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To Have and Have Not

Russians do not place much value on money. To have money is much better than to go without, for poverty is a great nuisance but to have a lot of money is very bad. Honest people cannot have a lot of money not unless they are pop stars or tennis players. You should never boast that you have money; it is much better to complain that you cannot last from payday to payday without borrowing a few roubles from your next-door neighbour.

Rich people have always been heartily disliked. The New Russians, the nouveaux riches who have had their wealth thrust upon them all of a sudden, like a flower pot falling off the 5-th floor balcony, are an object of derision.

If you earn very little, there is absolutely nothing wrong in letting others know how much or rather how little you earn, because admitting that you are grossly underpaid says only that your employer does not understand what a priceless acquisition he made when he hired you. It is not humiliating to earn little – the blame falls on the head of the person who exploits you.

The pitiful looking beggars at every street corner demonstrating their missing limbs and asking for alms are seldom ignored. It is rumoured that some of them often do well enough to go home by taxi which costs rather more than an average worker can afford.

Russians are ready to help others even if they know that the man they are helping could help himself. In olden days, peasants would leave a piece of bread and a cup of milk outside their door at night in case a runaway convict passed by. It might be the very man who burgled your home a year ago but today he is among the unlucky ones. “Don’t be too sure that you too won’t one day go to prison or to go a-begging’, the proverb says. Besides, you can’t be certain that the man has been sentenced for a real crime because you know what the government is capable of.

You can never tell if young Russians are rich or poor by their clothes for they have spent their last pennies on their jeans or latest tie or trainers with a famous label (western, of course). Being well dressed is very prestigious in Russia. People are measured by the clothes they wear. It is different with older people. Young may and should dress well but old pepper-pots should know their place. It is almost indecent when an elderly lady or still worse man is dressed in the latest fashion. What does the old fool think he is? A gigolo?

 



Date: 2015-04-20; view: 768


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