"The good old Soviet times..."

When I was about 10, like any kid at that age I wanted my very own bike. I was tired of having to borrow one for just one ride around the block from neighbors. So at 5 feet tall, with my curls in tow, and big pleading eyes, I declared my demands to my parents.

But this was not just any kind of bike that I wanted, this was the supreme hot item of the then Soviet Union: the “Аист” (~Aist, translates to Stork (I have no idea how they came up with that name).

This is a famous brand manufacturing bikes since 1947. They seem to be popular even to this day. At the time, I and anyone my age who did not have one, almost salivated at the site of it as an odd kid with a blaze expression strolled passed on one.

So how does one go about getting something one wants in the Soviet Union?

Well one way was with the help of someone’s favor. Since my parents did not intend to pull any connections for such a child’s whim, I was left with waiting.

Waiting and calling the store. Every day. Waiting to see if they received any additional shipments because there was only one bike store in the entire city, and they were out. This went on for the whole summer. Can you imagine how long of a wait that is for a ten year old? A whole summer waiting for a bike?

Well, my patience ran out. Otherwise, my attention became focused on something else, and I stopped calling. I stopped waiting. Eventually I forgot about it. A little over a year after that, there was no Soviet Union. A year after that, my family moved to the United States.

Where am I going with this?

20 years later. Déjà vu. I have been patiently waiting for my birthday to get a gift card to get an iPhone 4s. While my demands may have grown more particular, as I would only want this phone and only in white, the process does not seem to have changed.

After spending some time at an ATT retail location, the outcome was this: I paid for and technically bought a black iPhone 4s, but I will be waiting for the white one to be received in stock at which point I will exchange the black one for the white one.

What does the ATT rep tell me when I call today to check status? “We don’ t have it in stock yet, call back tomorrow.” Waiting. Again. Having to call, every day. Again.

Communism, shmonunism.

That’s the moral of the story (with the added touch of the “Аист” and the “good old times” nostalgia.)

It looked something like this: