“1 out of 3 Greeks are government employees”
I lived in Greece in 1988-1989, and back then it was said that 1 in 10 were getting social security or disability from America.
I don’t know if that number is anywhere near accurate, but in my time there we traveled all over, and many folks we did meet lived in the U.S. at one time or another and claimed to be getting some amount of cash from America. It was fashionable to talk about it once they found out you were American.
For one month I lived in Kato Patisia in Athens, and the couple I was staying with both worked for a town here in Illinois (I knew their kids, that’s who I was visiting), and both parents claimed they had received “on the job” chemical burns in their eyes, both from different incidences and were declared legally blind here in the US, thus they received disability. The parents could see fine and dandy, probably better than me. It was explained that there is a whole network of Greek doctors and specialists and lawyers to help them scam the system here. I would imagine many ethnic groups have resources like this as well.
BTW, the checks were sent directly to them they claimed, from the US to Greece. They didn’t have to have them forwarded. I’m not sure if they still can do that.
Greek peoples have long been known for their ability to milk a government or program, or find a loophole in any situation.
On that note, when we were in Athens, we of course wanted a Gyro. You couldn’t find one. Because they were outlawed. Even back then, 20 years ago, there was price control, and if a gyro costs 500 Drachmas no matter what, the vendors would add horse-meat, or rat carcass or anything they could to increase the profit. Therefore, mixed meats could not be sold by street vendors. The locals would even tell you, only buy “whole cuts of meat” and “never buy a mixed drink”, they didn’t even trust their own friends to treat them honestly.
Of course, the nicer Islands, like Rhodes and such were much different, but Athens was a pit of snakes.
Most retirees living in Greece (or Poland or Mexico etc.) put in their time in US factories and businesses in the US. You must have been staying with the exception certainly not the rule.
Lots of fantasies there buddy. The gyro story is a hoot! You couldn't find a friggin gyro in all of Athens??? You must either be an imbecile or blind.