IN retrospect, it occurs to me....
Yesterday, when I journeyed to the nearby dormitory where I picked up the keys
to the laundry room and washing machine. ...
The lady behind the thick glass (hard to hear her) lectured me sternly about a new policy.
I would be allowed to use only one washing machine.
After I protested at length, she said that since they were not busy, she would allow
me to use two....
That sort of granting of special favors is, I believe, characteristic of corrupt regimes.
It is, in fact, characteristic of the old regime in Czechoslovakia,the so-called
'Communist" one.
Well, I didn't want any special favors, and I didn't want to get her in trouble; so, I said 'no'.
But notice. If I had accepted, I would be in debt to her. And someday I might be expected
to do her a special favor.
All in all, this is very unpleasant, and it interferes with simple living. Nonetheless, it
reminds me of something that has been called the "inner communism".
I don't don't really think it is essentially connected to Marx or egalitarian political ideas.
It has a lot to do with inequality, injustice, and maneuvering within a society to achieve a position. Where formal mechanisms don't work, people will invent others. I did not see the offer as a case of anarchistic mutual aid, however. I saw it as the granting of a favor to a less powerful person by a benign more powerful one, and that is disgusting. It is not real kindness.
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Your interaction at the laundromat illustrates that the majority of society still needs to function on this level. Loan Sharks still exist because capitalism is just the new name of Feudalism, which is set to cater to lords not serfs.
ReplyDeleteIt is always good to hear from a reader, but I am not sure why you think the "majority" of the society "needs" to act this way. I certainly agree that modern capitalism has a lot of features in common with Feudalism, bad features. I would suggest, however, that the attitudes I am dealing with here pre-date the so-called Communist system. They are like something straight out of Kafka. My latest post may somewhat clarify what I mean.
DeleteI don't know where you write from and how much you know about Eastern Europe, but this is certainly not a laundromat---certainly not in a standard sense. Indeed, Prague, the capital, has got a laundromat, but Pardubice, a smaller much less cosmopolitan city has not got one. The situation is that the student dormitories have certain monitors at the front doors, and they have many of the qualities of a dog or a Platonic guardian. They do the human equivalent of barking and growling at people they do not know. They do not, however, automatically become friendly merely because they know you. I've had experiences with this sort of person dating back to 1996 when I lived in a dorm in Bratislava. (Slovakia) And the mindset has not changed. Which is shocking given the fact that they have been two separate countries (The Czech and Slovak Republics) for a while now. (But, then maybe I am naive.) The key thing is that the person behind the desk is superior to you, and if they are "nice" that is a gift they bestow upon you. You can find something beautifully accurate along these lines in Kafka's "The Trial".
The USA style laundromat works without a person who takes your money. The washing machines here in Pardubice are not so easily accessed. That's the point: there's a not-especially-cooperative person placed between you and the washing machine, and that means the whole business is very time-consuming, even on a good day.
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