The Day-to-Day as a Customer in Ashgabat

With a break in the frigid weather, my wife and I decided to research more opportunities to tour Turkmenistan outside the city limits of Ashgabat, and in neighboring provinces. We contacted a local tour agency, and inquired about prices. After shifting prices on us several times, including services we did not ask for, and referred to as "complementary," but with a charge, we declined to work with them any further. A few days later, that same tour agency solicited my workplace advertising free tours. After speaking to the office coordinator, she received clarification from the tour agency: it was free to look at the tour agency's advertisement! That's right, we could browse through their brochure free of charge!

We went shopping at the Ministry of Textiles to find "Turkmenistan" t-shirts for ourselves, as well as family and friends. We walked into a clothing store, which had walls lined with neatly folded t-shirts and other outer-wear. My wife proceeded to pick through the clothes, looking for the right design and color. A few minutes later, a very concerned employee approached her and asked "speak English?" After replying in the affirmative, the employee told her that she could not touch any of the folded clothes, which made up about 75% of the visible inventory. Instead, we could only look through the clothes hanging on racks, or what the employee brought out for us to look at upon request. Later, without any warning, all the lights in the building shut off, and the store attendant informed us that the shops were closed.

I was at a grocery store one weekend, when I noticed chocolate milk drinks stored in what looked like a soft-pretzel warmer. Mildly intrigued with heated chocolate milk drinks in a pretzel-warming machine, I decided to take a picture with my phone. Immediately after, a young female employee came up behind me sternly saying "DELETE!", "DELETE!" At first, I was a little stunned and amused. When I realized she was very serious, I showed her my phone lock screen and replied "deleted, see?" She looked at me with the most scornful face she could muster, and I walked away and checked out. Perhaps they were afraid I might steal their top-secret chocolate milk-warming technology.

Dining at restaurants can sometimes be an awkward experience. It is not uncommon when dining at a restaurant to have the entire wait-staff starring at you while you eat. For example, my wife and I dined at a restaurant recently with three servers. Having finished their meals, the only other patrons left the restaurant, leaving us as the only patrons in the dining room. One waitress stood "at attention," right next to our table, starring at us. On the other side of the dining room, two servers stood "at attention," like soldiers on sentry duty, staring at us. I swear, I don't think they blinked once. While this was probably the most blatant incident so far, such over-the-top "service" is not uncommon. Although, it is ironic that we often have to wait 10-15 minutes for the bill after asking for it - more than once.