In the local Maxima supermarket the other day I was asked the question, "Kas need on seemneteta?" by an earnest cashier, who held up the bunches of grapes in a clear plastic bag, across which was written in gigantic letters, S E E D L E S S.
For the uninitiated, a 'ta' ending to a word means 'without,' and a 'ga' ending means 'with.' Läksin poodi Epuga, I went to the shop with Epp, läksin poodi Eputa, I went to the shop without Epp.
Back from the good ol' USofA, it startled me a bit that this poor soul in bumblefuckbogland could hold up a bag that said S E E D L E S S on it, and ask me if the grapes within had seeds or no seeds. But she's a foreigner, or, rather, I am a foreigner, so why should I expect her to understand English?
I did lean a bit over the counter and say, "You know, S E E D L E S S means seemneteta in English." She blushed a bit, those moist apple freckled cheeks. A plump cashier, a young cashier. I peered at her nametag. Her first name was something like, Angela. Her second was too long to be bothered with. Maybe it said Baryshnikov or Rachmaninoff.
Maxima, though Lithuanian owned, is the domain of the Estonian Russians. Maybe it's the cheaper prices (because most Estonian Russians are poor, except for the wealthiest people in Estonia, the transit tsars and restauranteurs and casino magnates, who are also Estonian Russians). Or maybe they feel a big Balto-Slavic affinity with the Lithuanians. Shit, whatever it is, if you want to meet a Russian in some homogeneous town (with some culture) in south Estonia, he or she can be found behind the register at the local Maxima.
Like the gal chatting with the American in Estlandic about S E E D L E S S grapes.
And if you are searching for a point, there is none. But life is entertaining, no?
12 kommentaari:
Ya know Justin after reading this I was reminded of something once said to someone I knew who worked for John Lindsey one of New York's Mayors. After being asked a question by a New York Times reporter he went on and on with a very long and somewhat detailed statement. The next day when he arrived at his desk he was called into the mayors office. He was a bit nervous. He only knew it had something to do with his comment to the press. The mayor had called him in to thank him personally, he said that he was very impressed with his ability to make such a long, interesting and detailed statement and yet say absolutely nothing. You have a real future in Politics he said. Perhaps you do too Justin.
Ya know Justin after reading this I was reminded of something once said to someone I knew who worked for John Lindsey one of New York's Mayors. After being asked a question by a New York Times reporter he went on and on with a very long and somewhat detailed statement. The next day when he arrived at his desk he was called into the mayors office. He was a bit nervous. He only knew it had something to do with his comment to the press. The mayor had called him in to thank him personally, he said that he was very impressed with his ability to make such a long, interesting and detailed statement and yet say absolutely nothing. You have a real future in Politics he said. Perhaps you do too Justin.
Can't a guy just tell a stupid story now and then? This is what I hate about blogging. Everything has to have an argument or a point. If you went to a store in a foreign country somewhere and the lady held up a big carton of SKIM MILK and asked you if it was skim milk, wouldn't you find it somewhat amusing?
It's not about the cheap prices of Maxima, it's about the cheap salaries of Maxima:) Just like women expect to get lower salaries than men, russian girls expect to get lower salaries than estonian-speaking girls; so they end up in Maxima. Sad but true.
Apparently situation is even worse in Maximas homeland, Lithuania. They employ Belarusians and pay around 200 for the privilege to work for them. I remember when I left for UK a decade ago and my mum rang me saying how awful the situation had become - they were bringing those girls from Ida Viru by bus loads and they could barely speak Estonian. Hopefully things have improved by now. We should actually boycott these creedy supermarket chains with theit inhumane attitudes.
I loved your story Justin.
My point although "wordy" was to suggest that among your many gifts, was the ability to make even a mundane story about seedless grapes riviting. : )
I loved your story Justin.
My point although "wordy" was to suggest that among your many gifts, was the ability to make even a mundane story about seedless grapes riviting. : )
Lithuanian and Russian languages have closer pronunciation and grammatical structure than Lithuanian and English.
Lithuanians don't think Russians are not people or lesser people unable to work in a shop.
The owners of Maxima have gone to school in the USSR and have learned Russian well.
Maxima has been built for cheapness, so they hire the cheapest workforce that has been born and schooled in the USSR, thus mostly Russians, rejected by Estonians, people who haven't seen the point of and haven't had good opportunities to learn English in high schools which were their maximum level of education.
Brotherhood? What a horrible thing.
I have nothing against that you will boycott Maxima if you can. I do just that. I don't want its awful inhuman owners to become even richer than they already are. But there are people who think that they can't boycott them, no matter how they would want to.
I don't think there's something like brotherhood where it is all about money, quick and easy money in a primitive way for some.
Bea, English was tought in high schools in the USSR. There just wasn't anything to do with it, you might as well have learned Latin, a dead language with noone to practice it with.
Russians have a joke that goes like this:
Two gentlemen bump into each other in London.
"Excuse, mister, what's watch?", says one. "Six watch", says other. "Such much?". "Ah, you grduate from Moscow University, too!"
Exactly, Rainer. :D I learned` German in school and my fat auntie teacher was much less interested in teaching that than what I was interested in learning. The majority of the class weren't interested in learning either. We didn't expect we would use it. I never used my German enough, so I forgot it. But I was not bad at languages and decided to give it a try and learn English on my own, without any teachers. It took me time anyway to decide that I'll manage to learn English to the level where it becomes usable, not just laughable. I learned it somehow after I finished all schools, and it's not perfect, but I can use it sometimes. I see people of my and Giustino's age who think they are educated and think their English is ok 'cause they'd learned it at schools for years, but I see mine is better.
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