..led to the downfall of Communism in Russia?
well, now you have:
http://blog.chron.com/thetexican/2014/04/when-boris-yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-clear-lake/#22200101=1
i had kind of heard of this before, but just saw this posted on another forum.. he was fascinated by the things that we take for granted: free samples and shelves full of every kind of food you can imagine.. he also thought you needed special training to be a store manager..
then a couple of years later, this happened at a free concert put on by Yeltsin to thank the people for helping to stop the military coup that was started by people that didn't like the reforms:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=551_hC414UY
Frozen Jell-O Pudding pops FTW.
Interesting, that's one I hadn't heard before.
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Wow, very cool story. I wouldn't have believed it if I'd heard it back then!
That is a cool story and to see pictures.
I heard a similar story on another forum a while ago about a choir group from what is now Ukraine back in the early 80s. They stopped in a grocery store and their chaperone thought it had to be a pre planned propaganda stop by the American hosts. They couldnt believe how much food was just there available for people to buy.
I don't think I can even comprehend how much life truly sucked living in a city behind the iron curtain.
novaderrik wrote: ..led to the downfall of Communism in Russia? well, now you have: http://blog.chron.com/thetexican/2014/04/when-boris-yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-clear-lake/#22200101=1 i had kind of heard of this before, but just saw this posted on another forum.. he was fascinated by the things that we take for granted: free samples and shelves full of every kind of food you can imagine.. he also thought you needed special training to be a store manager..
I can understand why he would think that. Most supermarkets are run better than the Soviet Union.
To bad things really aren't that much different over there now. 
I had not heard this Boris story, but...
I have a B-I-L who's father escaped from the country of Hungry after WWII and made it to America. Years later, he had family in to visit from then recently non-communist Hungry.
I specifically remember a story that his Aunt cried when visiting a US grocery store. CRIED!
In reply to ronholm:
Sam's Club/Soviet Union. Not much difference these days.
Appleseed wrote: In reply to ronholm: Sam's Club/Soviet Union. Not much difference these days.
you can choose not to go to Sam's Club..
ronholm wrote: To bad things really aren't that much different over there now.
No E36 M3. Gorby just said we are on the verge of Cold War 2.0. I believe it.
In reply to novaderrik:
I can also choose not to have a job.
I once saw a photo of a brand new supermarket in the soviet unipn that had virtually nothing on the shelves.party ordered it built. Think 50,000 square feet of nothing.
It looks like the only things the Soviets had plenty of were concrete and bad architects.
TRoglodyte wrote: I once saw a photo of a brand new supermarket in the soviet unipn that had virtually nothing on the shelves.party ordered it built. Think 50,000 square feet of nothing.
pics like that could be misleading when used for propaganda- maybe they just hadn't gotten around to ordering enough vodka and turnips (or whatever it is that stereotypical Russians live off) to fill the shelves yet.
it says in the article about Boris's trip to the store that he didn't want the pics released back home because it might incite revolution, but you can bet that if they were released that there would have been a lot of Soviet officials and citizens that would have honestly thought that a store full of food was a propaganda ploy by the West and that there was no way that there were places like this in every town and city in the country..
In reply to novaderrik:
They consume only vodka......the poor there drink smirnoff "wine coolers"
vhut is diz Nutella?!?! Nu tella nothing about diz vhen we get back home to de motherland
In Soviet Russia, you don't eat Jello Pudding Pops, Pudding Pops eats yooooouuuuu.
In reply to Appleseed:
What a country!
Couple of quick things:
In Hungary special training is required to be a cashier at a grocery store. I can imagine his amazement, at finding out the MANAGER lacked any formal education, was insurmountable! Contrary to popular belief, this education is not free. The post high school education DOES cost money (how much, I don't know). The Hungarian government will pay for it, but I believe they then require you to work ONLY in county for the next 3 years. I know "in country" doesn't mean much to us, but when you can pass through 3-currencies and 3 languages in about a 6 hour drive, it means more to them. This is the gov's attempt to reign in some of the fleeing youth population.
Appleseed hit a nail right on the head: Criminal unemployment was a thing, at least it was in Hungary, and very recently too. I believe 6-months was the cutoff.
Now a days, though, with Tesco and Interspar in the bigger cities, grocery stores like ours are no longer a huge "thing". There's actually a bit of a "counter-movement" back to the ma and pop shops.
Good times.
"We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us."
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