Buying hardward

Cristi and I had to go get a scanner.

"Do you want to see how we buy a scanner in Romania?"
"Sure!"

I thought this would be a routine shopping trip, until I let the words "in Romania" sink in.

We walk across the street to the ETA computer store. We go upstairs and meet with a sales associate. It looks like a bank and he's sitting behind a long row of desks.

The session starts with the usual pleasantries, including cracking jokes. Then Cristi tells him the model we want. The guy makes some phone calls, gives us the price and then shakes our hands.

We go out and talk to receptionist, who gives us a slip of paper with...I don't know what, because I didn't look at it.

We take the elevator downstairs. The ceiling of the elevator is actually a leftover map from the Communist era, showing the growing population in Banat. It's made of white plastic, showing Western Romania and little stick figures and numbers. I asked if it was always there, or was simply being recycled. It's recycled.

So we go downstairs and show the slip of paper to the people in the warehouse section. They get us our scanner. More paperwork. A receipt the size of a sheet of paper.

We go upstairs to pay. More paper work. We say goodbye to our sales associate and head home in the Communist elevator again.

Total time: about 30 minutes.