Working As The Soviet Waitress. Highest Paid Jobs in the USSR

[@UshankaShow]

Soviet movies mentioned in this video: Train Station For Two: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZiQoWSaba1jaNE Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYbPqWB4brKNoMk Hello, comrades! My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA. Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR. My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on www.sputnikoff.com/ (Russian or English versions) or Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC Please contact me at [e-mail] if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries” You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow Ushanka Show merchandise: teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below. www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9 My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/ Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/The_Ushanka_Show/

[@ens0246]

Hey there seems to be an issue with your audio in this video. It's peaking.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

I really enjoy your videos especially having grown up during the Cold War. Spacebo!

[@ironwolfF1]

Restricted access to restaurants was not just a Russian thing...back in the early 80s, my father visited the GDR to spend time with his uncle. During that visit, they went to a really nice restaurant, managed to get a seat, but were ignored by the wait staff. After a bit, my uncle collared one the waiters and asked for service. The waiter asked my uncle for his 'identity book' (internal passport), looked at it, and announced that my uncle didn't have a high enough Party rank to eat at that establishment. That was my real world lesson on "some animals are more equal than others". Hopefully I'll get my chance to visit the city of late father's birth, Leipzig...it's a *very* different place now that Germany is one country.

[@occamraiser]

Indeed, party status was the soviet equivalent of money in the Capitalist system. I'm not sure that either system can claim the moral high ground about the mechanism they each use to ration privilege to the people who successfully support their chosen system. Obviously there is less luxury to share out in the centrally planned Marxist-Leninist economic system than in the wonderfully efficient market system, but both had privilege and poverty - but only one had Gulags and the KGB/Stazi.

[@gargoyle7863]

Did they get service for your fathers Deutsche Mark?

[@ironwolfF1]

@@gargoyle7863 Nope. The wait staff totally ignored them (besides, the incident honked my father off...so they left with my father uttering some choice words aloud in his wake).

[@gargoyle7863]

@@ironwolfF1 Wow. Thought with western money you could get "party member status" as well.

[@gunner678]

Fascinating.

[@tintin5038]

In the 1990’s, I worked with a man who had emigrated to the US from Estonia. In Estonia, he had worked as a waiter, in the 1980’s, at a restaurant that served foreigners. He recalled on at least one occasion where the “secret police” had instructed and provided the restaurant staff, a particular plate, for serving a particular table of customers. He, and other restaurant staff, were certain that the provided plate had some type of “listening device” embedded in the porcelain. He mentioned the name of the Estonian security organization, but I do not recall it. Bon apetit, Comrades.

[@valstutz2628]

Классное видео, братан! As an American who's worked in the post-Soviet Union (Moldova and Ukraine), I was fascinated to learn more about waiting tables in Soviet restaurants. When I worked in Moldova and Ukraine, I ate in a lot of stolovayas as well as other traditional cafes. These types of establishments gave me a glimpse of what it must have been like to dine out during the Soviet period (I also noticed a lot of modern restaurants in these post-Soviet countries still cater to large parties like weddings, birthdays, etc. like you described). I also got very excited when you mentioned Dnipropetrovsk. I spent a year working in that city and it's like a second home to me, very curious to know what's become of that restaurant Rubin you were talking about. Я очень рад что я нашёл Ваш канал!

[@jeffcamp481]

When I worked in Russia in 1993 thru 1994 , I found that my waitress made more in a week in tips from me , than a Russian doctor friend made in a month. Before I figured it out , I couldn’t believe how excited they were to serve me!

[@occamraiser]

You're American presumably with the strangely lavish atittude America has to tipping rather than paying people a decent salary to serve. Since you were presumably tipping in dollars you were making anyone who enjoyed your western largess rich for a day.

[@jeffcamp481]

@@occamraiser I tipped in ruble’s. The Russian government set their wage not I, me tipping them was appreciation for work well done by them.

[@artvandelay1099]

I think there's something to this. It's anecdotal, but my aunt went on a Rhine River boat cruise. She said that the wine sommelier told her that he moved from Russia to Germany to be a sommelier. He said he made more money being a sommelier on Rhine River boat cruises than he did being a brain surgeon in Russia. I heard this story many years ago and so he might have been a heart surgeon, maybe he was a doctor, but I remember the story as him being a brain surgeon. I've heard several anecdotes like this one over the years. Makes you think there's probably something to it.

[@johnbogle6475]

I really like your videos. My ex-wife (and her parents who are still great friends) are from Lugansk. My friend Boris used to play music in a restaurant and he mentioned how they would always have extra food. Now I understand :). Keep up the good work. Thanks

[@gerberjoanne266]

I noticed that the Russian restaurants in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn were not for couples or anyone dining alone, not even really for a few friends just looking to go out. They had musical acts in the center of the space, and they were really more like catering halls than restaurants, except that there were several celebrations going on at the same time, at different long tables.

[@UshankaShow]

Yep, exactly!

[@SonOfTheDawn515]

Sounds atrocious

[@mikefriedman8320]

And it was all mob, gangster central.

[@steve94044]

Thank you! Great video! My mother was a waitress.

[@chris2pher44]

When I was a busboy/dishwasher at this nicer small restaurant (mid to late 90s) the waitress were making 2.25 a hr. They’d work 5!hours and go home with 300+ from tips. As long as your good you can make a killing, if you get cash tips that is so always try to tip in cash

[@chouseification]

Your recent Q&A was really fun, and it was funny to see you post a censorship video right afterwards. I had asked how much you knew about Challenger explosion and you mentioned you did hear that but much less so for local news, which tied in perfectly to that video. :D I think the words we would use for the phrase you had trouble translating might be "side gig", "side job", etc - although in most places of course it's not tolerated to resell your ingredients :D

[@admiralradish]

Yeah maybe in little towns a waitress or waiter doesnt make much in the USA but in even medium size towns good waitresses take home a good living. Well at least in Texas where tipping is encouraged.

[@monsterhunter445]

That's the thing it's voluntary. Honestly tipping needs to go it's an excuse to pay these good people a decent wage. Imagine paying for the meal and the wage of the worker. Because he/she is making 2 dollars minimum and hour and if tips don't meet minimum wage you get minimum wage. It's a stupid system requiring these people to go lengths to beg for tips..what if the customer paid 100 dollars for a meal you have to know put 20 dollar because the restaurant can't factor that in the price of the food. Sorry it sucks maybe back in the 50s it would have been lucrative but it's shit.

[@fjb4932]

@@monsterhunter445 Socialism is NOT the answer. Entry-level, bare minimum wage jobs are merely that ... " entry / bare ". Ment for kids or college students, ( and those living under the radar ). A summer or part time job. It was Never designed to be your one and only income, Especially as a job you'd do for 40 years and then retire comfortably as you took bi-yearly trips to Mexico and Italy. These are entry level. Entry-level ! They pay Exactly what they're worth to the market. Don't understand nor believe ? Quit, and someone else will be more than appreciative to work for that amount. To truely understand capitalism , You open a business ! Until then, it's all just theory. Watch Rodney Dangerfield school the economics professor in BACK TO SCHOOL. There's a difference between a college degree and real world experience. Time to grow up . . .

[@williamchapman9614]

Sergeii , I was a delivery driver and when minimum wage in the US was 4.25 per hour I was making 20. Same for waitress in the right restaurant you could make 300 a day.

[@UshankaShow]

Did that extra earnings put you in the top 5% richest people in the country?

[@thegreatwaffle-wo3zp]

Yay i love these storyes my grandpa is a former soviet soldier from the cold war and he tells me awsome storyes all the time altho we took our grandmas name cause our russian name sounds super afensive cause it sounds like the n word our grandma is german and was the daughter of a nazi comander and our last name is now klaus

[@mikefriedman8320]

lol...yes it does sound like the n-word

[@lundsweden]

One of the lowest paid jobs in my country, Australia! Bizzarely some scientists are paid badly here too!

[@wtfbuddy1]

Nice presentation - hard currency talks in the world, yes Taxi's, restaurants, bars pray on foreigners. Cheers and stay safe

[@sirsinnes]

I thought of a question and potential episode topic. Forgive me if you've already covered it. If an ordinary Soviet citizen wanted to learn a musical instrument, what kind of path might they take? Were instruments available and affordable? Was it easy to find space to practice? Did anybody have a piano in their home? Also, were music programs part of the school system? Was music something that parents wanted their children to become involved in? Anything and everything related to this topic, I would be very curious to learn about. Thank you, and I love your show!

[@Blackadder75]

in soviet russia you don't pick musical instrument, instrument picks you!

[@assassin40oz]

Once again, thank you for sharing John Wayne Cheeseburger. I always enjoy your videos and accounts of history in the USSR.

[@earlystrings1]

Lovely reminiscences of fast vanishing history, thank you

[@gunner678]

Really fascinating stuff!

[@gatorpika]

If the Soviet waitresses all looked like those cartoon waitresses with long legs and their blouse about to explode, I would guess they would get very good tips.

[@VanquishMediaDE]

That just propaganda they mostly look like babushka (old bitter fat lady).

[@lundsweden]

Yes Comrade! ( .) (. )

[@Chanselleur]

6:51 who does these drawings? Some of them remind me of Norman Rockwell.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

I’ve seen professional waiters/waitresses (on the west side of Los Angeles) average $150+/day on tips in nicer restaurants - You add that to the $60+/day in wages, & you have $1100/week.

[@toastnjam7384]

Yes, a friend work a high end restaurant in Malibu average 200$ + a day and that was in the mid 80's.

[@Flamechr]

4400 dollars a week that an okay salery for a waiter/waitress. But I will countinue in engineering ;)

[@adamhauskins6407]

That only works when there's affordable parts of town that have basically been eliminated everywhere

[@hoobaguy]

Or you could get a real job and make $2000-$3000 a week.

[@betamachine]

$1100 a week is just enough to get by in LA if you want to live in an apartment reminiscent of the one Sergei grew up in, except it's surrounded by sidewalks converted into 'urban campgrounds.'

[@jeffreybeckham1130]

Well I've worked as a busboy before. And tips can fill your pockets some days ;)

[@VanquishMediaDE]

In USSR or West, I'm confused?

[@ernestcotton9324]

Im grateful for your videos, did you have muvh information on car modifications and repair shops

[@billscott1601]

Your stories of the USSR make me glad I grew up in the United States.

[@UshankaShow]

When I came to the US back in 1995 and met the kids from the South Side of Chicago, I was glad I grew up in the USSR.

[@owllymannstein7113]

@@UshankaShow Is that really a surprise given that the south side of Chicago is one of the shittiest places in the country?

[@UshankaShow]

@@owllymannstein7113 It was a surprise for me.

[@stephmaccormick3195]

That statement didn't age well, now did it? #coupdétat #capitol

[@famousbowl9926]

@@UshankaShow lmfao

[@lukea.907]

"Alcohol free wedding is total nonsense" ... wise words.

[@Poorexampeofhuman]

I noticed what you remember as a good day or a good time in the USSR, it had much to do with extra food and extra alcohol and extra good time. I find your story is very enriching and well comparison isn't always Fair. But it seems to me that you had good times in the USSR you have fond memories of your family and you had your traditions I'm thankful for your channel. You have a very honest description of life in the USSR

[@MyTv-]

Remember “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed “ as extremely thrilling and very good. Would love to see it again. As for many others here in the west it introduced Vladimir Vysotsky, for me!

[@Svetlana-says-it-as-it-is.]

I know of someone that went to Saint Petersburg in 1992 all young and excited and this person said that loved everything except the food. When I first started my visits in Russia in 2013 was very different even in the Soviet restaurants my only complaint is that it’s not very vegetarian friendly but oh well. I’ll be very interested in seeing the videos about people’s finances.

[@michaelboyd395]

I've always loved Russian food, although it's worth noting Russian and Soviet cuisines are two entirely different things.

[@Svetlana-says-it-as-it-is.]

@@michaelboyd395 You are right, Soviet cousine incorporates foods of a few republics not just Russia. I personally prefer Ukrainian cousine because the dishes are simple and delicious, I also enjoyed Uzbek and Kazakh foods being vegetarian doesn’t stop me from enjoying most foods if I was vegan I would miss out on a lot. These days you would be surprised at the amount of vegan restaurants you’ll find in Warsaw.

[@AdurianJ]

Swede here: A wedding without alcohol sounds nuts.

[@darkoneforce2]

@@ImForwardlook All northerners, from irish to russians are alcoholics.

[@porsche911sbs]

yep, although when you study the Soviet Union at the time alcoholism was a _huge_ problem in the country back then

[@soco13466]

I'm assuming your wife's family owns a furniture store. My Dad had a partnership with my uncle, an inherited furniture store, in Battle Creek. Dad sold his share to my uncle, moved to Florida, and opened a furniture store in Delray Beach, in '59. He finally sold the store in '89. I worked in that store in my teens. I was rather slim, but people would ask, "Where did you get those arms?" That, plus surfing, made working out in a gym unnecessary.

[@ubercomrade]

Not so close to the mic, my dude.

[@UshankaShow]

Sorry, new mike. Trying to figure it out

[@ernestcotton9324]

When is our civilization going to stop being so critical. Plus the language

[@Davidbadgamer]

Realy a fan of your videos keep the great work

[@TheBoozehounde]

Thank you for providing us with all of these interesting insights into Soviet life!!!

[@SonofSilas]

Would you consider posting the audio of your videos as audio podcasts so we can listen to the audio when we can't watch KZbin? I would love to listen to these when I'm driving to work.

[@gramsci747]

Why not download them as mp3s?

[@SonofSilas]

@@gramsci747 I could do this of course, but the convenience of them appearing in a podcast feed would be easier for us to listen regularly and would open up potentially a new audience

[@arisaga822]

DUDE!!! AUDIO LEVELS!!!

[@SuperFlatrock]

The concept you are referencing at 6:20 would probably translate to the "Hustle." Those waitresses were not just anyone? To get access to jobs that permitted what must amount to state sanctioned corruption could only b for "comrades of proven worth."

[@mariekatherine5238]

My nephew made a tidy living out of bar tending and table waiting for a prominent caterer. This was before COVID. Fortunately, he has several marketable skills. Right now, he is doing on-line home decoration and advising while finishing up his degree in counseling. He plans to partner up with a therapist who does on line counseling on various platforms.

[@WallyZamwa]

Sergei! Great channel! I listen to it almost daily. I have a question regarding time. Since towards the end of the USSR, there were more shortages of food (among many other things) you had to stand in line a lot just to get some food. Sometimes for hours. That being said, when/how did the average Soviet have time for all of this? Assuming you also had to go to work, commute to work and back, fix things at home, have a social life etc. How long was an average work day in the USSR for an example?

[@danpainter9504]

I appreciate your stories of the USSR because in America everything was politically motivated and you really bring things into perspective

[@steliosarvanitis5606]

So, you go to the cinema and then back home, also you should tell us, PLEASEE!, about any street food in the SU.

[@johnbogle6475]

Agreed. I want to know more about street food. Why isn't Kvas super popular in the U.S. now? I love the stuff :).

[@NathanDudani]

@@johnbogle6475 potato on stick

[@Mike-tg7dj]

Most informative.

[@jaegerguy]

I enjoy your videos. I studied economics, and I’m amazed on how the system worked. And you’re correct: the average Soviet citizen was a second class citizen.

[@naderhammouqah9086]

"everyone was drunk even though it was an alcohol free wedding" hahahahahahah

[@aarontenenbaum9536]

Restaurant servers can make decent money in the United States too. I think it's because you're kind of working for yourself. Granite they're not making more than engineers and doctors.

[@UshankaShow]

We are talking like making WAY MORE than any doctor. Ten times more

[@edwhitson9873]

Is it customary to tip ( gratuity) on food service? That's how waitresses get by in America

[@topherh5093]

I can't believe I've lived my whole life and didn't know waitresses were also prostitutes... DAMNIT.

[@joanhuffman2166]

I heard that before WWII, ordinary people in the UK never went to restaurants. The government passed some laws that restaurants weren't allowed to charge more than a certain amount for a meal. The restaurants started serving meals and charging the limit. At that time, the working class people started eating at restaurants.

[@Shonuff42080]

Did they have gentleman clubs in Ussr?

[@UshankaShow]

I guess you could call prison a gentleman club. No champaign room but plenty of the opportunities for surprise sex

[@waverider227]

@@UshankaShow AHAHAH There is an old saying for that in the US while you're in the big house "Don't drop the soap!"

[@waverider227]

Interesting subject as always, by the way just love the pictures from 5:20-5:27. I always get a laugh out of the one at 5:25. Even though we’re from different cultures and countries some things just never change especially regarding human attraction and fascination toward the female sex, I find it prevails in all cultures .

[@GrantTarredus]

Fascinating as always. Thank you. brother! By the way, I started watching your videos a few months ago because I developed an interest in learning about Soviet life after watching the television series about Cold War espionage, The Americans. Have you seen it?

[@dave8599]

interesting, thanks!

[@natejones902]

I found that movie you mentioned Train station for two. I noticed the people had to leave the train for food. That was an old practice in America until the turn of the 20th century with Dinning Cars. So, did they have dining cars in the soviet union railroads to provide food on the go?

[@UshankaShow]

Long distance train had so-called Restaurant cars but food there was quite pricey. My family never used that service while traveling, we always brought our own food

[@willr7849]

I have friends who are professional wait staff and they do really well, like they make more than I do as a paramedic. Especially if you are working behind the bar

[@Poorexampeofhuman]

I wish I could afford to order your merchandise. I have been looking for your book but I can't afford to buy it new I've been looking at the second hand stores near the capital city of Michigan

[@DavidNunezPNW]

What happened with the audio? It was so good in your live stream but now it is popping into the red a lot

[@UshankaShow]

New mike, new ropes

[@seanledden4397]

I just saw "The Diamond Arm" on KZbin - I was going to ask you how that movie jived with 1968 reality. And then I see you use a still from the fancy restaurant scene!.....I'm still going to ask you how that movie jives with 1968 Soviet reality. FYI.

[@Poorexampeofhuman]

I really wish I could have had a chance to live in the USSR for a period of time as a teenager. I would like to have had the experience. I think that the climate in Michigan is similar to a lot of Russia

[@lairdcummings9092]

Hah. The thumbnail cracks me up. Dad is checking out the waitress's cleavage, and Mom is NOT happy about it.

[@waverider227]

Yep too true .... we've all been there at one time or another 😜

[@Dj.MODÆO]

I know waiters and waitresses who make $600-$1000 a night in 5 hours…but it’s an unwritten rule of the trade to lie to everyone to A) avoid taxes and B) to keep big tips coming in from people that thinking waitresses aren’t getting paid enough

[@pierceparker]

Soviet Union, where are you? I really, really miss the USSR. We should bring it back. When I was a little boy growing up in America, we went to restaurants to eat almost 5 nights a wee. This was because my parents did not want to cook or do the dishes afterwards.

[@subscriptions007]

Did the Soviet waiter/waitress also profit by engaging in hard currency money changing?

[@UshankaShow]

Only in hard currency restaurants. If a drunk foreigner ran out the roubles I have no doubt dollars or German marks were accepted at "very good" rate of exchange

[@bettyswunghole3310]

If the posters are to be believed, Soviet waitresses were every bit as tasty as the food they served! 😍

[@jasong428]

You have excellent videos and narration. Thank you for the wealth of information! Why do you think American institutions portray Russians today as enemies? I know that's a huge question but it consistently confounds me.

[@carolradovich7906]

Probably because of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the USA which started after WW2.

[@Blackadder75]

I guess you have gotten your answer last year.... is it clear now?

[@archlich4489]

Have you seen a video for a song by Elton John called "Nikita" ? Just wondering.

[@UshankaShow]

Yes, long time ago. It just weird because Nikita is a name for males in Russian

[@archlich4489]

@@UshankaShow Yeah I realized that some years later.

[@kyrenthang8633]

I think the English word you're looking for that describes the alternative methods of making money under the table is "Scams".

[@PbFoot]

theres another movie about restaurants that i really love called Дайте жалобную книгу.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Alcohol free weddings - LOL!!!! Same thing here in the US. Who goes to a wedding without alcohol? ;)

[@reazallykhan]

I was born in 71 too,the best year in london

[@MarkH10]

I read about your point about nothing to spend money on back in the 80s. It was a big political, social problem. Poor people with high savings rates only due to lack of access to desirable goods. Having many years' worth of cash was nothing to Russians in those days. You can imagine the implications. Any access to the border created a huge pipeline of goods. That required bribes. Passing inspections required bribes. Having goods for sale required bribes to the local Militia. So corruption became much more widespread, rather than not necessary because it was the only way to get anything in life. That is why the store shelf pictures don't show the true state of the people. Empty shelves don't mean the goods are not in town, among the people, just that they were not on 'official' shelves, but in the hands of regular people on the black market.

[@fchanMSI]

In some Asian countries they don’t accept tips as it “below” them as they are paid well already.

[@scottjg24]

John Wayne Cheeseburger?!?? Where did that come from?

[@UshankaShow]

From a viewer. He claimed that my name is Sergei Sputnikoff is too Soviet. Like having a name John Wayne Cheeseburger for an American. The rest is history

[@Chanselleur]

5:07 this kind of sounds like Baptist weddings, funerals other events in the south eastern United States. Of course you’re going to hell for anything so drinking in public is not OK for Baptist; however, it is commonly known when they go to their truck that’s where the beer or whiskey is. at several funerals I have attended nobody has a single drink in their hand, but then you walk outside and stand around the pick up truck did you see everybody’s hands are below the bed of the pick up truck that is where they are holding their booze, so it’s OK to drink but it’s not OK to be seen drinking. Very southern etiquette. Like it’s not OK to be gay, but whatever happens behind closed doors doesn’t matter. Of course that is the euphemism. I believe that speaks to acceptance that people are different and will do what they do but at the same time there is a standard set of manners that it would be beyond taboo to do certain things in public even today in the south they might not say something to your face, but they will definitely say something probably behind your back :-) that it’s just a culture.

[@adamhauskins6407]

Wait the Soviets had restaurants? Here's a fun fact from the pacific northwest, Soviet factory ships worked with American trawlers on catch share bases trading king crab for whiting. The workers made more than Soviet admirals and they adjusted it the next year

[@chrisfrank4267]

Sir you seem to forget the huge divide between the experience of growing up in American suburbs and rural areas are vastly different from urban poor areas. The burbs and even poor rural areas were at one time a uniquely American paradise.

[@justdustino1371]

Hindsight is 20/20 I guess, but I know there was Tsarist era gold still floating around the USSR. So, if these people had known the collapse was coming, and converted their roubles to gold, they'd have come out well. I kinda want a 5 rouble gold coin with Tsar Nicholas and I see AU and BU ones on eBay from $350 to $450. So, that would've been the way to go.

[@TheSuperDerp]

I don't mean to sound rude, but you should get a pop filter for your mic. The audio is really blown out.

[@UshankaShow]

It's a new mike with the pop filter. I cranked volume too high it seems. Sorry

[@TheSuperDerp]

@@UshankaShow S'all good man.

[@Ultradude604]

So waiters and waitresses made good money not from tips but from scams? That's hard to fathom for me. One scam is take the food off of one dish and resold it to another table. So both tables got less food but paid the full price. Another one is the waitress buy food from the wholesaler of the restaurant and the kitchen cook it and sell it, and somehow you get the money? This doesn't make sense. Everyone had to be in on it, including the manager. The owner of the restaurant had to be blind to miss this. Of course I believe you. But I just can't wrap my head around it from a non Soviet stand point. It sounds more like the mafia than a restaurant.

[@stevetorres76]

Taxi was a pretty well paid profession in the United States.. until Uber and Lyft came along.. it used to be a genuine profession at one time. Before gps came out you actually had to know where places were and also had to know how to use a map book. The pay was pretty good too.. 100k”ish per year for a dedicated and skilled driver. Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s .. I did it from 1997 till 2011. It was the type of job that allowed for communists to be capitalists and capitalists to be capitalists..

[@ragincajun7625]

Komrade cheeseburger, What did you think about American food when you first got here? How long where you in America before you had your first steak?

[@UshankaShow]

I described that in my book but camp food was horrible and not enough. I missed soups for lunch. Hated snack culture. Still prefer bologna over the steak.

[@ragincajun7625]

@@UshankaShow I live in Louisiana and we call Bologna "Mississippi Round Steak"

[@UshankaShow]

You guys really enjoy Manda down there, don't ya? I found that hilarious since Manda in Russian means pu...sy. Sweet Jesus! 😁😁😁

[@ragincajun7625]

@@UshankaShow Wow! I am impressed you know about Manda's. (Best roast beef in America) What do you think about Gumbo?

[@warreneckels4945]

@@UshankaShow This joke dates back to the Borscht Belt [1]. "The food, it's awful! And the portions are too small." [1] The Borscht Belt refers to Jewish summer resorts in the Catskills outside NYC built because Jews were not welcome at "nice" resorts run for Gentiles. They were also places where diners could eat kosher food. Many, if not most of the prominent comedians of the 1950s and 1960s cut their chops at these resorts. Borscht, of course, was one of the Eastern European items on the menu. .

[@andrewwebb2866]

You're blowing my windows out, good buddy.

[@DodAederen]

At 14:49, you have the translations reversed, the Left is Capitalism, the right is Communism.

[@horsemumbler1]

Good catch. I can't read a word of Russian, but it's plain to see just from the vowels.

[@Bonserak23]

English translation would be "Perks of the trade".

[@lunarmodule6419]

Sergei do you remember the weird movie "Taxi blues"? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_Blues

[@robh.5595]

Anyone else disappointed that Comrade Cheeseburger admitted to scarfing down buterbrod, but not a single cheeseburger?

[@MaelPlaguecrow6942]

Yo, bass boosted Ushanka Show.

[@Lilljehook]

Is the sound worse than normal?

[@kevinroberts8441]

Glad I grew up in America

[@Tsonontowan]

Them were the good old days

[@markrcca5329]

apparently, various types of home-repair people that did odd jobs made out really well too. For example, someone who was painting on a day-crew would steal paint and supplies from their workplace and then use those on private moonlighting jobs. My parents were software engineers so there was literally nothing they could steal LOL or moonlight. We were quite poor compared to some of these citizens..

[@UshankaShow]

Exactly! My father was a spray painter and he painted a lot of cars and garages on a side. Unfortunately, he took vodka as a payment most of the times. My mother was doing technical drawings for living and we had plenty of pencils at home ))

[@markrcca5329]

@@UshankaShow we had a lot of used punch cards.. were useful for making notes at home and school LOL. Some jobs weren't famous for their side-perks. What about jazz and rock musicians - did they get a lot of side money? I was looking forward to a career as a Jazz pianist and teacher - I wonder how that would have worked out. There were very few Jazz players in Soviet Lithuania and seemed to be plenty of demand. My piano teacher sometimes sent me to stand-in for him at some of his restaurant gigs. As part of my education of course :) I left USSR when I was 16.

[@UshankaShow]

In restaurants and cafes - sure. Wedding gigs.

[@markrcca5329]

@@UshankaShow that's what I heard. Don't know how much they made though. My teacher combined his music school income with playing at restaurants and sometimes weddings.

[@bryanbradley6871]

didn't doctors get paid the same as street sweepers?

[@UshankaShow]

No. 130 - 150 rubles vs. 70

[@RogerThat787]

I am surprised that the Soviets allowed birthdays and such occasions!

[@TheLakabanzaichrg]

Sounds like cubans working deliveey trucks, sometimes they "lose" things like lobsters and wine which then get sold to tourists for american dollars

[@m.a.t.a.s]

What happened to your mic?

[@UshankaShow]

Trying to master the new toy

[@dave8599]

Capitalism at work back in the USSR!

[@Ciborium]

"I'd like to reserve a table for tomorrow to bring my girlfriend while my wife is at work." 🤣

[@tom970091]

Min 6:25 is from Hebrew through yeddish into russian/Ukrainian/Soviet dialect, in Hebrew סחר-מכר, means "trade an exchange" (speculation)

[@UshankaShow]

That's amazing! Thanks!

[@gupyb4165]

You can mark me as impressed sir. * sip tea *⛾👌

[@henrikhilskov]

the tricks you aree mention is common in the hole world.

[@luvzfrance24]

Lol I love how the weddings were supposed to be alcohol free and yet everyone is drunk.

[@dragonstormdipro1013]

Tell about street foods of USSR