EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED !
Relocation assistance is essential in a country such as Italy , where bureaucracy is awkward , weighty and at times even absurd . Nevertheless , the role of the relocation consultant cannot be confined to ‘ baby-sitting ’ unreasonable people who are not willing to make any compromise to adjust to their host country , and are not interested in interacting with a new culture ; people who do not take advantage of the opportunity to broaden their horizons ; people who , after many years in Italy , have not learnt a single word of the language , or persist in giving their overseas mobile numbers as their contact numbers ; and above all , people who are intolerant of any obstacles , delays or misunderstandings that may , alas , occur during the relocation process .
ONLY IN ITALIA
This is a country where expatriates need to learn to expect the unexpected . True , it is located geographically within Europe , but many things that occur are hard to relate to the ‘ European ideal ’:
Landlords who , at an advanced stage of negotiation , all of a sudden inform you that they have sold their apartment or house so are no longer renting it ! Applications for connection to utilities which ‘ disappear ’ from suppliers ’ terminals ; or suppliers who , at the crucial point of connection , reject the application because your street number does not exist in their database ! Technicians who connect the wrong property to the Internet . Banks that , after the relocation consultant has made all necessary preliminary checks , having given preliminary confirmation , then refuse to open a current account once on site with the customer . Police headquarters which get the validity of Residence Permits wrong ( always to the foreigners ’ detriment of course ) but refuse to issue new ones , making the individual concerned go through the all the red tape for renewal long before what should be the expiry date ! Public offices who , when asked to issue a certain document , request as a pre-requisite another document which can only be obtained AFTER they issue theirs ! The list could go on but we will leave it at this for now ...
FLEXIBILITY REQUIRED
It is also to be said that much frustration could be avoided if expats were more willing to listen and adapt their requests to the reality of the destination .
Priorities should be set within what is realistic , yet in many cases ‘ needs and requirements ’, which come across more as ‘ diktats ’, often remain unchanged despite the destination . If a client has 3-4 children , he will often still want a house or an apartment with ( at least ) 5 bedrooms and a garage accommodating 2 ( big ) cars . Likewise , he will still expect immediate internet connection and want to live 5 minutes away from the office , the children ’ s schools , shopping malls for his wife , from woods for his dog AND from the city centre ! This might be possible and realistic in his home country but is most certainly not realistic in any Italian city !
PAGE 36 www . theglobalphoenix . org