Comments by "Keit Hammleter" (@keithammleter3824) on "The Day Boris Yeltsin Betrayed Socialism. Surprise Visit To Randall's Grocery Store in Texas" video.

i remember seeing a tv interview of Eduard Shevardnadze, who was soviet foreign minister under Gorbachev. On the collapse of communism, he basically said the same thing - he said that over the years so many Russian scientists had attended international conferences, so many Russians had served at embassies, so many Russians with their support staff had completed in international sports, and all had visited stores, there was just no hiding the fact that Western grocery stores had lots of good quality everything, and that the soviet system just could not match it. So the soviets at all levels lost their morale. I remember Shevardnadze saying he had visited a US grocery store - it was fully stocked and "nobody was buying."
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Pokazuha is in no way confined to the USSR or communist countries. Here in Australia, a visit by Queen Elizabeth usually caused something good to happen, or the appearance of something good happening. Railways here until recent years were government owned, and operated with a sort of benign neglect. On one visit, the Queen wanted to travel by train from the State capital to a regional city 160 km away. The scheduled train used to rattle and shake somewhat, and occasionally break down. For the Queen's trip, they re-aligned the track with welded rails to give a smooth ride, plus they bought a new locomotive and carriages, with a dining car that served drinks and snacks. Passengers benefited for years afterward. Priot to anothe visit by Queen Elizabeth, they were discussing with her plans to live broadcast a "glad to be here" speech by the Queen. She asked if children who were in hospital would be able to see her speech, and there was talk about an "impromptu" hospital visit if her schedule ran well and there was time. So the government hurriedly installed lots of TV's in hospital wards. But after her visit, they took the TV's away again. I attended the opening ceremony, conducted by the Queen, of a big new shopping precinct. Most of the shops were bare concrete as construction was running very late. For a few weeks prior, contractors worked double shifts to paint the concrete, install glass, and make it look like it was finished. Then after the Queen went back to England, they removed the glass etc, cleaned off the paint, and set about installing the finishes the architects specified. It was another 6 or 8 months before it really opened for business. Recently, some newspaper journalists embarrassed the Health Department of Western Australia. The Premier decided to visit a hospital, and the hospital management got staff to volunteer to be pretend patients, getting fake treatment with happy smiles on their faces! Most of the various companies I have worked for ordered cleanups and show-work to be done when government VIP's came.
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@Tyler_Owen23 ; Oh, quick clean=ups before the Big Boss arrives is very common in industry. It is not Pokazuha. The funny thing is, later in my career I became a head office boss myself, and I could always tell if they had done a special cleanup, or had guys doing make-work to appear busy. They neither fooled nor impressed me. One time I decided to visit a plant, and rang ahead just before leaving my office and told them I was coming, so they only had about 20 minutes notice. Just as I entered the foyer, I heard a faint voice say, "Put that away! Hammleter's here." I wondered what naughty thing was to be hidden from my sight, but hearing it made me smile.
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@Tyler_Owen23 : That's pretty much how it is. Any competent manager is not fooled but uses common sense. Actually part of the art of being a boss is knowing how to handle the difference between what is normal human behavior and what constitutes screwing the company. The worst kind are martinets who try to enforce every rule to the letter. All that does is cost them respect and cause low worker morale. I have an engineering background. Technical guys using company tools. machines, and premises to do private work ("foreign work") can be good for the company, because it expands the skill and experience of the workers. Smart companies actually facilitate a controlled amount of foreign/private work by approving the use of company materials.
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