NOSTALGIA

Be assured that not everything today is as it should be. It might be all right for the young people, they can manage, but for us, old people, things are worse and worse. There are many today who boss it around, it?s so damned grand, what they do, and who they are? It was better in the ?80s when everyone was equal. No one was better than the others, and they really aren?t, are they? God made us all of the same sort. It was cold, so what? No one was warmer than the others. And what was Ceausescu to do? The country was in debt, and we had to economize. So what? If the shops are full today, can you have what you want? You have to work hard, like our boy does, who works all day and comes home shattered in the night. Is he paid well? He is, ?cause he?s a good boy, but when I worked in the ?80s no one had to work his soul out, even if we had to go on Sundays, too. We went to the factory, stayed a while, read the newspapers, sneaked behind some machine, things like that? I remember one of my colleagues, he was best at it, could sleep away the time and nobody ever caught him. Today? Look at my boy! He?s got money, but he works his butt off. So I say, back then, no one ever sacked you, and some way or another you managed fine. (V. M., 119)

I couldn?t say it was better back then, but it was surely safer. Everyone was safe, you didn?t mind going out in the street late at night, even if the streets were in the dark. They are lit now, but you no longer have the courage to go out. They even get you in broad daylight these days. (M. C. J., 96)

It wasn?t better back then, but you could be certain about your work place. There is no such thing today. Shortly after the New Year?s Day, I was told I was going to be laid off. So I became an unemployed worker. That was not too critical, as long as I could find a job somewhere else, since there is much need of mechanic engineers these days. I found lots of job offers in the papers, just that my age was considered an ?impediment?. They hired mechanic engineers aged under 40 (every time I was interviewed, it was the only thing that came in the way). Experience did not seem to count much. Finally I did find a job, but it was hard. This is the worst aspect of our times: you can?t retire, but you can?t find a job either, because you?re ?over-aged?. (M. C. J., 21)

Proportions were kept in Ceausescu?s time. Now it is all off balance: the poor in the market place, the rich in the Malls. We were all of a kind, and this was a good thing. We had the money, just that there was no food. The salaries were all right, you could pay for a house out of your pay plus the loans. Pupils received their textbooks free from the school and the stationery was cheap. You could afford holidays ? in the mountains, or on the seaside. (M. C., 105)