Garderob

It is a pretty close battle as to whether the babushkas who work on the metro or the ones who run garderobes at the theatres are the fiercest.

There is a whole of set of rules that go with handing your coat in.

1. You have no choice - coats must be handed in.
2. All hats, gloves, scarfs etc must either be handing in a plastic bag to be hung with coat or shoved down your sleeve. If they get lost it is entirely your fault.
3. You only get one ticket if you are handing in children's coats with adults coats. Doesn't matter how many coats, one ticket. Don't ask why.
4. It is very very bad if your coat doesn't have a thing that they can hang it by. There will be lots of huffing and puffing and if you are lucky they will make a big fuss about finding a hanger. If not they will just pitch it at the hooks.
5. You will be asked if you want binoculars. If you say no they will scowl and tell you you won't see anything. If you say yes they will scowl and tell you you don't need them but you must pay and take them now anyway as you asked for them. They never work properly.
6. After the performance don't bother queueing politely and saying please and thank you - barge to the front, shout that you must get your coats now and then hold everyone up by standing right in front of everyone and adjusting your hat and scarf in the mirror.