Badly organized

Update: I wrote this blog entry a few days ago and decided not to publish it because I felt I was being too negative. But after reading what Shelley wrote about her seven-year itch here in Italy, I realize I too am perhaps suffering from the same thing. Is it just me or are things getting progressively worse in Italy?

OK, I know I'm grumpy and complaining a lot lately. I'd make excuses for it, but there's really nothing I can offer by way of satisfying preface or apology. I've said it before but this little blog is sometimes the thorny tree where I hang my gripes and, unfortunately, I'm gripe-ier than usual. I hope to snap out of it soon because walking around with a black cloud over my head and a feeling of general dissatisfaction with what is going on around me in society is no fun for me either.

Friday morning I had to meet someone at the crack of dawn for a work meeting in the center of the city. We met on Corso Buenos Aires (a big long shopping boulevard and main thoroughfare here) as it was convenient to both of us. Time was of the essence so we ran in to the first bar we saw to have breakfast and discuss our business. Actually, it wasn't a bar but a "sala da the" (tea room). My companion ordered a cappuccino and I ordered a "tisana or any kind of tea without caffeine."

"Sorry," I was told. "We only have tea with caffeine."

"Well, I'm trying to avoid caffeine. Do you have any kind of green tea?" I asked thinking maybe I'd just let the bag steep a minute and then take it out before too much caffeine could poison the hot water.

"No," I was told. "No green tea."

I looked back toward the big painted letters on the window to confirm I had read that I was entering a "tea room."

When I asked what type of tea exactly they had, I was told they sold only one kind: Twining's English Breakfast. I hate bitter English Breakfast tea and, furthermore, how can a tea room not sell tisanas or caffeine-free teas?

The barista obviously saw the look on my face because she shrugged her shoulders and said "Sorry, for a tea room, we are badly organized." Uh, OK. Since when did that become an acceptable excuse? This is the same thing I keep hearing from the hospital where I'm going to give birth during my prenatal lessons - how disorganized they are!

And I got a similar lame excuse a few days before when I wanted to buy one subway ticket from the new automatic machines (I love progress - when it actually works!) they've installed in the subways. A ticket costs one Euro. I had a one-Euro coin. Easy, right? No, not exactly. The coin slot was not working and neither was the automatic bill slot thingie. What to do? The newsstand was closed so I couldn't get a ticket there. Would I really have to use my ATM card to buy one one-Euro ticket? I started to take my ATM card out and the lone public transportation employee on duty sauntered over and said "I wouldn't do that."

"Mi scusi? Wouldn't do what?" I asked.

"I wouldn't use your ATM card or a credit card. The gypsies come by every so often and somehow they've figured out a way to rig the machines and clone people's cards. They designed those machines badly," he said.

Well, thanks for the tip, buddy.

But here's what I keep asking myself: Why open a tea room if you don't actually sell tea? Why be disorganized and admit it? Why design something if you aren't going to do it properly? If you are a tea room with no tea, order some. If you are a hospital with bad organization, get organized. If your machines don't work properly, fix them. How hard is that? I'm sick of apathy. I 'm sick of nothing changing. I'm sick of shoulder shrugs and the phrase "that's just the way it is." My eternal optimist husband tells me to take all of my frustration and channel that in to changing things, but is that really possible? I've seen people try but with unsuccessful results. I'd be willing to try but is anyone else out there with me or have we all given up? This country needs to be turned completely inside out and yet another march, protest or strike is not going to accomplish anything. When I get like this, I don't feel like changing things. I feel like getting on Delta.com and booking the next flight home. Yes, home has its problems but they are (at least for me) familiar problems. Problems I can deal with. I'm starting to get to the point where I feel the old boot can hobble along without us.

P.S. Keeping with the whole negative theme, my other planned blog entry for this week was a photo entry of the (once) nice park they built in my neighborhood a mere three years ago. Unfortunately, it has been completely TRASHED. All of the benches broken and covered in graffiti. The characteristic street lamps busted out repeatedly so that not even one of them works today. The nice big sign welcoming you to the park with a history of the area and a map of all of the running and hiking trails is now so covered in graffiti, it is no longer legible. The tower they built where you can get a great view of the Alps is also covered in graffiti and someone has begun busting out the wooden stairs step by step. The metal bar they put up to prevent people on motorbikes from entering the park (the sign explaining "no motorbikes allowed" has been graffiti-ed over) has been taken down as if with a hacksaw. I will spare you that photo entry, but what is wrong with people?