Reference no: EM133736375

Problem

The following story circulated in the United States in the late 1980's and seems to have come from the experiences of Americans traveling in the Soviet Union. Read the information and try to answer the questions that follow.

In the streets and informal markets of the city, there were vendors of light bulbs and they often had significant numbers of buyers. At first glance, this wasn't surprising, as any visitor who had entered a Soviet building could easily see that light bulbs were apparently in short supply. Entryways and stairwells were often quite dark, and when light fixtures were in evidence, they almost never had bulbs. So, it didn't seem strange to see people buying light bulbs- until, that is, the observer discovered that the people were buying light bulbs that didn't work. The bulbs often looked normal enough, but usually the filament was broken and the bulb had burned out. Even more amazing is that the customers seemed to know and accept that the bulbs wouldn't work. When asked why he was purchasing broken light bulbs, one Soviet citizen seemed puzzled that the American observer would ask, and responded, "Well, to take them to work, of course."

Clues:

1) Light bulbs were in perennially short supply in the Soviet Union.

2) Government offices, factories, etc. received shipments of light bubs first. Only then were remaining bulbs offered for sale in state stores.
3) Despite this fact, hallways, closets, and bathrooms in government offices and factories were almost always dark.
4) There did not seem to be any serious government effort to stop the sale of broken bulbs.

Task

I. Why would the Soviet citizens take broken light bulbs to work?

II. Why were the hallways, closets and bathrooms of factories and government off always so dark even though they received shipments of light bulbs first?