the Habsburgs and "mentality"

A  Polish girl on the train yesterday, a student of nursing, mentioned that there is a certain 'mentality' common to Slovaks and Poles....among others..

Usually I hear that word from Central European friends when they talk about the older generation.  I would describe them as the older generation who suffered through a failed social experiment.
Suffered because the system was not democratic.  Nor, I think was it really socialist, because socialism is democratic.

The system retained a rigid social hierarchy.  Workers did not manage themselves or make decisions as they would at Mondragon or a proper democratic workplace.  And corruption and shortages resulted from the maneuvers of managers who wanted their bonuses.

Yet the idea of a "mentality" has resonance for me.

E.g.,

I've been living in temporary accomodation, a sort of hotel.  I've just returned from Vienna, and the shocking difference between the standards here and there is fresh in my mind.

We were told that we would be out of our regular accomodation for about three weeks.
When the three weeks were up, I wrote an email to the person in charge asking about when
we could move back.  The answer was very polite, but the essence of the message was:  Please be patient.

Now, I spent four or five hours last night moving.  I returned from Vienna at 7pm to find a message on my door saying:  Your room is now ready.

Well, that message was posted on Friday morning, sometime after I had already left.
And, I am happy to leave the so-called hotel. It's of a standard comparable (I would imagine) to the YMCA in the USA.  Shared bathrooms. Shared kitchen.  A room too small for my belongings, so that frequently a glass or shampoo bottle might tumble to the floor because there's just not enough room.

So, I wasn't exactly wanting to stay in that hotel as long as possible.

But today around 8am as I was starting to move, I was confronted by someone who evidently imagines herself important.  She informed me that I was already supposed to be gone.
Yeah, right!  When I'd asked about moving, I was told: Please be patient.  When it is time for me
to move, I've got to do it quickly.  They can miss a deadline, but I cannot.

Err, that's not symmetrical. 

I told her that I had never been informed of the deadline.  My note (telling me that I could now move) specified no deadline.

She did not know that.   but her bossiness was not going to stop merely because she was ignorant....

Later I spoke to the lady who actually will clean my room.  She told me that it didn't matter if I took all day to move out...............

Now, isn't that interesting........

She wrote back, politely asking me to be patient.

Friday morning I left early because I had to catch a train.  I returned Sunday around 7pm,
and found a message on my door.  It was a friendly message telling me that my "room" (it is really an apartment, but the bureaucracy thinks we are all students living temporarily in rooms....)
is ready.:

This is all adding insult to injury, as I have been thoroughly overwhelmed for the past month by the inadequate living conditions. 
UNFINISHED