I had some advantages during those times, because I used to take care of the car of the first party secretary in our city sector  (so to speak, because they were the cars of the state, those cars and the chauffeurs who drove them) . At the Offices of the Basic Unit ( BUB), there was a food store where the hot shots had food vouchers. (10 kilos of cheese, 15 kilos of sirloin, 20 eggs at Easter). They could buy all this at a very low price, almost for free. They used to give me something as well, for repairing their cars, vouchers and stuff. So, from this point of view I managed quite well! Not all of them whose cars I repaired did the same: There was a party secretary, Negroianu, from the city sector 2, who was ferociously mean, nobody could get near him. When I saw the way he looked at me as if I were nothing, I refused to repair his car. He told me I was going to lose my job the very next day, because I had stood up to him. I had no obligation towards him, because I worked for the city sector 6- that?s why nothing happened. I was called at the party where he had told on me, claiming that I had called him names; I had to give a statement and stuff like that, but my chance was that the party secretary from the city sector 6 helped me. If I hadn?t had any support, things would have been much worse. Since then, I wasn?t appointed to repair the cars of other party secretaries except those from the city sector 6. (O. S., 41)

 In the 80 the tourist passport for the Western countries could be obtained with great trouble. Those who managed to get it were suspected of collaborating with the Securitate.

I heard about the story of a gypsy chief who obtained the passport as legally as possible. They agreed to issue one for him and after a long time, they called him at the Passport Office to tell him he had a passport. He was supposed to leave for a world congress of the gypsy. The gypsy told them that meanwhile he had been there and managed to come back, too. (C.V., 7)

There was no patrimony, but there were the comrades from the patrimony who were not only experts, culture people, but also Securitate agents, entering one?s house and counting one?s objects. The whole patrimony affair happened in the ?80 and everybody had to declare what objects one had in the house, a guy from the patrimony came, valued them, they did not take it from you, but you were not allowed to take them out, to sell them, and after ?90, the same, well not the experts, but the Securitate agents came to see if one still had them. They were some who were totally incompetent. They would evaluate an old Russian icon, pricing it the same with a cardboard made by a pupil at some art school. (C. M., 52)