Vacation- and Lunchtime in Moldova

Life slows down in Chisinau in the summer. Everyone seems to be on vacation. Even my favorite weekly, Economic Overview, has been on vacation for three weeks. There are many differences between life in Moldova and the US, but the way Moldovan organizations approach lunchtime and vacation is most striking to me.

I’m sure the saying ‘time is money’ is well-known in Moldova. However, Moldovan banks, administrative offices, government offices and agencies, post offices, libraries, shops, accounting offices, etc. usually close down for an hour for lunch. The entire office or organization may close, or most frequently, the office that deals with clients/customers. If you need to do business during lunchtime, you have to wait. However, if you are willing to pay ‘extra’ for the lunchtime service, the doors miraculously open. Therefore, the “business” continues during lunchtime. Time really becomes money. I am guessing that lunchtime is most conducive for corrupt activities, and it would not be surprising if lunchtime were the time with the highest number of corrupt transactions and deals.

Service providing organizations closing their doors for lunch or vacation is something unheard of in American cities. Closing down the entire organization for lunch is a practice inherited from the Soviet times, and seems wasteful and inefficient. Why would a bank want all its employees to take lunch at the same time?! Wouldn’t an additional hour of operation bring more business, and revenue?! How does a popular newspaper benefit from not publishing for three weeks? I just cannot imagine New York Times taking a break, not even for a couple of days. If it did, it would mean bad news. The same logic applies to governmental agencies: the employees can take turns in taking their lunchtime; the entire office does not need to close down.

Probably I wouldn’t have written this article today if I a copy of Economic Overview had been available, and I had not spent one hour outside the bank to make a deposit.