Well, I promised a short dissertation on Efficiencies and Inefficiencies in Spain and here it is. Or at least a first stab at it. But first a preamble . . .

For clarity, this exercise has been prompted by reader Moscow’s complaint that (in my words) I and other Brits are both too critical of Spain and too rosy-eyed about life in Britain. Well, I personally don’t view Spain against the backcloth of a perfect Britain. Very far from it, in fact. So I leave comparisons to others. I try below to look at Spain in isolation.

That said, I can hardly avoid forming views based on attitudes developed elsewhere.

Nor can I avoid the fact that I am a pretty impatient person with high standards, though arguably less so than I was when younger.

The first problem you come up against when addressing this issue is that, wherever you live, much of life is a trade-off. To be specific, in the Spanish culture there can be more important things than efficiency. Putting this another way, the absence of efficiency is not always a negative. For example, you may have to wait to get your car’s tank filled with petrol (gas) by an attendant but this is arguably less unpleasant than having to do it yourself.

In similar vein, you quickly realise that, as one of the defining aspects of Spanish culture is the more relaxed attitude to time, it’s hardly surprising that life here moves at a slower pace and generally seems less efficient than elsewhere. Especially if most people you deal with are so relaxed about time they’re invariably late. Few people here seem to think that “Time is money”. And life is often less stressful as a result. Another big positive.

Then there’s the Spanish emphasis on the personal and the very strong preference for doing things face-to-face. This again can be much more pleasant than the phone, letters or emails but it absorbs more of your time and, if this is a precious commodity to you, you will find it irritatingly inefficient.

Then there are the frequently-cited factors of cronyism and the absence of a belief in meritocracy. Taken together, they can (and do) mean that the best person doesn’t always get a job that’s going here. Which is unlikely to be a positive influence when it comes to efficiency of performance.

Finally, there’s the corruption that has become such a feature of local, regional and national Spanish politics over the past decade of economic boom. As with cronyism, this is not a factor than be expected to militate in favour of optimisation and efficiency. Except for those doing the bribing, of course.

The net result of my analysis is an overall conclusion that remains what it has been for a long time – viz. that things can be pretty inefficient at times here but that often this doesn’t matter because other considerations take precedence, even for me. As I’ve frequently said, this is because as a retiree I can adopt the Spanish attitude to time. And because I’ve learned to manage my expectations. And to carry reading matter with me wherever I go.

To get specific, here’s a complete mish-mash of macro and micro considerations, reflecting my personal experiences, perceptions, attitudes and prejudices:-

USUALLY EFFICIENT

Bars
Restaurants. Especially menús del día.
Hotels
Utility companies. Especially in taking money from my account before I’ve got the bill!
Bank cash machines. Lots of these, though it’s important to use the right chain.
Private medicine. I’m not allowed to use the Spanish health service.
Pharmacies. Though very slow at times.
Trains – Local and national
Fiestas. Anything connected with fun is usually well done in Spain.
Concerts. Ditto.
The international wine, olive oil and fish industries (and doubtless several more)
The road construction industry
The prostitution industry, if the numbers involved are anything to go on.
The TV industry. Ruthlessly efficient at showing ads.
The ad industry. Highly regarded internationally, I believe.
The newspaper industry. Not sure there’s any day of the year when there’s no edition.
Street cleaning. Exemplary.
Long distance road travel. Magnificent roads, many of them new.
The traffic police. At least when it comes to speeding fines.
The national and major city football teams

NOT USUALLY EFFICIENT

Spanish bureaucrats: Whether at the local, regional or national level. Paper mad. Deliberately slow so as to preserve jobs and expand empires. Same as everywhere in the world, only worse than most.
Turismo offices: Sometimes seem to operate more for the benefit of the employees than tourists
Banks. Also wallow in paper. Dealing with a branch of your bank other than where you live can be a calvario.
Shops. Attitudes are almost invariably pleasant but efficiency can be something else.
Notaries. Still in the 19th century. Where, in fact, they belong.
Companies which don’t reply to your letters or emails. Possibly the majority.
Estate agents (Realtors). Take a huge fee for doing very little other than maintaining loose-leaf binders or, if you’re lucky, a disorganised computer database which you can take a look at if you go to their office. No brochures. No real initiatives based on the listing of your criteria.
The judicial system: I have no personal experience but it’s reputed to be very slow and inefficient.
The property sales statistics industry. No one believes their numbers.
Driving. At least when it comes to the use of indicators.
The education system. If the international ratings are to be believed.
The property construction industry. Seems to take ages to complete projects and, judging by the piles of materials that lie around for a long time, there must be project coordination problems
Public works projects. Ditto.
The post office. Mail doesn’t arrive until around noon and parcels from the UK rarely arrive at all. Though they could go missing in Britain, of course.
The local police. At least when it comes to enforcing parking and noise laws.

By pure coincidence, I’ve just read an article on Oberg’s phases of ‘culture shock’. These are:-
1. Honeymoon
2. Rejection.
3. Regression. You forget about problems you had in your own culture and heavily criticise your new
    one
4. Recovery. More comfortable. You may even prefer some of the new things about your life
5. Reverse culture shock. No longer comfortable in your home culture.

For what it’s worth, I regard myself as being firmly in Phase 5.

That’s it. Comments and contributions welcome. I will collate them tomorrow, along with those I already have.