Chapter 5. Lesson 5

Many of your acquaintances in your new country will be interested in getting to know you better. One of the things they'll be asking will be Где вы работаете? "What do you do for a living? Where do you work?" Don't be surprised if you're asked questions, especially having to do with how much you are paid, which Americans would find inappropriate. During the Soviet period, wage scales were standard and common knowledge throughout the Soviet Union. A bus driver in Moscow was supposed to make as much as one in Irkutsk; a university professor in Kiev had the same salary as his counterpart in Gorky.

In those years, manual labor was more highly valued (and better paid) than those professions which demanded more brain and less brawn. With the break-up of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the communist state, the nature and scope of many professions have been altered. And as the country moves toward a market economy, new professions are appearing (мэнеджеры, банкиры, бизнесмены and others) which enjoy varying degrees of popularity and respect. As a residual effect of the Soviet period, there are still many who think that any individual who is even mildly successful in business (and in economic and material terms) is obviously а спекулянт who could have acquired his/her wealth only through illegal means. We can expect to see this situation continuing for some time as the society gropes its way toward a new order.