Quality control, Soviet style: Here's another fine message you've gotten me into

theregister.com

40 pointsgeorgecmu6 comments

You can tell it's a fable. Here's the clue -

> lubricated by Cointreau and Grand Marnie

In 1978 the access to this sort of spirits was all but reserved for Politburo members and their entourage. No way in hell a bunch of programmers would be able to toast with Cointreau, leave alone lubricate themselves with it.

Lots of imported liquor was sold in "Berezka" - foreign currency shops opened to foreigners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryozka_%28Russian_retail_sto...

Yes, but it is confusing, was "Ivan" a foreigner? We are told he was an employee of the computer firm, and that the terminals were Italian. He got a diplomatic apartment and there was a translator present in the testing day, plus a "protocol lady" (KGB minder). On the other hand, he had a Lada, so maybe from another Warsav pact country?

A bit of fluff unrelated to the main story might diminish the reliability of the narrator a bit, but I don't think you can conclude the entire story is fictional as a result.

It was a joke, mate.

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