Workplace Discrimination
Amidst the tumultuous backdrop of the early ’80s New Cold War, Alex was ensnared in an uphill battle to secure employment. The mere sound of his Slavic accent was often enough to evoke hasty farewells, with companies slamming phones or doors shut in his face without a second thought.
The era was rife with hostility, fear, and an unsettling surge of xenophobia, and Alex, despite his exceptional engineering prowess, bore the brunt of this prejudice. Reduced to working with meager radio repair jobs, he made ends meet. In those trying times, Matryoshka always offered him borscht whether he could afford it or not.