Phone rings.
Bucharest Life answers.
Familia Turp?
Da.
De la P*****s Bank sunt. In legatura cu vecinul vostru de la 89.
The lovely lady from P*****s Bank then told me that she wanted some help trying to contact one of our neighbours, let’s call him Ion Ionescu, from apartment 89, who they simply can’t get hold of.
Would we mind going to tell him to get in touch? Or at the very least leave a note in his mailbox telling him to phone the bank?
No, we are not debt collectors.
When we asked how they had our number?
‘From the phone book.’
I never knew we were in it.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
As much as I have complained about Bucharest, I do have to say that although the city was once ruled by the Eastern Bloc’s worst secret police, these days it is a free for all. As much as I obsess about the problems I have photographing here, I must stress that I have never had any run-ins with the police here, EVER. My bizarre situations have always stemmed from odd-ball Bucharestians who seem to think that Ceausescu is alive and well. This is an important point because in the US where I am from the police are hardcore and I have been in contact with them frequently. In many respects, Bucharest is much freer than a Western capital city. There is simply very little police presence and you can do what you want. It is the citizens whom one needs to be afraid of here.
Personally, if I was citizen Ion Ionescu I’d go to the U.K. and file for personal bankruptcy.
In 18 months I’d be like new and spit on EOS KSI and other debt collectors and banks.
Maybe they wanted to give him some money
They are debt collectors. It’s their “technique”, EOS KSI invented this, I think. Then everybody in this industry followed.