re: #223 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

That blew my mind when I first came to Germany (around 1988) and I saw a kid go into a grocery store, slap down 20 marks and fetch two bottles of Korn schnapps for his dad. It was clear from the conversation with the cashier that she knew the kid and his dad and that he did such things regularly, but I could not imagine that happening in the ‘States

When I visited Moscow 10 years ago even the smallest corner bodega had a YOOGE alcohol selection, gas stations sold alcohol, and people would wander around in the street guzzling from bottles, not even hiding them in paper bags like the stew bums you see in Detroit.