Things I will not miss about Buenos Aires: by an ex-expat
1. Lack of customer service - Some people say customer service in the US can be bad… There is no concept of customer service in BA, the salespeople and waiters are doing you a HUGE favor by showing up to work at all, you should be grateful! I was boycotting stores with bad customer service at first, but then I ran out of stores to shop in… in BA! A city of 14 million people! Although I’ve noticed customer service seems to be catching on in Belgrano.
2. Doggy poop everywhere - porteños don’t scoop poop. I even saw poop in Pacifico in BA once (VERY expensive indoor shopping area - I was in there looking at the cool architecture, I can’t afford Gucci clothes, not that any of them would fit me anyway).
3. Public urination - argie men - Okay! - SOME other argie men, feel urinating on street corners is completely acceptable. There is a field in front of my office window where men are often urinating. Nice work environment! Just to be fair, one of Martin’s friends told me they saw a woman crouched down taking a dump at a bus stop in BA, so I guess it can be both sexes.
4. Doctors - there are some nice ones, but I found these few and far between. Most treat you like you have no brain and I can’t count how many times I’ve been misdiagnosed. not to mention there is often a several hour wait due to the elderly porteño sport of doctor visiting.
5. Making friends - It seems with Argentineans that you are either a good friend or you are an acquaintance. In the US, there is a middle stage that allows you to have someone to hang out and do stuff with, without being best friends. I always made friends in the US fairly easily whenever I moved or started work somewhere new. Not here.
6. Junk food - Pizzas, empanadas, greasy potato chips and choripans. Blah! These are gross. I miss Doritos and Cheetos.
7. “American” food - this is generally pretty gnarly. Hamburgers are usually made from a mixture of who knows and beef. This is just wrong! I had ribs in an “American Western” restaurant that were marinated in cinnamon and sugar. Just plain strange.
8. Work environment - too informal for my taste. There’s way not many rules and heaps of hierarchy and paperwork. Argies generally believe that work life and home life should not overlap. How do you make friends if not at work?
9. A house full of bugs - okay, you get bugs in American houses too, but there are no screens on the windows here and no air conditioning, so in the hot summer, your house gets full of moths, mosquitoes, and flies (lots of them).
10. Over-priced electronics, appliances, and clothing - these things just cost so much more than in the US. My KitchenAid mixer was $179.00 in the US and is priced at us$500 here.
Well so much for expats and other nationalities bragging about this country, please
Check Here to find about these expat behaviors.
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