When it is said that the waiters, security officers and valets violently beat up customers of Harsnakar Restaurant at the behest of member of the National Assembly Ruben Hayrapetyan, the actual owner of the restaurant, it is certainly from the series of gaining political benefits and naturally will be used for propaganda. Nonetheless, such incidents are not extraordinary. I have already written how tourists are hosted and served at Armenian hotels, vacation houses, in general, and at Harsnakar in Sevan, in particular. At best, the customers are served in such a contemptuous way as if those people haven’t paid money to spend time there, but have come to stay as a renter and added to that, owe money to the hosting party. The local mentality is, “Who is that guy, am I a worse guy than him that I have to serve him?” Attendants at such restaurants provide services with that very expression on their faces. Hotel and restaurant business is a unique field; one cannot have random people as directors and managers here, just because they are “bros” – that manager must have experience, education and knowledge of that very field. Afterwards, he must employ not the scum of neighboring villages, but people who have passed a specific psychological test and who are appropriate for their jobs. And after that those people must get 3-6-month-long training, it is desirable, from foreign specialists. If all those things are not there, such incidents will still happen in the future, when “tough guy” employees abuse customers instead of serving them.
We went on a vacation to Antalya two years ago. The service staff of the hotel and restaurant, including the security officers, did everything for our comfort – they smiled, greeted in Armenian, which, by the way, doesn’t leave any doubt that they knew what country we had come from. I am sure that the majority of people working in that field don’t have warm feelings toward our people. However, we were not Armenians or Turks in the given case, we were just customers who had paid for the service and the attendants were people who provided that service. The revenues of the given hotel, restaurant and on a large scale, country depend on the quality of services, those revenues from tourism, as we all know, are huge in Turkey. And in our Motherland, it is not only that the prices are 3-4 times as high as in Antalya, but also such “services” are provided that one cannot enter a restaurant without a bullet-proof vest.
As for Turks, “Turks” (in the stereotypic meaning of that word, which is common in Armenia) are the very 15 people who attack 4 people who have come to them as guests. They are the real “Turks.”
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
