Passport Police

[buddy]

'What was the middle bit'

[Scunner]

"Is it because I is Anglo-Saxon"

[Julesp]

And when I went to tax office to pay last year They asked

How much do you need to pay for this?
I told her the price

then she said
I need it in writing from passport police

After going back to customs and got it in writing
 
She said

Whats the exchange rate today?

[hubblebubbles]

Must say I am a bit bewildered by all these comments as have been renewing my residency every year for the last four years.I have honestly never encountered rudeness or a problem in fact they seem to remember me from year to year and always welcome me and ask me how I am. Perhaps I just got lucky but they have always treated me with respect apart from one lady officer who obviously A/ doesn't like the brits or B/ doesnt like work.In fact they were so nice when I went in last week for a four year visa (main passport runs out after that) that I am going to bake them a cake.Try going in with a genuine smile on your face and a few words of Turkish greeting. I can only speak as I find.

[Ovacikpeedoff]

There is no excuse for rudeness whether you are Turkish, British or come from Mars.

With some expats there always seems to be this expectation that when they go somewhere that the locals must speak English and they seem to get upset if they do not. How many times have I heard it said in the UK those bloody foreigners should learn to speak English and they get upset in government offices when they see signs in various languages.When a foreigner comes to the UK we expect him to speak English. We now have people in the UK wanting that foreigners should have a good understanding of English before they are allowed to stay in the country.If the same was applied to the Brits living in Turkey we all would be on the first boat back.

Many have their own little enclaves that are exclusively expats. The first Turkish class that I went to in Ovacik there was one woman who had lived in Turkey for 3 years and did not know the Turkish for hello, goodbye, please or thank you. I think we are lucky in the Fethiye area because of the number of Turks that speak English. This should not excuse us for not trying to learn the language.

A very good Turkish friend once told me not to be too harsh on those who work in state jobs as they are paid very little..

[peecee]

In theory I would agree with you, OPD.  However, there are a number of immigrants who have lived in the UK for years who do not speak a word of English (granny's, 2nd cousin twice removed etc.) who can't speak a word of English and will never learn because the family translate for them and they don't want to learn the language.
I, personally, am a great fan of the Australians stance on this - if you don't like our language, customs, laws etc, then go home.  we didn't invite you, you came of your own free will, bog off if you don't like it.
Even if you have a smattering of Turkish (which I do and I make use of) the passport police ARE obnoxious, bloody rude and incompetent.  Especially the Sergeant if he's still there.
And before we down the road of 'they're not paid much' etc. etc. that is no excuse.  NO civil servants are paid much.  Perhaps if they did their job more efficiently and with a smile they would get promoted.

[Scunner]

That is a good point and covers the UK too. I hear so many times that the reason I receive surly attention (if any at all) in places such as Halfords and the like is "would you put effort into the job if you were on minimum wage like most of them are?". The answer is yes, because I don't want to be on minimum wage any longer than I need to, and up beats out!

[peecee]

Too true, Scunner.  In today's market they're lucky to have a job at all even if it is minimum wage.  There's a pretty good chance that one of my children is about to be made redundant for the 3rd time in 18 months (even though he's pretty good at the job so he says )  So demoralizing, ended up in a lot of debt because it takes months for the Gov't to cough up anything towards living, is only just getting level financially and this hangs over his head again!!!
An awful lot of BIG businesses are going bust let alone the little independent ones so employed people should be grateful for anything at the moment.
Rant over, many apologies for going off subject.

[tony jenkins]

No matter what job you do, if you do it better than anyone else then you wont be doing it for long!

I have found (serving) police officers to be miserable gits, everywhere.

[apollo]

quote:Originally posted by hubblebubbles

Must say I am a bit bewildered by all these comments as have been renewing my residency every year for the last four years.I have honestly never encountered rudeness or a problem in fact they seem to remember me from year to year and always welcome me and ask me how I am. Perhaps I just got lucky but they have always treated me with respect apart from one lady officer who obviously A/ doesn't like the brits or B/ doesnt like work.In fact they were so nice when I went in last week for a four year visa (main passport runs out after that) that I am going to bake them a cake.Try going in with a genuine smile on your face and a few words of Turkish greeting. I can only speak as I find.

I have to agree. We have not had any problems on either of our visits in 2003 or 2008.Let's hope that continues for 2013.