I'm posting this rant in a hurry before the next blackout.

Customer service has never been our forte, but there was a time in Venezuela when we could return a product that was bad and get a replacement or our money back, along with an apology. We used to have credit in stores and specials around and after holidays. We even had something called ñapas, which was an extra treat customers received from businesses, just for the sake of nurturing relationships. It could be as simple as a candy or a fruit for the kids or an extra pound of meat or cheese. Of course, an economy framed in stability and abundance allowed that.

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All of that is gone, along with common sense and justice. All this rambling was caused by an incident that happened to me two days ago (I meant to post it the same day, but you know about the blackouts).

The economic crisis that we have been subjected to for over a decade has produced an even worse moral crisis. It has made people release the worst in them. Every person is looking after their own interests regardless of the harm they can cause to others and regardless of how much damage their reputation may suffer. It feels as if a nihilistic cloud has set upon us and everything you do or cause is of little import.

What happened to me is nothing compared to cases I have heard people report, some of them with mortal consequences. People have told me stories of rotten produce being sold for as much the price as if they were fresh; some people have been sold sour casaba, which causes poisoning and even death; some people have given their babies “milk” that ended up being some other powder (here most of the milk consumed is powered milk).

The thing is our markets and stores are inundated with products of questionable quality resulting from murky import business where government officials make fortunes at the expense of the people’s health. For the sake of a profit, the government imports or allows the local production of products without any quality control (from matches that do not light and light bulbs that burn in less than 24 hours, to shampoos that do not clean your hair or toothpaste that won’t clean your teeth, to medicines with suspicious effects and parts that break before you even install them).

All these incidents and deceptions keep us in a constant state of apprehension and anger. We have become very fragile and volatile. Our temper is a time bomb about to go off by the tiniest provocation.

With so much violence in the streets and documented cases of looting you might think business owners would be very careful in their treatment of their customer. Think again.

After the recent blackouts we have been all very tense, sleeping little, moody and grumpy. Basic things such as bank transaction, which were already complicated, have now turned into near-impossibilities. You have no idea all the juggling we have to do to keep our phones functional.

Two days ago I needed to add credit to my phone line. My wife did not have money in her account and we did not have internet because of phones’ signal was off and on. Communication was lousy and friends are as screwed as we are. So, I decided to go to a cyber café, use one of their computers, check my bank and transfer credit to my phone. At that time in the morning the only place open was Planet (which used to be a decent place, but has now gone down the drain and this incident just made me more certain of that).

_{They are located on Av Bermudez, across the former Toyota dealer, downtown Cumaná.}

They had the prices of navigation on the wall: 300 Bs for every 10 minutes. I figured I may need 20 minutes (if I wanted to check my email). They demanded the money in advance. Cash, given the amount I was going to pay. In order for me to pay debit, I had to pay for an hour or more. Luckily, I had some cash left in my pocket (cash is gold, in case you don’t know, we may be the only country in the world where people buy cash, paying over 100% of its nominal value).

I was assigned a computer and after 5 minutes the screen was blank. There was a lady next to me who told me she had been waiting for more than 10. I told the clerk and she sent me to a different computer. 5 more minutes and still nothing. No site/webpage would load.

I stood up and asked her to log me off, that I would not use the remaining 10 minutes. She ignored me for some seconds, pretending to be busy helping another customer.

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I started to feel my head burn. I asked her once more. She took her time to assist someone else. I raised my voice then and demanded my money back. Then, she reacted. Money back! What an insult! She said she could not do that. The money had been credited to the business already, the internet was ok, it was the website I wanted to visit, she could do nothing about it.

600 Bs is nothing these days, but I felt as if I had been stolen everything I had. I asked her to put on my shoes, to imagine that she needed a translation from me, that I asked the money in advance and then told her that I was unable to translate what she needed, but that I had to keep the money. It’s different, she told me. Of course, it would be different, you would be the one losing this time, I told her.

I demanded my money or else. She went to her boss, who takes care of the café in the front of the business. He repeated to me what she had told me. I must have looked really angry and about to explode, but I tried to reiterate the injustice of the incident as decently as I could. He offered to give me half the money back and I was supposed to take it as a very generous gesture, an exceptionally good treatment that was probably causing him a great loss.

I took my money and their action for what it was. One more nail to our cultural coffin. I have not yet crossed the line when it comes to confronting people in the streets. I have had some heated discussions, but I always try to make argumentation, logic, and examples do the yelling. Even though the government created different institutions with the sole purpose of protecting customers and punishing abusing businesses, all those institutions exist only on paper or whenever the government wants to ruin an enemy or suck money from different businesses.

I’m not sure for how long we can be civil here. As if the constant raping we receive from the government were not enough, we keep abusing each other in the streets on a daily basis.

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The guy from the café opposes the Maduro government. I had seen him complain about some of the things everybody complains about, but how different is he and the business he runs from the corrupt and unjust government he criticizes?

What planet do we really want to live in?

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