Post by estimatedprophet on May 3, 2012 3:57:36 GMT -5
I heard this once and I was wondering if it was at least true'ish...
A woman I once worked with grew up in Russia. I asked her if it was true that people had to wait for government handouts of bread in a line. She told me that she used to have to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line. But she didn't always know what she would get when she got to the end of the line. Mostly it was food items, but sometimes other things like useful items were given out by the government.
She would wait in these lines forever and ever to get to the end of the line on a monthly basis. She said that in more populated areas, the government handouts became more frequent. Also, in the more populated areas people would get better items. Medicine was especially focused to populated areas. The system did not work equally.
However, she lived in the country, and as such, the infrequent government handouts were performed geographically centered - making them far away for people to travel to across the countryside. This seemed to work out because travel across the countryside took time and expenses on the part of the people. She said she lived about 80 kilometers from the nearest city.
She told me about the only family car that they had. It was old and beat up, and didn't run well. On a rainy day she had to travel the 80 kilometers to go to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line. The car began to fail, so she began to look for place to get help, but in the rain, she became lost in the countryside. In the rain, she ended up having to swap the tire on the car by herself.
She ended up soaking wet and greasy, and got back in the car to find her way to the distribution center in the city. When she finally got there, she had to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line. When she finally got to the end of the line, she was handed a jug of fruit juice… and nothing else.
She got down on her knees in front of the Russian guard while soaking wet and greasy to beg. She pleaded her story to the man. How she had to travel 80 kilometers across the countryside. How she got a flat tire. How she had to fix it herself. How she got all wet and greasy. How she then had to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line, but that in the end all she got was a bottle of juice.
She begged the man for something more than this, but all the man said was…
"That sure is a long way to go for just a punchline."
A woman I once worked with grew up in Russia. I asked her if it was true that people had to wait for government handouts of bread in a line. She told me that she used to have to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line. But she didn't always know what she would get when she got to the end of the line. Mostly it was food items, but sometimes other things like useful items were given out by the government.
She would wait in these lines forever and ever to get to the end of the line on a monthly basis. She said that in more populated areas, the government handouts became more frequent. Also, in the more populated areas people would get better items. Medicine was especially focused to populated areas. The system did not work equally.
However, she lived in the country, and as such, the infrequent government handouts were performed geographically centered - making them far away for people to travel to across the countryside. This seemed to work out because travel across the countryside took time and expenses on the part of the people. She said she lived about 80 kilometers from the nearest city.
She told me about the only family car that they had. It was old and beat up, and didn't run well. On a rainy day she had to travel the 80 kilometers to go to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line. The car began to fail, so she began to look for place to get help, but in the rain, she became lost in the countryside. In the rain, she ended up having to swap the tire on the car by herself.
She ended up soaking wet and greasy, and got back in the car to find her way to the distribution center in the city. When she finally got there, she had to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line. When she finally got to the end of the line, she was handed a jug of fruit juice… and nothing else.
She got down on her knees in front of the Russian guard while soaking wet and greasy to beg. She pleaded her story to the man. How she had to travel 80 kilometers across the countryside. How she got a flat tire. How she had to fix it herself. How she got all wet and greasy. How she then had to wait in line forever and ever to get to the end of the line, but that in the end all she got was a bottle of juice.
She begged the man for something more than this, but all the man said was…
"That sure is a long way to go for just a punchline."
