Stumbled across this while I should be working. "Slava Ukraini!" got my attention. Tak. Slava Ukraini.

Last Summer I had a 40's-something client come in my office in a complete panic. From Eastern Europe. Male. Said the IRS was going to come and arrest him if he didn't send them "more" payments thru gift cards. From Eastern Europe, mind you.

I took the phone and asked them what the problem was. Guy speaking English in a heavy Russian accent. I called him stupid. Told him to shut up and go away. In pretty good Russian. Phone went silent for about 3 seconds. Then he told me he didn't understand me. I told him he did understand, told him to shut up, again. In Russian. Hung up.

You would think a 40-something Eastern European male would, a. recognize a heavy Russian accent, and b. not be so gullible. He was in a panic that I hung up on the caller. Took me five minutes and then later a phone call to convince him the IRS was not in fact going to come and arrest him.

Wife was a Russian speaking Ukrainian. Now will not speak Russian unless the Russian speaking person she is speaking with doesn't speak Ukrainian or English.

Are you from Ukraine? I was just in Dnipro this past December. We skipped Kyiv because the main person we visit there moved to Croatia.