The Soviet Union was a bureaucratic nightmare.
Even the smallest task involved piles of paperwork and forms to fill out.
In modern-day Russia that is still the case if you want to get clothes dry cleaned.
Moscow-based Guardian correspondent Miriam Elder wrote about the mountain of paperwork it took to get five sweaters dry cleaned.
“The woman behind the counter takes a huge stack of papers,” said Elder in an interview with Marco Werman. “She starts examining your clothes with the diligence of a doctor devoted to internal medicine.”
We want to hear your feedback so we can keep improving our website, theworld.org. Please fill out this quick survey and let us know your thoughts (your answers will be anonymous). Thanks for your time!