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My parents were factory workers in socialist eastern block. Recently my father recalled that Wrangler bag, he received when he finally had money to buy branded

My parents were factory workers in socialist eastern block. Recently my father recalled that Wrangler bag, he received when he finally had money to buy branded jeans was status symbol on par with the jeans itself. Currently I'm earning maybe a half of what's advertised as average dev salary in US (which admittedly takes me much further, where I live - maybe you guys should consider relocation?). May I have my happiness-pass now please? :-) > The real advice is to fight tooth and nail to try to get oneself and family to financial safety. It is. My parents surely did and I'm also going to (btw calling this privilege and guilt tripping over fact, that somebody's parents are decent human beings is kinda weird). This is how life works. No reason to obsess over some places being shitty. There's less of them than a few generations ago (fun fact - my city still has its old beheading stone. Thankfully not used for couple hundreds of years).

edmcnulty101 4y ago
> were factory workers in socialist eastern block That's a rough start. Did they retire? What do they do now?
- dzikimarian 4y ago
  They did, quite recently(with some twists in the meantime due to fall of socialism and later privatization). Currently they renovate what's left from grandparents house to settle in countryside - mostly by hand as they enjoy the process. Honestly pretty lovely & tranquil place. What's funny, they will tell you, that factory wasn't bad compared to work in the field they did with their own parents. It also got them place in block of flats - objectively kinda crappy, but everything was crappy back then.
  - edmcnulty101 4y ago
    There's something really satisfying about working in the country and working with your hands to build your own house and grow your own food after working hard in the system your whole life. What happened to them after the fall of socialism?
    - dzikimarian 4y ago
      Not that much. Factory went private which was sometimes better (more reasonable investment, tech progress), sometimes worse (high unemployment levels meant people were treated shitty sometimes). It was closed maybe 15 years later. Dad's pretty good welder/mechanic (spends a lot of time on this even now), so was hired in company providing, let's say, maintenence outsourcing for various business. Nothing exciting, but they always provided for the family and helped us to start adult life however they could.

edmcnulty101 4y ago

> were factory workers in socialist eastern block That's a rough start. Did they retire? What do they do now?

dzikimarian 4y ago
They did, quite recently(with some twists in the meantime due to fall of socialism and later privatization). Currently they renovate what's left from grandparents house to settle in countryside - mostly by hand as they enjoy the process. Honestly pretty lovely & tranquil place. What's funny, they will tell you, that factory wasn't bad compared to work in the field they did with their own parents. It also got them place in block of flats - objectively kinda crappy, but everything was crappy back then.
- edmcnulty101 4y ago
  There's something really satisfying about working in the country and working with your hands to build your own house and grow your own food after working hard in the system your whole life. What happened to them after the fall of socialism?
  - dzikimarian 4y ago
    Not that much. Factory went private which was sometimes better (more reasonable investment, tech progress), sometimes worse (high unemployment levels meant people were treated shitty sometimes). It was closed maybe 15 years later. Dad's pretty good welder/mechanic (spends a lot of time on this even now), so was hired in company providing, let's say, maintenence outsourcing for various business. Nothing exciting, but they always provided for the family and helped us to start adult life however they could.