Not your size.
Okay, more ranting, I'm sorry.
So I went to Avtozavodskaya and it took me quite a while to actually find the fucking street I was looking for, because somehow, the layout of the streets isn't like on the map? Or at least the metro stations aren't located on the same spots as they are in the map.
Anyway, so I finally FINALLY got to the Trial Sport store. And they had skates. They had the Riedell Bronze/Silver/Golden Medallion on display, plus the Risport RF 3 and some other skates. It appears that the Riedells are sold with the blades - like, the blades are already included in the price? At least they had them on display with John Wilson blades already attached. While the RF3 were boot only. I wonder how much I'd pay for a decent blade here in Russia.
I looked at all those, felt them... And came to the conclusion that I need advice. Really. I have no idea how stiff they should be. I mean, they were all much much stiffer than anything I've skated in before. I think the RF3 is too advanced for me; my instructor in Dresden skated in those and to me, she recommended the RF2. I thought even the RF2 may be too advanced for me after reading the description online... but then again, it probably also makes a difference whether you're adult skater or a kid, because the body-weight is different?
After a while of looking, I went up to one of the sales assistants and asked about the Silver Medallions. I asked what sizes they had - he asked what size I need. I told him that I'm not sure, that I wear shoe size 39, but that I'm not sure about skate size. He looked at the tag on the skates, then looked them up in their computer, said they only have them in small sizes.
I asked if they had the other skates in bigger sizes, too. He said no, that they only have everything in small sizes. (Which was probably bullshit because the ones they had on display weren't actually that small.)
So I asked if their other stores in Moscow might have them. He gave me a look and told me that they don't have that type of information. So I should call the other stores and ask? I asked. Yeah, call them, he said. And that was all.
You know, I should have expected is. I didn't actually expect they would have exactly what I want in the size I want. But it would have been nice if he at least pretended to be helpful or friendly. I mean, come on, I'm prepared to spend some 200€ in your store. And I know that you're probably more interested in bikes and that skates aren't your specialty, but still! :(
I already knew that Russia isn't exactly famous for friendly customer service, it even says so in my travel guide. They're still learning, it's not standard here yet and the "customer is king" principle doesn't work everywhere quite yet. But it still makes me a little mad. Poor Steffi came all baffled from the Krasniy Oktyabr chocolate store some two days ago because the shop assistant was kinda rude to her even though she was nice.
So, what do I do now. I don't know what skates I should get and I don't know where. I'm probably going to have to call them, eventually.
Or I could e-mail the girl Riedell has listed on their website - maybe she's their specialist in Moscow. Then I could find out which of the stores in Moscow to go to and could tell them
directly what skates and what sizes I'm interested in.
Generally, the skate shopping experience so far kinda made me wish I lived in a country with better - or ANY - customer service. It kinda makes me pine for the USA, though the USA can be frustrating in very many ways as well.
Also, I finally bought stamps. In my local post office, they don't have stamps. I saw one other post office on my way to the store, but they only had 1RUR stamps (and I'd need to fit like 19 of those onto the postcard). Then, finally, in a third post office I saw they had some stamps - I had to put 3x6RUR stamps + 1x1RUR stamp + 1x30kopeyks stamp on the card. Good that they're so big. Besides, I'm sure the lady in the post office actually didn't know the right postage, because I looked it up on the internet earlier and they actually have different prices for Estonia and Belarus than for the rest of the world - but the lady in the post office didn't know anything about that. And the postage she gave me isn't for air mail, as I just learned. Whether the card to the UK is gonna make it without air mail, I do not know. I'll try again if it doesn't. I only wrote three cards so far, I'm going to see how they do and send more later.
Reet, Cel and Dru - lemme know when/if you get them, ok? :) (I haven't mailed them yet, but I'm going to soon.)
Finally, to make my day complete, I went to the ticket booth here at Paveletskaya. The company that sells tickets for the Lenkom lists this booth as one of their ticket booths. I asked whether they have tickets for Lenkom - yes, we do, what do you want to see? - Yunona i Avos. - Oh, we don't have those at all.
I think I was very lucky to have discovered that one place on the Tverskaya that actually HAS tickets for the show. It was a lucky coincidence. So I'll go there sometime end of this week, I think, once I have my student metro card, and get tickets for either March 26th, March 30th or April 7th.
Then I bought a Kroshka Kartoshka (a big baked potato) for lunch, the girl at stand was not friendly, either, especially once she realized I was a foreigner. They didn't even have all the ingredients I wanted, so I only got cheese and a cheese/ham salad, then ate it with some smetana at home.
So I went to Avtozavodskaya and it took me quite a while to actually find the fucking street I was looking for, because somehow, the layout of the streets isn't like on the map? Or at least the metro stations aren't located on the same spots as they are in the map.
Anyway, so I finally FINALLY got to the Trial Sport store. And they had skates. They had the Riedell Bronze/Silver/Golden Medallion on display, plus the Risport RF 3 and some other skates. It appears that the Riedells are sold with the blades - like, the blades are already included in the price? At least they had them on display with John Wilson blades already attached. While the RF3 were boot only. I wonder how much I'd pay for a decent blade here in Russia.
I looked at all those, felt them... And came to the conclusion that I need advice. Really. I have no idea how stiff they should be. I mean, they were all much much stiffer than anything I've skated in before. I think the RF3 is too advanced for me; my instructor in Dresden skated in those and to me, she recommended the RF2. I thought even the RF2 may be too advanced for me after reading the description online... but then again, it probably also makes a difference whether you're adult skater or a kid, because the body-weight is different?
After a while of looking, I went up to one of the sales assistants and asked about the Silver Medallions. I asked what sizes they had - he asked what size I need. I told him that I'm not sure, that I wear shoe size 39, but that I'm not sure about skate size. He looked at the tag on the skates, then looked them up in their computer, said they only have them in small sizes.
I asked if they had the other skates in bigger sizes, too. He said no, that they only have everything in small sizes. (Which was probably bullshit because the ones they had on display weren't actually that small.)
So I asked if their other stores in Moscow might have them. He gave me a look and told me that they don't have that type of information. So I should call the other stores and ask? I asked. Yeah, call them, he said. And that was all.
You know, I should have expected is. I didn't actually expect they would have exactly what I want in the size I want. But it would have been nice if he at least pretended to be helpful or friendly. I mean, come on, I'm prepared to spend some 200€ in your store. And I know that you're probably more interested in bikes and that skates aren't your specialty, but still! :(
I already knew that Russia isn't exactly famous for friendly customer service, it even says so in my travel guide. They're still learning, it's not standard here yet and the "customer is king" principle doesn't work everywhere quite yet. But it still makes me a little mad. Poor Steffi came all baffled from the Krasniy Oktyabr chocolate store some two days ago because the shop assistant was kinda rude to her even though she was nice.
So, what do I do now. I don't know what skates I should get and I don't know where. I'm probably going to have to call them, eventually.
Or I could e-mail the girl Riedell has listed on their website - maybe she's their specialist in Moscow. Then I could find out which of the stores in Moscow to go to and could tell them
directly what skates and what sizes I'm interested in.
Generally, the skate shopping experience so far kinda made me wish I lived in a country with better - or ANY - customer service. It kinda makes me pine for the USA, though the USA can be frustrating in very many ways as well.
Also, I finally bought stamps. In my local post office, they don't have stamps. I saw one other post office on my way to the store, but they only had 1RUR stamps (and I'd need to fit like 19 of those onto the postcard). Then, finally, in a third post office I saw they had some stamps - I had to put 3x6RUR stamps + 1x1RUR stamp + 1x30kopeyks stamp on the card. Good that they're so big. Besides, I'm sure the lady in the post office actually didn't know the right postage, because I looked it up on the internet earlier and they actually have different prices for Estonia and Belarus than for the rest of the world - but the lady in the post office didn't know anything about that. And the postage she gave me isn't for air mail, as I just learned. Whether the card to the UK is gonna make it without air mail, I do not know. I'll try again if it doesn't. I only wrote three cards so far, I'm going to see how they do and send more later.
Reet, Cel and Dru - lemme know when/if you get them, ok? :) (I haven't mailed them yet, but I'm going to soon.)
Finally, to make my day complete, I went to the ticket booth here at Paveletskaya. The company that sells tickets for the Lenkom lists this booth as one of their ticket booths. I asked whether they have tickets for Lenkom - yes, we do, what do you want to see? - Yunona i Avos. - Oh, we don't have those at all.
I think I was very lucky to have discovered that one place on the Tverskaya that actually HAS tickets for the show. It was a lucky coincidence. So I'll go there sometime end of this week, I think, once I have my student metro card, and get tickets for either March 26th, March 30th or April 7th.
Then I bought a Kroshka Kartoshka (a big baked potato) for lunch, the girl at stand was not friendly, either, especially once she realized I was a foreigner. They didn't even have all the ingredients I wanted, so I only got cheese and a cheese/ham salad, then ate it with some smetana at home.