[Old Yeller]

No one wants to order a new car and then wait for it hopefully for two years.

[Vigilanteman]

Reagan used to tell a great joke about the Soviet system on his first trip back. He claimed he heard it from an ordinary citizen that he was allowed to speak with privately.

Russia had this system of ordering new cars where you had to pay for it all in advance and wait for 7-10 years. So Boris and Natasha save their rubles and go to the local bureau with their money to make the reservation.

The bureaucrat takes their money, gives them the receipt and a date to pick it up about eight years away.

"Morning or afternoon?" asks Boris.

"What difference does it make? " asks the bureaucrat, "It is more than eight years from now."

"Well," says Boris, "I have the plumber booked for the morning, so I was hoping I could pick up the car in the afternoon."