Impressions in America

OLEG SVERZHYN

Over There They Have Iced Tea, Decaf Coffee and Very Hospitable People

 interviewed by Natalya Golovanova

Visnyk Kupyanshchyny (Herald of Kupyansk District), Saturday, March 17, 2001,

- That was my first trip to another country, - that is how Oleg Sverzhyn started his story. - My fate had it that my first foreign country was the wealthiest country in the world. I even cannot compare it with anything, for I have never been to Europe. America turned out to be not something real, but a fairy tale.

            Oleg is an industrialist, a practical person. Now, when because of certain circumstances he does not temporarily have a chance to realize his potential, he is slightly jealous of himself, remembering that he started as a technologist at the bread-and-roll shop at the Kupyansk Bread Plant. In recent years he worked as their sales department director.

- During our study tour we visited about 30 companies, big and small. Large plants employ 600-700 people, including 50 managers. The Ukrainian plants more often than not do not have a position defined as “a manager.” Their large plants are designed with a capacity to turn out 200 tons daily (compare with the capacity of the Kupyansk Bread Plant - 40 tons a day. In actuality it bakes 16 tons a day now). And if smaller bakeries, as a rule, have a retail shop on the premises, large plants do not handle retail. They know how to produce. Why should they sell? There is a well-adjusted distribution system in America. They have centralized warehouses with awfully high pallet stacks and robots “working” there. These warehouses perform the function which used to be performed in the past, say, by our district consumers’ union. This way the manufacturing and commercial functions do not overlap. Bread is kept at a warehouse from 5 to 15 days. The stale bread is sold to farmers to feed the cattle.

            It was very interesting to learn about the American technology of baking bread. This process is automated to the max, from dough mixing to loading trucks. Plastic forklifts are used in shops. The floors are parquet. Everything is made from stainless steel. From the outside the plants are like regular buildings. They do not look like plants. Around them the grass is neatly trimmed. There are fines for uncut grass. Near the plants, as in all urban areas in America, there are no plots with exposed soil.

            We asked the American businesspeople about regulatory agencies. We found out: First of all, the most important thing for them is not “government standards,” but quality. They do not have anything like our Control and Auditing Department. If a plant makes quality products, the tax police [sic] do not visit more often than once in five years. Somewhat involved in tracking the sanitary and health standards is a local health department. All of them are law-obedient citizens. As they have fewer inspections, they can work more smoothly. Just try in our country to quickly launch production of a new cake for a holiday with some sort of appropriate inscription. They will require of you immediately new documents reflecting changes in technological process and a permit from the Health Board. Over there it is quite possible to invent a cake overnight that could sell out. And feel free - start baking in the morning. And also here, inspectors from the security contractor can visit you and demand that you thicken the walls in your store and place metal grates on the windows. Then fire inspectors will come and demand the opposite - that you remove the same grates. Everybody demands things arbitrarily.

            It is very pleasant to talk to Oleg Sverzhyn: He is young, with a good aesthetic sense. Over there, in the U.S., he paid attention to details which probably would have gone unnoticed by somebody else. His recollections of cultural and social aspects are very memorable.

- They have lots of museums. In Chicago, for example, there are 37 museums and about 20 exhibition halls. Very popular are natural history and art museums, as well as museums featuring achievements in different industries. There are memorial museums (of actors, etc.). We stepped into theaters and visited a movie theater with a dome-shaped screen. You recline in your armchair and have an impression of being in the very middle of the movie.

            How do they live? A house of average size costs $500,000. They take out loans and pay mortgages.

            How do they dress? In Cincinnati, the central location for our study tour, in a slipshod way. Some baggy pants lowered almost to the knees. Athletic shoes. Women wear pants and skirts. The young people wear, I would say, disgusting clothes. Although, cities are different. In Chicago, the situation with clothes is somewhat different. There I noticed a more pronounced business style. In Chicago we visited several plants, including the only company in America making pans for baking bread.

            By the way, I was somewhat surprised that the places we visited did not have aboveground electrical lines, only underground. And we visited Cincinnati, Chicago, Columbus, Urbana and Louisville.

            Tornadoes happen in Cincinnati when warm and cold air streams mix. Last year people were killed by this natural disaster.

            And another thing I realized: The education level of an average American is lower than that of a Ukrainian. We have a broader education. They tend to be more narrow specialists. A lot of them are practically illiterate. They would not know how to write a word. They do not know how to count. Everything is done by computers or cash registers. They do not follow world events. We and they have different, very different problems. But they all, as one, are proud of their country. There is an American flag in front of every house. It is very important for them who will be elected a sheriff, or a senator, or a mayor. Also, the U.S. has the lowest unemployment rate in the world - three percent. Only those who do not want to work do not have jobs.

            Oleg is answering my questions in artistic and lively fashion, although by nature he is reserved and serious. Now he is talking about American food and other everyday habits.

- We were fed very well. We had a buffet for breakfast: bananas, pineapple, omelet and up to 30 other dishes to choose from. The cheapest lunches are offered in Chinese restaurants. But Chinese food is very spicy. There is a Russian neighborhood, Devon, in Chicago, where new immigrants settle. Russian food is available there. If you come to an American restaurant and bring a group, you personally will get a $1 discount. That is what happened to me once: I spoke better English than other members on our study tour, so they decided that I brought the group. I spent this dollar on a tip. Tips are mandatory there.

            Coffee in America is sold mostly decaffeinated. You can find regular too, but a small can of such coffee, Nescafe-type, will cost you $10. If you order a cup of coffee in a bar, it will be served hot, but juices and even tea will invariably come with ice. That is why I was always in a hurry to say, “Without ice.” The most popular juice there is orange. They sell a lot of Moldavian wines, champagne, our canned products [made in the former Soviet Union countries] - sprats, silver carp... Our vodka is more expensive there. Stolichnaya costs $20. But if Absolut in our country is 50 hryvnas, over there it costs only $5, that is half-price. Vegetables in the supermarket, irrespective of what you buy – potatoes, peppers or bananas – cost 99 cents [a pound]. Specifically, 99 cents.

            Cars? Americans say that American cars are not cars. They value Japanese cars, which are more reliable than those domestically manufactured. Also, they like German cars. That is why Japanese and German cars are more expensive than American. As to their prices, one American [monthly] paycheck is enough to buy a used car.

            Seventy percent of all merchandise in America is made in China. Domestic, Italian, German or French goods cost much more.

            Where do they spend their vacation? I can tell you exactly that it is not in Russia or Ukraine. They will probably come here on a business trip or to visit their relatives, because they are all horrified by our power blackouts and our lack of accuracy and finality in everything. They are used to being self-confident, in everyday life as well. That’s why Americans and Americanized Slavs go on vacations to Mexico, Canada, Hawaii. Some go to Europe and different parts of the U.S.

            Oleg Sverzhyn concludes his story with a sigh.

- I regret that we spent too little time there. Of course, I missed tasty Ukrainian bread and borshch, but I am no less interested to see everything we did not have enough time to see in a short three-week term. In America there are many surprising things. For example, the Chicago airport. It is not just an airport, but six terminals (each of them looks like a combination of a train station, bus terminal and air terminal). It is like a city the size of Kupyansk. Terminals are connected by a monorail, that is, an electric train without a driver. Isn’t that amazing?

            Or an edible wonder - a picture cake. Or their accuracy: If a bus is scheduled to arrive at 9:42, it will, on a dot. Or their general penchant for sweets - pies, doughnuts, cakes there are so sweet! Maybe that is the reason Americans are so fat. And that is probably the reason they are so friendly, hospitable, easy to communicate with. Yes, very hospitable and easy to communicate with - everybody in our group noticed that.

            The main thing is that they know how to work and work a lot. For example, for Tax Day they made cookies with an inscription: “Better eat me before the IRS eats you.” With our current laws, such a quick, flexible, ongoing renewal of product line is impossible. No, we will never catch up with America economy-wise.

            That was our long, and at the same time short, talk. For some reason, I thought later that I spoke to a person whose life is still ahead of him: professional growth, prosperity and enjoying life. Why? Because Oleg is young and probably very talented. For one can travel in a lot of different countries and meet a lot of people and still fail to see anything for real and draw no conclusions for oneself. I was very pleased to listen to this young Ukrainian, who developed a friendly and reasonable attitude to the country which is so fantastically far away and little known to us, at the same time having such a loving attitude to our current life here, with all its problems. His world outlook includes looking into himself and into life immediately around him. Maybe our new businesspeople, new managers, new Ukrainians have to be like Oleg.