Nizhny Novgorod Residents Recall Salary Paid in Goods in 1990s
During the 1990s, many workers in Russia were paid with goods and services instead of monetary wages.
Do you remember when salaries were paid in pasta, toilet paper, or sausages? We asked our readers about the most memorable «currencies» from the 1990s. Here«s what was used to pay salaries in this NN.RU report.
Nizhny Novgorod residents recalled numerous stories where they or their parents received furniture, grain, condensed milk, cereal, soda, and marshmallows instead of cash for their work. There were even instances where teachers were paid with crates of vodka, and medical workers with sugar and flour. Some ended up with office paperclips and chekhon fish.
»My mother worked at a music school, and they didn«t pay salaries, they were constantly delayed. My father worked at a factory. I remember he brought home a »Malyutka« washing machine. We lived on potatoes alone. At 17, I started working at a hospital. There, if you worked for six months, you could get food on credit from the buffet until payday,» recalled Tatiana.
«And for us medical workers, they simply didn»t pay salaries. They were delayed for three to four months. Unpaid utility bills piled up, and there was nothing to eat. Sometimes patients would slip us food — often stolen or obtained from fishing or hunting — sometimes they«d bring sterlet or pike, once even a piece of moose meat. That was happiness. Our family was lucky: we had a shed and a house in the village with land. We grew potatoes that could be stored in the cellar until summer, and that»s what we ate,« shared Olga.
»My father was paid with pink salmon for six months. Red fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I can«t even afford that now,» said Alexey.
Others recalled how at work they would draw lots for underwear and socks; receive food vouchers for a month but eat everything in three days; be paid with down jackets or even oversized bras; and some received crystal, forks and spoons for their labor, while others got televisions or tape recorders.
«I worked at an auto repair shop. Clients offered cheese, buckwheat, sugar, various services from tailoring clothes to making furniture as payment,» said Alexander.
«In Semyonov, according to my relatives, there was a case of salaries being paid with coffins!» surprised Svetlana.
Tell us, what were you or your relatives paid with in the 1990s?
Previously, we asked our readers how often they buy fish. After all, recently President Vladimir Putin noted that Russians eat little seafood. We publish the answers here.
