On the way to the productivity Nirvana

I hate being so negative, but on my way to the productivity Nirvana, I just encountered another brilliant example of the productivity trap. I was on my way back from Serbia to Bulgaria, driving my car through the beautiful mountains that mark the border between the two countries. I got a bol of fresh air at the petrol station just before crossing to Bulgaria, looked at my watch and was delighted by my perfect timing. I would most certainly be on time for my next appointment.

I took my car and crossed the Serbian border without any delay. I moved to the bulgarian crossing point and had to stop, the first one of a long series of stops should I say. I was handed a UBS stick and asked to move forward, which I did, not without having tried to understand the logic of this new devil machination. The poor girl did not speak English and just told me ("nova systemi"), or something similar, as my bulgarian skills are very limited.

I went to the next barrier, the real border this time and went through painlessly. The problem started with the third check-point, where a Charlie told that my UBS "not functioning". "Go back", he added. I was quite surprised, but managed to turn my car and drive back. When I reached the border, the guard, very surprised and almost upset told me that I should stop promptly and move to the first girl on foot, please, which I did. 200 meters on foot and it was snowing, nice weather for a walk.

She greeted me with her beautiful smile and gave me my USB back. Back to the border, back to Charlie, and guess what, same problem. Charlie again, "go back". Me, "Forget it". He forgot it and I moved to the third check-point. The girl screamed, "I bank, not working USB, go back". I almost said "fuck off" and just went to the fourth check-point. There, no way to move forward, the check-point was closed. I started to negotiate with my reduced bulgarian skills. The woman there was very comprehensive. She tried everythink she could, told her boss, I was diplomate and in a hurry, but it still took about 45 minutes.

The essence of the waiting time, was "do I have a vignette for the bulgarian roads?". The answer was of course yes and I showed it to the guard. She told her boss that yes I have a vignette and yes it is for 2009. The answer was "wait a moment, we will check, this example is not in our book of law". Finally she let me go.

4 employees, 1 USB stick and 60 minutes later, I was again on my way to Sofia, too late for my appointment.

Now can someone please explain to me the logic of all this. At least they have abolished the tax they use to perceive to clean my car coming from Serbia. What is sure is that a software company did make quite a lot of money.

There is a beautiful "bulgarian" word for that: ABSURD