Affairs Commissioner for the European Union: “The political commitment to really root out corruption seems to be missing.”
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  If we judge solely by the public statements made by politicians, then that’s not an issue here … every politician, it seems, has taken a public stance against and condemns wholeheartedly all forms of corruption … but I suppose there is a tendency to agree with Mandy Rice Davies and conclude “Well, they would say that wouldn’t they.”
  . 
  There was a bit of a hiccup when a bill was presented to the parliament that would have abolished the statute of limitations for serious crimes – for example treason … but including corruption (although, to be honest, I haven’t seen the wording of the bill so I am not sure how they define corruption in this context).  Much hyped, there was a stunned shocked silence when it was announced that the bill had been voted down … followed by telltale winks and murmured comments like “well, of course … looking after themselves …”.  Fortunately, not everyone was silent and some of the deputies that had not been present during the session had had their vote recorded … against the bill when, they said, they were in favour.  They called for a re-vote which eventually was granted with the result that the bill sailed through with only a single figure of votes cast against it.  The cynic might well think that some people sensed the public outrage expressed in those winks and murmurs … another way of looking at it is to wonder at the scale of shenanigans represented in the original vote … but, the important thing is that the bill was passed.
  .
  (Incidentally, there is another issue – no that a precedent for a re-vote has been set … has this opened a floodgate for chaos so that we will see further examples in the future … one reason (and perhaps a valid one) a deputy gave for voting against a re-ballot.).
  .
  There is a saying, however, that “actions speak louder than words” and so, it seems to me, we have to look not at what people say, but what they do.  To be fair, there are a lot more examples of people in positions of authority being brought to book for inappropriate, improper or “corrupt” actions … with some going to court and resulting in serious penalties … so maybe things are improving in that respect.
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  Perhaps, on the other hand, this is missing the point.  The really crucial point is to ask what is perhaps the most powerful question of all: Why?  If there is a general agreement that corruption is both wrong and harmful … the why is it so prevalent?, so “breathtakingly widespread”?.
  .
  Apart from the most obvious answer: Greed – there is another, more cynical, one which is probably that, simply … it works.  You have, for example, a problem – well, a small “gift” … and it’s solved.
  .
  It strikes me that what is needed is not just a commitment from “on high” – what could be described as a “Top-Down” approach, but also “from below” – a “Bottom-Up” approach.  We need to convince the population as a whole that corruption is wrong, harmful … and in order to that, we need to demonstrate how, in fact, it does not work.  It may appear to resolve problems in the short term but builds up far greater problems for the future.

To whom it may concern …

About a month ago I received a phone call from one of your offices  and was asked if they could send me some literature. I said that they could send me if they so wished but I thought it was a waste of time because I was not interested in following the stock market.

About ten days ago the brochure arrived and I perused it.

I then received a phone call from one of your brokers where a particular stock was mentioned and an offer to buy shares was put to me. In all the conversation the caller was very polite … but persistent. He kept using my first name as if we were “old pals” – presumably in an attempt to establish a rapport … and he seemed to have a habit of ending sentences at “crucial” points in the conversation with a question – which I understood to be attempts at creating a “call to action”.

Several times throughout the conversation, however, I repeated the point that I was not interested in following the stock market. In the end, he seemed to accept this position – at least, at the time, I got the impression that he did – especially when he said that he “understood and respected” my point of view.

Today, I received another phone call from another of your brokers who tried once again to interest me in the same deal, asking if I had been following the news and that the share price had already shown a significant growth. I said, once again, that I was not interested in following the stock market … but he continued to outline the deal and ended with: “that will involve a commitment of around ten dollars, I am sure you can handle that, can’t you?”

I pointed out that this was now the third time that I had told a representative of the company that I was not interested.

It was at that point that he said, “There is no need to get angry,” I don’t think I was, I was simply pointing out that this was the third time that I had told a representative of your company that I was not interested in following the Stock market.

He then went on to say that “he would not waste his valuable time” talking to me any further and hung up … Oh, to be fair, he did wish me a good day.

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Can I point out that:

• I took three “cold calls”, (I hadn’t requested them, I wasn’t expecting them, and they had interrupted me in the course of my working day when I was attending to other business);

• Two of the calls were quite lengthy;

• That in the course of each I tried to explain that I am not interested in following the stock market and that

• Apart from, (at the very last moment), they all attempted to prolong the discussion and persisted in trying to persuade me otherwise.

• The final caller, in my opinion, spoke to me rudely – not just curtly – and seemed not to respect my “valuable” time.

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I am not going to mention names of the individuals concerned – although they all identified themselves at the beginning of the calls, I didn’t make notes, or keep the notes that I did make. If you are interested I presume they keep records and that you can find out.

Personally, I am not certain that cold calls like this are a good way for you to generate business … oh, it obviously works or else you wouldn’t waste your “valuable” time and do it … but I am not sure that making a decision under, what appeared to be an attempted “high powered pressure” telephone sales call … by operators/brokers/whatever who don’t listen to what their potential clients are telling them.

If they are indeed successful in generating business for you, then can I ask you to at least train your staff better.

• I suggest you tell them, for example, to avoid challenging the potential client with phrases like “I’m sure you can manage that, can’t you?” Apart from the rudeness of the approach, if they “fall for it”, are such people going to be “good” clients? the sort of clients that you want to encourage?

• Above all, can I ask you to tell them to listen to the person at the other of the telephone – whom they have just called and interrupted, and who may not think that the great “deal” that they are being offered is necessarily the right thing for them.

• As is often said in another context “No means No”. I do accept that, in the initial call I was asked by the caller if she could send me some the literature … and I suppose that it might have been better if I had said outright “No – don’t bother”. I am sure, however, that you will be aware that “No” is a very strong word, it is “Final” and as such is to be used sparingly … and that many cultures have ways to avoid using it. Train them to recognize “No” in its different forms.

• Remind them that although their time may be valuable, to them – that our time is also valuable, to us.

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Incidentally, I haven’t yet mentioned the fact that the last two callers both referred to what I think could be considered “privileged information”, concerning a contract that had been signed which would “drive the price up” once “it was made public” … leaving me with a nagging doubt about the possibility of “insider dealing”. However, I accept that as I am not interested in following the stock market, (as I have already said three times to three different people in three different phone calls – this is now the fourth occasion when I say it), that my understanding of the phrase, (and what the legal implications might be), could well be at fault.

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Finally, please can you take note that I am not interested in following the stock market – and remove my name from whatever lists of potential clients that you maintain.

Obviously one of the things that wrankled with me was the way the last caller said that he wouldn’t waste any more of his “valuable time”.   If he had said that he wouldn’t “take any more of your valuable time”, (that is, MY time), then it would have come across as a normal courtesy or etiquette – and the worst it could have been interpreted as, would have been sarcasm.

 There were, however, a couple of other points about the conversations that struck me:

There was a marked difference in approach between the last two callers … While both could be said to be appealing to natural human greed, (stressing the impressive rate of return on the investment), the first took a fair amount of time trying to persuade me that he was offering me a good deal explaining that he was interested in forming “a long term relationship”.  The last caller, on the other hand, was almost “aggressive” in his questioning … and it wasn’t just the “I am sure you can handle that, can’t you?”

The thing that struck me as most odd about the whole situation, however, is that they seemed to be targeting successful businessmen and yet seemed to make no allowances for this in their approach.

They had certainly done some homework, (or at the very least they had a bought a list of people who might  be potential clients), because they not only knew my name but also quoted details about the company.

And, they weren’t talking about small sums of money, (ten thousand dollars was not the smallest sum mentioned in the conversations – but then, neither was it the largest).

Despite all this, they didn’t seem to consider that we might also have read the same training manuals, or attended similar courses in marketing and sales.

Paper Free Day is held annually on the fourth Thursday of October

Today, the fourth Thursday in October, is a another one of those special days: Paper Free Day.

It’s the fourth time that AIIM (the Association for Information and Image Management – a global, non-profit organization that provides independent research, education and certification programs for people that they term “information professionals”), have organized such a day.

It’s a day with which I have a lot of sympathy.

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Although that’s the title of the day the emphasis of the campaign is really best summed up as: “Let us learn to use paper efficiently!”; to demonstrate by citing examples of how, and with what technologies, each organization can contribute to the conservation of natural resources whilst improving it’s efficiency and effectiveness … bring benefits to both nature and also to business.

Although it is simple to think the day is all about saving trees … it’s not … or, at least, not exclusively … it’s also about improving processes, productivity, cost savings, customer service & engagement, the reduction of risks … AIIM claims that its research aims to show how less paper in the workplace can deliver significant benefits.

They claim, for example, that their findings show:

• over the past 20 years, paper consumption increased by about 26%
• eliminating paper from processes can improve the responsiveness of customer service by 300 percent.
  They argue that moving content to PCs and tablets has the added advantage of helping companies adopt mobile-enabled processes and eliminate elapsed time, lost forms, poor data and re-keying.   To effectively mobile-enable processes and reduce reliance on paper, data should be captured as close  as possible to the point of origin, which makes information easily available to whomever needs it, wherever they are, in the shortest time possible.
• saving or recycling a ton of paper allows you to “save” the 17 trees, 26,000 liters of water, 3 cubic meter of land, 240 liters of fuel and 4000 kW/h of electricity.

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In a “previous life” I was a teacher of Computing and Information Technology and one year I wrote to an exam board with a comment about one of the questions on an exam paper which I considered to be badly worded, vague and even misleading.  I got an interesting reply … thanking me for my interest, pointing out that although the question had passed a scrutiny committee, I did, perhaps, have a point and the examiners would take my comments into consideration when looking at the papers submitted by candidates.

Then came the sting in the tail … would I be interested in writing questions for the exam? … or, at least, consider participating in the examinations process.   Spurred on by this suggestion, when I saw an advert for applications to be a marker, I wrote off and applied together with my CV.  I wasn’t expecting to be successful, (after all, my degree was in Theology and the Psychology of Education), so I was surprised when I was invited to join a team of examiners and go on a training course.  That was the start of a long and varied work over several years as an examiner … and at several different levels.

It was fascinating work, but I almost queered my pitch in the first year.  The question paper on a Computer Studies paper asked candidates to name three things that would expect to find in an “electronic office” – 3 marks.  We were told to accept answers like telephone, an electric typewriter (but not just “typewriter” on its own) and a photocopier.  I was incensed.  This wasn’t an answer suitable for a Computer Studies paper … although I conceded that it might have been appropriate for a Business Studies or Office Studies examination, but the phrase Electronic Office was already widely used to refer to things like Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Databases, E-mail … and maybe Internet Browsers or Graphics packages … and so on.  If we accepted answers like Telephone and electric typewriter then we should accept Mouse, Keyboard and Monitor, Printer, Modem and Switchboard … basically almost anything  … which would mean that candidates could get almost certainly get three marks simply for writing an answer in the space provided.  It did nothing to test the candidates knowledge and understanding of the subject.

The discussion was long and heated … and all over just three percent … but, for me, it was a point of principle.  I lost that argument … and another one, although we didn’t spend as long on it.  The question on the exam paper was “Give three advantages of using computers in offices (3 marks)”.  One of the Chief Examiner’s specimen answers was “Saves paper”.

I wasn’t convinced then – and I am definitely not convinced now.

If anything, I think that computers have actually increased the amount of paper produced … as

• people print drafts to see what they look like … and then
• make changes and print the latest version …
• get the layout and the margins wrong so end up printing another copy.  It’s so easy to edit on a computer and you just have to “press a button” to get a copy … it’s painless and a great temptation to “over edit”;
• accounting systems and so forth will always require printed copies
• … and so on

It may well be that computers have introduced innovations which have enabled us to do far more than we used to be able to do, using electronic documents to exchange information, (for example over the internet, by email, SMS messages, electronic books and readers like Kindle and Nook, … and so forth …), many of which are never printed … so, in that way at least, the Chief examiner may have had a point  …

The fact remains that we use an awful lot of paper … and this usage is a “built in” part of the systems that have origins that predate the development of Information Technology …

For example … when we set out to buy something it requires some pieces of paper …

• a request which has to be approved
• a petty cash slip recording the fact that the cash has been dispersed from the kassa
• a receipt from the supplier for the money handed over as part of the purchase
• an accounting slip to record the fact that money was dispersed and it’s use has been properly and duly accounted for

Even a bank transaction requires paper …

• two copies of a payment order (one for the bank and one for our records);
• an accounting slip to record the bank charges levied for making the transaction  - two copies, one for the bank’s records and one for us),
• regular statements and a reester (register)

If there is Value Added Tax, (VAT), involved then at least two more pieces of paper are produced – two copies of the VAT invoice, (one for the supplier and one for the purchaser), which can be checked by the tax authorities to ensure that the government are receiving the appropriate income for the budget.  But there is even more because the system seems to be designed by paper manufacturers as a “job creation scheme” requiring more and more reports to make the system work.

There is a call for lots of printouts of transaction registers or reports – “… hey, it is so easy to produce reports and they may be extremely helpful for checking (auditing) or for planning purposes … so let’s do it.”

A few years ago I counted that my accountant had to produce almost four hundred reports for the authorities … monthly reports, quarterly reports, annual reports … many of them several pages long.  In addition to gathering the information and formulating the report in the proscribed format, (which all takes time), she also had to go to the office and queue in order to see an official and hand it over, getting a stamp on her copy to confirm that she had actually done so.

To be fair, the situation changes from year to year – some reports are discontinued … but others are added.  Also, there is now the possibility to send some of the reports to the authorities in electronic format … by email … but that also presents potential problems.

It’s also ignoring the possible presence of a contract, a doverrenost (power of attorney authorizing someone to receive the goods – and even to receive a copy of the VAT invoice), a delivery note to record the fact that the goods have been accepted into the assets or the stock owned by the company and an inventory card to record it’s presence and eventual disposal.

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Every year we have to provide certain authorities copies of our basic documents: our company charter, a copy of our certificate of registrations with the Ministry of Justice, the tax authorities, the social fund … and some other documents, (for example a letter from the tax authorities saying that we have no debts before the budget)..  They are put into a physical file which is used to hold data about our company for the coming year.

I once said to an official. “Why do you need a new copy? …  there have been no changes, they are the same as last year” …  His answer was that last year’s copies were put into the archive … and so they needed new ones for this year.  OK – I could see some logic in that, but it did seem to be “over kill”

I am not sure that I saw the logic behind the next situation, which is one of my favourite stories about the mindless bureaucracy that calls for duplication of copies … I had been elected as president for the Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators and we set about establishing an office for the organization.  Of course, we needed a telephone and internet access … so the General Secretary and I trotted off to the offices of one of the service providers and sat in a queue for our turn to see the official who would open the necessary accounts for us.

She needed a copy of the Charter, certificates of this, that and the other … and, fortunately we had all that ready and prepared.  As she named one document we placed the copy in front of her – she checked it, ticked a box on the form and moved on.  So far, so good.  We now had a telephone line arranged and would be connected within a couple of days.

“We also need internet access”, we said.  ”oh,” we were told, “that’s a different department – you need to go over there”, she said pointing to another desk on the other side of the rather large hall in which we were sitting.

“Oh, OK”, we said and trotted off to join another queue.  When it was our turn, the clerk asked what he could do for us … we told him that we wanted to arrange an internet connection. n “No problem,” he said, “but first we need …” and started to go through the same list of documents.  ”You’ve got them …”, I said.  He looked at me as if I was crazy … “No, I haven’t.”  ”Yes, you have – they are over there …” I said pointing to the official we had just given them to.  ”Oh no, he said, that a different department … we need a copy as well.”

“You have got to be kidding … just check that they are all there and put a note in the file to say where they can be found.”   “Sorry, but I need copies”, was all that he said.  So I responded, “We are talking about internet access – information technology in the twenty first century – and you filing system is stuck in the nineteenth century.  This does NOT fill me with confidence.”  He wouldn’t nudge from his position, so I said “Forget it – we’ll see if we can find a service provider who has made the transition to the modern world.”

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I accept that some paperwork is necessary … and I do seem to accumulate a lot.  Once, of my friends sat in my office and looked at the piles of paper on my desk and commented on how I obviously “loved paper”.  I assured him that it wasn’t true … but I needed all the paper in order to do my work.

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That’s one way of putting it, but is it the best option

I’ve said it before … and, no doubt, I will say it again, and again: “Every day is a special day for somebody.”

It may be their birthday or an anniversary, … or it may be a public holiday or a religious festival, … or it may be a specially designated day which is intended to focus public attention on to a particular issue, … or it may be, what is sometimes called a Hallmark Day – an opportunity for manufacturers of greeting cards, florists, confectioners etc. to increase sales by targeting specific groups … and here in Kyrgyzstan we have inherited a system of professional holidays designed to commemorate and celebrate the work of those who work in a specific field.

Now, the people of Kyrgyzstan love to take any opportunity to hold a celebration, so these Professional Holidays rarely pass unnoticed … The President, Prime Minister  and Speaker may issue statements “congratulating” those working in the field of whatever on their professional holiday, thanking them for their efforts and stressing how important they are even if, at times, this is not so obvious to the general population.  There may be special announcements in the media.

Most people will simply congratulate the appropriate people on their special day, although some may also give them small gifts: flowers, chocolates, perhaps a bottle of Vodka or Champagne.  Maybe people will go out for a meal or organize a party for themselves and their colleagues.

As well as our own list of officially approved days, we often “borrow” such days from places like Russia, as in the case of Programmers’ day, (September 13th – the 256th day of the year), which is officially recognized there – but not here … still, that doesn’t stop people from “congratulating” each other and celebrating.

Well, today is one such day that we haven’t adopted … yet … : Boss’s Day . Boss’s Day is a secular “holiday” which is celebrated on October 16 in the United States and Canada and is now also observed in countries as far apart as Australia, Egypt (albeit on December 10th), India, Ireland, and South Africa. It is also noted in Russia, (I first came across it on a Russian website – although they also have the professional holiday Day of the General Director on 28th September).

Unlike some of these “holidays”, we know a little bit of the background to this one. The idea apparently began in 1958, when Patricia Bays Haroski, (who was then employed at the State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois), registered the holiday with the United States Chamber of Commerce.   She chose October 16 as the date for this special day simply because it was her father’s birthday.

Interestingly, she was, apparently, working for her father at the time.  Hmmmm.

Her purpose was to designate a day to show appreciation for her boss and other bosses, (but, apparently, she also hoped to improve the relationship between employees and supervisors – which sounds as if, even if she had a good relationship with her bosses, it wasn’t necessarily a universal feature of life in that particular neck of the woods.  However, it is said that this day has traditionally been one for employees to thank their bosses for being “kind and fair” throughout the year.

Four years later, in 1962, the Governor of Illinois, Otto Kerner backed the initiative and officially proclaimed the day as an official professional holiday to be commemorated in the State.

Some time later, in 1979, Hallmark Cards adopted the holiday and produced a Boss’ Day card for sale and although I can’t find any production statistics, apparently the numbers they have sold has risen over the years.

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Now, with my varied background, (teacher, religious studies, psychology, mathematics, statistics, computing and information technology, trade unionist, tourism, hospitality, entrepreneur and businessman … boss), I have a range of professional holidays that I can choose between.

I am not sure, however, that I like the idea of celebrating “Boss’ Day” … it sounds a bit sycophantic.  On the other hand … it does seem to have some good points worth considering …

• it reminds us that basses should be “kind and fair” to their employees and subordinates … (a boss does not have to be an employer – they could simply be a supervisor);
• relationships are vital – there is a saying that working with people is the most difficult aspect of almost any and every job;
• bosses are just part of a team – they can’t do everything themselves and rely just as much on the efforts of their “subordinates” as their subordinates rely upon them and the decisions that they take;
• to get the best out of employees and subordinates they need to feel appreciated and respected;

Some people seem to think that being a boss is easy – you just have to sit back and take decisions.

Even if someone is the boss, they don’t have a monopoly on what is the right thing to do in any given situation – Oh, there may be times when it is necessary to say “No questions, no arguments, we’ll just do things my way”… for example, when a decision has been finally been reached, or it is a point of principle … but, generally, it is a recipe for disaster.

It may look like that – but being the boss carries an awful lot of responsibility as well as a lot of kudos.  A friend of mine has just started their own business and although they have worked in a senior position for several years, with overall responsibility for the day to day running of their department, they have never had the “final voice” – there has always been someone to fall back on for advice and to take ultimate responsibility for the “difficult decisions” … those that affect the business and the livelihoods of the people that they employ.

It’s an important skill to be able to seek out advice, to listen to different opinions and consider alternatives … then have the courage to make an informed decision that may, or may not, go against your initial reactions on the basis of what you have heard.

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Oh, yes … and

• even the boss needs to feel appreciated!

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So, "What's your best price?"

We had an inquiry the other day from a client who wanted a single room in one of the hotels.  They had stayed with us before pm a previous visit to Kyrgyzstan and were about to pay a return visit and wrote to ask about availability and if we could give him our “best price”.

Now, I know that a lot of people use this phrase – especially in the modern world where “everything is considered to be negotiable” … but, personally, I hate it … for several reasons … but more about that later.

As it happens, on this occasion we don’t have a single room available for the duration of his visit, so the receptionist wrote back offering one of the rooms that was available – however, a it was a more expensive option … and more than he had paid on his previous visits.  It’s understandable that his response was: “I don’t need a more expensive room – I need a standard single.”

It’s also understandable, I hope, that we didn’t have one and, (short of actually building a new one just for him), were unlikely to have one unless there was a cancellation of one the existing bookings.  As he had stayed with us before and was, presumably a satisfied client – after all, he was thinking of returning to us, when I heard about the situation I said to the receptionist to explain that, unfortunately, we didn’t have a single room available – but could offer him an upgrade to the more expensive at the same cost – with a discount which would mean that the price would be the equivalent of what he had paid on his previous visits.

It seems that didn’t satisfy him … and he came back asking us to improve on the offer.

Fair enough – after all, “everything is considered to be negotiable” and although I am, personally, not very keen on bargaining and bartering, it is a way of life in many parts of the world.  I have a friend who says that he never pays the “asking price” for hotel accommodation … and considers this as just the opening shot in a bargaining process.

Hotels don’t help themselves in this respect … many have complex price structures with different rates which apply to different types of clients, the occupancy level at the time, the method of booking – a “walk in”, telephone enquiry, on line using a booking agent and so on), and the prices can change from one moment to the next.

On one occasion I walked into a hotel in Britain and asked for a room and was told: “I can offer you a room – the normal rate is X pounds, but today I can offer it to you at Y pounds.”  In a way it’s a “sure winner” of an approach.  The guest is impressed at the “saving” they are making, (although they aren’t actually saving anything), whilst the hotel gets another guest and is still making a profit.  I can’t help thinking, however, that this makes the published rate a “lie”.   If everyone gets a discount then what is the point of publishing “rack rates”  (the official published rates).

It also devalues the principle of a discount – offered as a reward, a “thank you” for choosing us, to frequent guests, “long stay” guests, booking agents who place their clients with us, … and so forth, or as a marketing ploy or special promotion.

It also means that two people may be paying pay different prices, (sometimes substantially different prices), for the same thing.  That seems to me fundamentally wrong, unless there is a valid reason – like a discount.

Whenever someone, (for example, a supermarket or cafe) offers me a discount card I usually reply that I don’t want a discount, I want good quality at reasonable prices.  If they give everyone a discount, (well, maybe not everyone, but to lots of people), then that implies that the published price is too high and as a result I am always tempted to take my business elsewhere.

Many hotels work on the basis of a considerable mark-up … three or four times the cost-price of providing the room for the night.  One reason for this is quite simple – as well as having to cover the variable costs, (the cost of laundry, cleaning and consumables provided for the guest’s use), there are also fixed costs that have to be met … even when the hotel is empty – and although we can make assumptions about the level of occupancy, (and hence calculate how much to include in the price to cover them), they are just that – assumptions – and if the hotel overestimates the level of occupancy they still have to raise the funds to pay these expenses.

This has an advantage in that it gives the hotel greater scope to offer discounts – and some can be quite deep discounts.  One of the first enquiries that we had when we opened the hotel was a journalist who said she was looking for a “Press discount” of 50%.  In reply I said that I was sorry but I couldn’t match that because our mark up wasn’t so great and it meant that we would be letting the room at a loss – (which, incidentally, is not allowed under the tax code).  In retrospect, perhaps I should have ignored the tax code … maybe we’d have got a good write up, although she didn’t give us a bad review – in fact, she didn’t actually mention us in her articles – but I am not sure that is ethical.

Another person, who runs a large booking agency, looked astonished when I told him the same thing.  ”You don’t compete on rack rates,” he told me … “but on discounts.”  That may be true generally, I said, but we weren’t intending to compete on price … we are too small and, as a result, don’t benefit from the economies of scale that are available to larger hotels … so we intended (and still intend) to compete on providing a level of service as a small and friendly hotel providing a homely atmosphere, responsiveness, good internet speeds and so on.

I have written another postcard about our pricing policy with respect to tour activities, so let me explain our approach in respect to the hotels.

When we opened, we set our prices by calculating what we thought it would cost us to provide the services to the guest, which, perhaps, was higher than might be possible in other establishments, factored in a profit margin which allowed us to grant discounts … and then calculated the taxes that would be be due.

Now, nobody likes paying taxes, but I was taken aback on one occasion when a guest asked me, “Cant we do something about these taxes?” … to which I replied, “Do you want me to break the law?”   Actually I think taxes are a necessary fact of life and not just a legal obligation.  When I am asked for my opinion I point out that they are part of the social contract … if I want roads to be built, schools and hospitals to be provided, the borders to be guarded and emergency services to be available to assist when necessary – for example, when my office is broken into – then I have to pay for those services and taxes are one way of doing so.

We then asked ourselves “if the market would bear that?”, that is, would potential guests be prepared to pay that price? – and we thought so, yes … as indeed proved to  be the case.

We do the same each year – taking into account rising prices due to inflation, changes in tax rates, new services and so forth … always asking ourselves what “the reaction of the market” is likely to be.  sometimes we have increased prices – sometimes we have left them alone for another year … and on some occasions we have actually reduced them.

I come back to the question, what does “your best price” mean?  Presumably it means “the cheapest price” that we are prepared to offer although some High Street stores seem to seem to use it to suggest the lowest price available anywhere: “If you can find cheaper then we’ll refund the difference.”

If that is their marketing strategy, and they honour it, then that’s their choice and I respect them for it – but it requires generating a large volume of business in order to do so … and that’s something that’s just not available to us.  We have a limited number of rooms and high overheads that we have to cover in order to deliver the service.  We set a price that we think is fair and reasonable and let’s us meet those expenses.

In the end, however, it’s a “buyer’s market” and if their chief criteria is finding the cheapest option available then that’s their choice – and I’ll respect that too.

Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise

Today marks the anniversary of the first transmission of the cult science fiction series Star Trek on BBC TV, back in 1969.

The series had been proposed by Gene Roddenberry as early as 1964 and a pilot programme filmed in 1965.  It finally went on the air in the states in September 1966 and although it originally enjoyed high ratings it then started to plummet down the ratings.  It was finally cancelled after 79 episodes across three seasons.

Oddly enough, it had finished its run in the US before it actually crossed the Atlantic to take the Saturday evening spot vacated by Dr. Who … which is how I first came across it.

Both Dr. Who and Star Trek are part of my youth … and have important lessons for us, even today.

I am writing this at a time when I see that an overhaul of the English National Curriculum will involve pupils in studying more Shakespeare.   According to one report, all pupils will be required to learn at least two of the bard’s plays between the ages of 11 and 14 … although I see no reference to his poetry.

I can’t help wondering if this is simply a case of elitism and intellectual snobbery.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me … I enjoy Shakespeare … I remember, for example, laughing out loud when reading A Comedy of Errors for the first time …  being moved by Shylock’s plea for justice in A Merchant of Venice … the romantic pathos of Romeo and Juliet … and so on … but I have to admit that I do find many of the works difficult.  It strikes me as interesting that many productions are specially staged to be bring the stories into a new light – a new interpretation for the modern world – such as in Ian McKellen’s version of Richard III.

It’s not simply, however, a case of the fact that I think that children will find Shakespeare difficult to cope with … and even if that were the case, it’s not necessarily a bad thing for them to have to come to terms with and understand the huge impact that he has had in helping to shape the English language and our modern culture.

When I first came to Kyrgyzstan, for example,  one of my first experiences of Kyrgyzstan was meeting a sixteen year old who was wading through Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, I couldn’t help but be impressed, thinking to myself how difficult it must be.  Apart from the length of the novel, I know that I had found Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov as extremely heavy going and that was as an adult.  Despite that, I took the hint and found a copy which I duly read … only to be convinced that most sixteen year olds in Britain would have found it hard work.

I am sure that she got a lot out of the experience of reading Dostoevsky … but I am not sure that every sixteen year old I have met here would have coped as well … and I am certain that the kids would have struggled with one such book – yet alone two … or more..

I just wonder if there isn’t something more contemporary and relevant.

When first arrived in Kyrgyzstan I knew virtually no Russian, (I joke that knew just six words … Da, Nyet, Pravda and Izvestia, Glasnost and Perestroika – Yes, No, Truth and Well Known – two of the Soviet newspapers, Openness and Restructuring – the planks of Gorbachev’s reforms in the late 1980′s).  As a result I was taking an intensive course of Russian lessons every day.

One day my teacher turned to me and asked me about what sort of books I enjoyed … it was in a Russian lesson – so the conversation was all in Russian.

I replied that I enjoyed all sorts of books and tried to vary the genres: historical, science fiction, contemporary, factual, and so on.  She followed up by asking me about my favourite authors and why I liked particular books as opposed to others … and remember, this was all in Russian … “pigeon Russian” because I was still learning.

One of the important things I looked for in a book, I said, was that I wanted to be stimulated – to learn something.  I didn’t want to be simply entertained but to be challenged in some way.

Now, to be honest, there are indeed times, (like on a Friday night after a long and tiring week), when all I want to do is put up my feet and relax … watch some nonsense on the TV, (perhaps a sitcom), and turn off … but even then I often find that even in the midst of nonsense there is something to be learned or gained.

As a school teacher, I always made a point of picking up books which were being read in English lessons by my class … Stig of the Dump, Cider with Rosie, The Catcher in the Rye and so on.  Sometimes it helped me understand what they were talking about.

So, when I first came here, and

Even so, some fairly populist works can teach us a lot – if we are prepared to look for the lessons … even in Star Trek.

Yes, even Star Trek …

Also, as one commentator has put it, “Star Trek,  is packed with other people’s stories, be it highly inventive retellings of Greek classics, verbatim performances of Sherlock Holmes and even, it turns out, many examples of Shakespeare’s plays being appropriated and adapted to the twenty-fourth century.”

He continues, “Imagine what the English language will sound like 400 years into the future; imagine how the works of Gene Roddenberry will sound to readers then. Will they be any more “highbrow” because they’re old?” … concluding with a definite ” Certainly not.”

That’s not to say, however, that the stories are without value.

I was interested, for example, last year to see an article in Forbes magazine: Five Leadership Lessons From James T. Kirk.  It attracted quite a lot of attention and comment … some more positive than others.

Each “lesson” was supported by a quote from the script and an explanation Basically, they were:

1. Never stop learning: “You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, an irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown– only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.” … We need to keep exploring and learning … The more knowledge you have, the more creative you can be. The more you’re able to do, the more solutions you have for problems at your disposal
2. Have advisers with  different points of view: “One of the advantages of being a captain, Doctor, is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it.”  … We need to ensure that we encourage creativity and innovation by listening to the advice of people with vastly different opinions. Weak leaders surround themselves with yes men who are afraid to argue with them. That fosters an organizational culture that stifles creativity and innovation, and leaves members of the organization afraid to speak up. That can leave the organization unable to solve problems or change course. Organizations that allow for differences of opinion are better at developing innovation, better at solving problems, and better at avoiding groupthink. 
3. Be part of the Away Team: “Risk is our business. That’s what this starship is all about. That’s why we’re aboard her.” ….  It’s easy to trap yourself in the corner office and forget what life is like on the front lines. When you lose that perspective, it’s that much harder to understand what your team is doing.  We need to occasionally get down in the trenches with the members of our teams so we understand their needs and earn their trust and loyalty.
4. Play Poker, Not Chess: “Not chess, Mr. Spock. Poker. Do you know the game?” Chess has its place, but life is a game of probabilities, not well defined and rigid rules. And often understanding your opponents is a much greater advantage than the cards you have in your hand.  We need to understand the psychology of our competitors.
5. Blow up the Enterprise: “‘All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.’ You could feel the wind at your back in those days. The sounds of the sea beneath you, and even if you take away the wind and the water it’s still the same. The ship is yours. You can feel her. And the stars are still there, Bones.” … even if we are driven by a passion and commitment, we still need to learn to radically change course when circumstances dictate … no matter how painful it is, to “blow up the Enterprise”, change what isn’t working and embark on a new path, .
   

I am quite sure that, if he put his mind to it, then Alex Knapp, the author could have come up with a number of other examples … but may have been handicapped by a word limit and the fact that it seems to have been part of an on-going series, including:

• Five Leadership Lessons From Jean-Luc Picard
• Five Leadership Lessons From Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy
• Five Leadership Mistakes Of The Galactic Empire
• The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Hobbits

not to mention the more general articles:

• Workplace Leadership Tips
• Good Leadership Skills
• Corporate Team Building Activities
• Innovative Leadership Styles

As Knapp said in his closing paragraph:

In his many years of service to the Federation, James Kirk embodied several leadership lessons that we can use in our own lives … By following these lessons, we can lead our organizations into places where none have gone before.

Whether we agree or disagree with Knapp’s argument … my point is that the stories can provide a challenge and stimulus for thought and learning … for those that have ears to hear and eyes to see.

Hardly surprising News

From my regular scanning of the news sites on line, I came across an item reporting the results of a survey conducted in Britain … with the headlilne declaring that “Cold calls and spam emails top the list of ‘bugbears of modern life’“.

Although the list of the top 50 irritants did contain some interesting and mildly surprising items, those at the top of the list came as no surprise – to least, not to me.

The trouble is that cold calls and spam emails, (and for that matter, most of the items on the list), are not limited to Britain and are commonly found here as well.  It is as if in an attempt to learn from the West, people have adopted some of the less appealing aspects of the free market economy instead of applying  discerning approach and learning from our mistakes.

This last couple of weeks, for example, I have taken a number of calls from sales operatives, all of whom are convinced of the value of whatever it is they are offering – which is right and proper – but their attempts to put pressure on me to make an instant decision to buy does not go down very well … at least not with me – maybe they have more success with others.  The trouble is, I don’t respond well to high power, high pressure sales pitches – if anything they tend to turn me off.  I don’t like making “instant decisions” but like to consider the question from several angles, the possible alternatives, implications for the future, and so on …

Please don’t misunderstand me … it’s not the phone calls in themselves that I object to, per se.

After all, it represents just one form of advertising, one method for them to put their products or services before an audience of potential customers … and unlike most of the spam which I receive, could be considered as being relevant to my business in some way or another … whereas most of the spam I receive is totally irrelevant!.  The am of the “spam marketer” is simply to put their message in front of as many people as possible – after all, that’s what they are paid for – not converting those “sightings” into sales.

One of the advantages of the telephone call is that you are talking to a person – so there is some form of interaction … and it is a sign of commitment – there is cost, which is not inconsiderable when compared with that of sending out several thousand emails in a “blunderbuss approach”.

However, I have problems with the techniques employed by these cold calls.  I didn’t ask them to call and although I may be interested in what they have to offer, the first thing I need is information – so why is it they are reluctant to send me details … oh, no, they would rather talk to me on the phone – taking my time, (distracting me from what I was doing), and theirs … not to mention the cost of the phone call (… o.k., that might be minimal, for example, in the case of a call from here in Bishkek – but some people call from abroad – from Moscow or from London, for example).

Often, when the caller is from Bishkek, they say something like, “We would like to meet with you to explain our offer, when would that be possible?” … Hang on, hang on … you may well want to meet with me – but do I want to meet with you?   Give me a reason why I should … send me some information about what you are offering so that I can judge whether it is relevant for me and my business.

If it is relevant and seems appealing then you will have attracted my attention and I will follow up, call you back to ask for more information … and that’s when you try the “sales pitch”.

One of the reasons for requesting a meeting is that they happen to have a foreign “expert” visiting at the moment – and “he can explain far better and in more detail …” – or does that simply mean he’s more convincing – more technical – and more able to “pull the wool over my eyes” …

Then, concerning that meeting, “of curse, we can come to you, but it would be better if you could come to us …”.  Excuse me, but you are asking to see me … you want to see me … so you should come to me.  Why should I have to make special arrangements?  One salesman answered that by saying, “so that you can see that we are a solid well established company, and not a fly-by-night operation.”  Hmmm … maybe … but … we can deal with that later, when I have decided that I am interested and want to pursue your offer.

Perhaps the worst example I have come across recently was the attempt to sell me a course.  It took the form of three phone calls,  on three consecutive days …

In the first, the caller identified themselves and the firm they were working for – OK, that’s a good start.  She then said that they were conducting a survey about doing business here in Kyrgyzstan and started with a totally pen ended question : what problems do you face?  During the five minutes or so of conversation she kept trying to bring the conversation round from what I was saying to the question of sales and salesmanship … yes, I do think that is a problem – without sales there’s no business, but there are other more fundamental issues, I replied.  At the end of her allotted time she hurriedly thanked me for my time … OK, Good, and said that I had given her a lot of useful information and raised several important issues … and rapidly drew the conversation to a close.

It struck me as an odd phone call, and not like a survey … apart from the opening question she didn’t really have any others … just a general attempt to raise the question of the importance of making sales.

I didn’t think that much of it until the next day when she called again and thanked me for my “contribution” to the survey.  Her manager had given permission to approach me with a commercial offer which she thought might interest me … Aha!, I thought … now all is explained.  The commercial offer involved an upcoming course on sales and salesmanship which was being conducted by their consulting firm … and would be led by a “foreign expert” who had conducted several such courses and had already been to Kyrgyzstan … so, apparently. knew the situation here.

OK, I said, send me some details, and I will look at them.

She did.

I wasn’t impressed.

So when she called back the next day and started again to thank me for my contribution to the survey – and asked if I was interested in the course, I said No.

To my mind, that should have been the end of the conversation … but, no.  She asked “Oh, why no?”

I let the line go silent for five seconds before asking “Do I really have to explain the reason for my decision to you?”  This time, she let the line go silent for five seconds … so I said something like “I don’t have to explain my decision to you – but seeing as you have asked … IF this is an example of what I will learn on the course, then I am not interested … you phoned me pretending to be doing a survey …”.

“But we were conducting a survey,” she interrupted.

“Yes, you asked me a question, so I suppose we could say you were conducting a survey, but we both know that it was just the first step in an attempt to sell me a place on this course.  You didn’t have a series of questions but simply tried to, repeatedly, bring the subject back to this topic … then you called a second time to tell me that your manager had “given you permission” to offer me a place on this course – suggesting that it is something special and to be valued.  You sent me details which included the discounts available, (most of which it was to late for me to take advantage of), but didn’t include the price.  Then you call me back to get my answer … but don’t accept it as such, instead asking me to explain why. ”

“Sorry, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that is a good example of salesmanship.”

To be fair… she was very polite all the way through, unlike some telesales people that I have had the “pleasure” to come across, and the c0urse description did seem quite interesting … IF she had started with “we have conducted a survey and discovered that one of the main problems facing business in Kyrgyzstan today is …”, going on to outline the course as a way of addressing that issue, and asking “would I be interested in such a course?”, then she might, (I did say “might”), have gotten a different response from me.

Also, to be fair … I should point out that this is NOT the only example I have come across in the last few weeks … and I do hope that this is not indicative of a trend here in Kyrgyzstan … it strikes me as one of the aspects of Western culture that would be better left in the West.

Holiday entitlements in different countries

During recent years, as public holidays have approached, banners and signs have appeared bearing the slogan “Mairamynyzdar Menen!”

It’s obviously in Kyrgyz, so I asked a Kyrgyz member of staff what it meant – and was told that it’s the Kyrgyz equivalent of the Russian “Se Prazdnikom!” … “with the holiday!”.  It turn, this is an abbreviation of “Pozdraliyou se prazdnikom!“, or “I congratulate you with the holiday!”.

Sometimes, this general phrase is replaced by the name of the holiday; something like “Se pervova Maiya!“, “with the First of May!” or “”Pozdraliyou se pervova Maiya!“, “I congratulate you with the First of May!”

I am often asked for how we say this or that phrase in English and a common request is for the English equivalent of “se prazdnikom!”.  I try to explain that we don’t really have an equivalent universal phrase that can be used for any holiday – but probably the best equivalent is “Happy …” as in “Happy Christmas”, or “Happy Easter”.  There is a general phrase, “Happy Holidays”, but this tends to be used mainly for the extended period surrounding Christmas and New Year.

Public Holidays, of course, are Non-working Days … in the UK we tend to call them Bank Holidays, (which seems to emphasize the role of the financial services sector on life in Britain).  As it happens,

in the UK, there is no automatic right to time off on these days, although banks do close and the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days … depending on their contract of employment.

Not all businesses, however, can simply close down …  for the day – Hotels, for example, not forgetting the emergency services … and in these days multinational companies operating in a  ”global village” and having to work “round the clock” and yet also having to accommodate public holidays in lots of different countries.     These days, many large shops open on bank holidays, when most people have a day off for shopping, heavily advertising sales and bargains.  That’s the reason why most employers grant their employees extra pay if they work on public holidays.

For the record: The first official bank holidays were the four days named in the Bank Holidays Act 1871, but today the term is used  colloquially, (albeit incorrectly), to refer public holidays which are not officially bank holidays according to the Act, for example: Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Not long ago I was intrigued to see an article with the headline: “Americans receive half the amount of vacation time of Russians“, which offered a summary of “paid and public holiday entitlements across the globe”.

You will probably have gathered that the article appeared on an American website … but I have seen similar outraged headlines in the Canadian and Irish press.

It referred to a recent survey by the website Hotels.com,  that looked into the levels of statutory holiday entitlement and public holiday allowances in several countries,  The US came in 25th place (out of 30 countries surveyed), with 20 days of paid holidays, comprising: an entitlement to 10 days annual leave and 10 public holidays.  Russia topped the list with 40 days off: 28 days of annual leave entitlement and 12 public holidays. … So, that’s where the headline came from.

To make matter worse … the press release from Hotels.com made reference to recent research which suggests that many Americans do not take their full holiday allowance.

I often say that the problem with statistics is that they seem to raise more questions than they answer …

Here’s a copy of the table of results:

The press release that accompanied the table, for example, was not exactly clear …  saying that “… on average, most Americans receive …” and I think it is reasonable to ask why they were “hedging” with phrases like “on average” and “most Americans” … As it happens, I think that I can understand this as not everyone works under the same terms and conditions.  Not everyone works the same number of days each week – some people work a five day week and others work a six-day week (usually, with a shorter working day) … and then there are part-time workers.

That point is made clear on the webpage of the British Government which outlines statutory holiday entitlement in the UK, but that gives me a problem because it states that “Almost all workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave)“, although that is “capped” at 28 days … but that is paid holiday … and does not include public holidays.

Under English law, “Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave. An employer can choose to include these holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave” or make a additional payment for working on that day.

If the employee is happy to accept bank holidays as unpaid leave, then they are entitled to a total of 36 days off … 28 paid and 8 unpaid bank holidays … and Britain would have been on a par with Italy and Sweden.

The situation here in Kyrgyzstan is that according to the legislation:

• Employees are entitled to 28 calendar days paid leave , (although for some groups of workers it’s 30 calendar days).  … that is 4 full weeks … actually, it’s more … 4.67 weeks if you normally work a six day week and 5.6 weeks, (just like in the UK), if you work a 5 day week.  How’s that? …
• The stipulation “calendar days” is confusing … I am told that it’s “calendar days on which the employee would normally be working“.  Weekends and other non working are days that fall within the vacation are not counted … so, if an employee working a 6 day week takes their entire 28 day annual leave as one block, starting on February 1st, then they are not due back at work on March 1st but March 6th if they normally work a 6 day week and March 15th if they normally work a 5 day week.
• There are 11 public holidays: January 1st – New year; January 7th – Orthodox Christmas; February 23rd – Day of the Defender of Fatherland; March 8th – International Women’s Day; March 21st – National Holiday Noruz;  May 1st – Labour Day; May 5th – Constitution Day; May 9th – Victory Day; August 31st – Independence Day; November 7th – Day of the Great October Socialist revolution and the two Muslim holidays: “Orozo Ait” and “Kurman Ait”, (the dates of which are defined according to the lunar calendar).
• … but, (as in the UK), they are not paid
• … however, the working hours on days immediately preceding holidays are decreased by 1 hour – that is the working day finishes one hour earlier.
• … and any work on public holidays and days off must be compensated at no less than 100% higher than regular hours – that is double pay.
• It is possible for the employer to grant additional leave at their own discretion.

So, if Kyrgyzstan had been included in that table, we would have been in second place following Russia … with 28 days paid holiday and 11 public holidays making a total on 39 days off work.

Figure of the Day - 23796000

The other day I was sent a link to a news article that I hadn’t seen before even though it was a couple of weeks old and it’s a page that I frequently look at given my background in Mathematics and Statistics.

As I run a couple of hotels, my correspondent thought that it might be of interest to me … he was correct … it was … at least, it was at first glance … but then I began to feeling myself getting more and more frustrated by it.

The  featured “Figure of the Day” on the Vecherniye Bishkek website on 13th March was 23796000 – apparently that was the amount of taxes (in soms – that’s about half a million dollars) paid to the budget by the hotels in Bishkek last year … or was it?

I confess that I found myself confused … not so much by the detail that it gave, (and it did give some interesting facts and figures, albeit in a narrative form where a table or diagram might have been more helpful) … but by what was missing.

The report giving the background to this figure told us that the capital has 165 “guest houses” providing accommodation services and they broke down to:

• 79 hotels – presumably, (although this wasn’t actually stated), operate under the general tax regime, paying the full gambit of Corporation (or Profit) tax, VAT (Value Added Tax), Sales Tax, Land Tax, Property Tax and Garbage Tax (not forgetting income tax and contribution to the Social Fund)
• 18 individuals who paid what’s called the single unified tax – a simplified system of taxation and presumably operate small hotels or guesthouses offering Bed and Breakfast, (although that wasn’t actually specified) and
• 68 individuals who purchase what is called a “patent” – a one off payment that works on an assumed income and then releases the entrepreneur from having to keep accounts and make reports, no matter if they make more or less than this sum.

It then went on to give a breakdown by rayon – or district, (Bishkek is divided into four administrative Districts: Leninsky, Pervomaiskiy, Oktyabrskiy and Sverdlovskiy), and the narrative gave a breakdown as to how many “gostiniziy” there are in each district and the amount of taxes they paid … here’s the data in summary:

Advert for a gostinitza rented "by the hour"

The sting came in the next couple of paragraphs:

• these figures do NOT  include the larger hotels like the Hyatt Regency, Ak Keme and other hotels, (including, I might add, our hotel the Silk Road Lodge), as they pay taxes to the Large Taxpayers Unit, and not to the Rayons …  and also
• because, at least, “according to some reports”… “the majority of facilities that provide hotel services in the capital are not registered, mostly those that provide daily and hourly accommodation”.

So the statistics are not complete … which led me to ask myself, what was the point of publishing them?

It’s not as if the missing information is negligible and can safely be ignored … I don’t know the figures for the other large hotels, but our tax payments last year amount to a considerable percentage of the tax paid in our particular rayon according to these figures … and the Silk Road Lodge is a considerably smaller operation than some of the other hotels mentioned … which suggests to me that the hotel industry is actually contributing far more to the budget than is indicated here.  How much more, is hard to estimate.

They also seem to compare different things.

Although the term used in the report, “gostinitza“, is indeed used to refer to a Hotel … there is another word that has crept into the language – a “borrowed” word: “‘Otel“.  One reason for this is that the term gostinitza is also used for any place which is rented out for temporary accommodation – for example, an apartment given for rent … or a room “rented by the hour”.

They did, however, present us with some interesting information.  To be honest, although I was aware that the number of  competitors has increased, I didn’t know there were that so many “hotels” in Bishkek, (“… I am going to have to do some more research … and update my list!”, I thought to myself).   In fact, (as it became clear in the final paragraphs), this is actually an understatement … there are in fact even more!, if only a few more actual hotels as opposed to “rooms for hire”.

I was intrigued as to what was meant by the phrase “flat tax” that someone in Leninskiy rayon pays … but that wasn’t explained.

I was intrigued to see that those who buy a patent pay more than twice as much to the budget as those who operate under the simplified single tax regime – 33344 som on average compared to 15700 – which I presume is partly due to the fact that the fee for the patent for those who rent out apartments is based on the amount of rent charged rather than on the turnover.

It is clear that although there are more establishments in the Sverdlovskiy district,  it actually receives the smallest amount of tax revenue suggesting smaller and cheaper accommodation, whereas the Pervomaiskiy district brings in almost almost half of the tax revenue from the sector, the nine hotels contributing an average of almost USD25000 each to the budget.

It would have also been nice to have seen, amongst other things:

• which taxes are included – I am assuming they don’t include the payroll taxes, (income tax and social fund payments), but do include all the others …
• the total amount of tax raised to see what proportion of the local economy is accounted for by yher “hotel industry”;
• the total number of beds/rooms covered by these statistics;  A hotel is likely to have a larger number of rooms than a guest house offering “Bed and Breakfast” and a patent may simply cover a single apartment.