InternationalGas stations, toothaches, and trims
Published: Saturday March 07, 2009 in Living in Armenia
A Yerevan gas station showing prices from August 2008. Armenian Reporter
Yerevan - There are no self-service gas stations anywhere in Armenia. If you want to refuel your car, you have to rely on gas attendants to do it for you. Suits me just fine. I'd rather not get out of the car, especially on cold winter days, to refuel.
When I pulled into the Mika gas station by the Davitashen Bridge a few days ago, three gas attendants ran out to greet me. After I told them how much and what grade of gas I wanted, I paid one of the attendants and waited.
I was checking messages on my phone, not paying attention to where the attendants were when I looked up and saw all three of them standing by my window, which was rolled down, staring at me. I looked at them for a minute, wondering what they were doing, just standing there, very nonchalantly, looking at my car, looking at me. Had I been anywhere else on the planet I would have told them to back off. But there was nothing sinister or threatening in their posture.
I don't want to presume to know why they were standing there. Maybe they thought they were being courteous, respectful. Maybe they were told that they had to stand by their customer's car window while they refueled. Although I don't recall them doing that when my husband is driving and I'm the passenger.
The minutes were ever-so-slowly ticking by, yet there were my three gas attendants, all aglow in their green and neon yellow uniforms, still standing there. One of them nudged the other and said, "Avtomat hamagark e, apper." While the overriding majority of cars here have a manual transmission, mine is automatic. So their curiosity was with the car. They started asking questions - about horsepower, mileage, how many cylinders, did it have four-wheel drive, where did I get it, how much did I pay for it....How much did I pay for it? Questions that I wouldn't give myself the right to ask them. It's a small country; shouldn't we know each other's business?
Finally, with the tank full, I drove off. I looked at my rear view mirror and saw all three of them standing shoulder to shoulder staring at me as I drove away.
What can you do. It's a funny country.
A few weeks earlier my son had been complaining of a toothache. It appeared to be his wisdom tooth struggling to come out. I took him to the dentist to have it checked out. We've been going to the same dental clinic for years. We initially started going to this clinic when my son needed braces. We had paid $800 in 2004, which would cover the entire two-year treatment, including placing the braces, regular checkups, maintenance, adjustments, cleanings, removal, retainer, etc. I can't tell you how many times we have visited that clinic for follow-up treatment, including several repairs to the retainer that kept "breaking" according to my active teenager.
The dentists and the rest of the staff are extremely professional, courteous and helpful. So it was natural for me to take my son there to assess the situation with what I assumed was his wisdom tooth. While one dentist was attending to my son, another doctor asked if I would like to see the clinic, as they had moved to a new location. I don't know why he wanted to give me a grand tour but I obliged. He showed me all their new equipment, the new x-ray machine, the new chairs, the bathroom, which he was particularly proud of, and the kitchen where they have their lunch, and then offered to make me coffee!
Before I could make a decision about the coffee, the attending dentist called me in. She had pulled up my son's dental file (a rare thing in the medical profession in the country ). She compared the x-ray she had just taken with one we had done several years ago, told me it was indeed his wisdom tooth, gave us instructions on what to do, and told me to bring him back if it flared up again to take a final decision on how to proceed.
Before we left, I asked how much I owed them for their time, service, and x-ray. She waved her hand and told me I didn't have to pay, "After all, what did I do?" she asked. After I thanked her I told her she was crazy, shook her hand, and walked out.
This is not an isolated incident with us. Today my daughter went to the hairdresser to get a trim and cut her bangs. After cutting my daughter's hair, she showed her to the door, saying that payment wasn't necessary. "After all, what did I do?" she asked. "I just cut your bangs."
There you go.
