From Lenta.ru:
A job vacancy has appeared for a gondolier in Chelyabinsk
In Chelyabinsk, a job vacancy has opened for a gondolier. This is according to the local information portal “Dostup”. The successful candidate will transport passengers on a gondalier around a pond located 11 kilometres [7 miles] from the town.
The candidate must have a presentable appearance. In addition to this, a good voice is welcome – the gondolier will be required to sing songs in Italian.
The employer promises a complete benefits package, a “two by two” timetable [Note: a shift working pattern of two days of 12 hour shifts, then two days off], and preliminary training in Venice. The gondolier’s salary is not reported. The gondolier will be provided with two sets of uniform, consisting of black trousers, a striped top, and a hat.
The organisers in Chelyabinsk want the employee to steer a gondola – a traditional flat-bottomed Venetian boat weighing about half a ton (the organisers are planning to buy a used one “to convey the spirit of the era”). A gondolier rows with only one oar, in accordance with history, due to the fact that in Venice, which is the home of gondoliers, the canals are too narrow for two oars.
Gondoliers often perform barcaroles, traditional boaters’ songs. Many famous composers, such as Jacques Offenbach and Frederic Chopin wrote barcaroles.
Comments from Lenta.ru:
Vic:
Chelyabinsk gondoliers …
Denis Fed: (responding to above)
They’re so hardcore …
[Note: this is a running joke that people from Chelyabinsk are hardcore]
Фома Петренко: (responding to above)
They’re so hardcore in Chelyabinsk that they go offroading in boats.
Иван Зуев: (also responding to previous commenter)
Well, why not? :)
Ал Хр:
Well, Chelyabinsk gondoliers will probably sing German [industrial metal group] Rammstein, not Italian ballads. Because they can’t sing anything else, they’re so hardcore.
Серёня Агапов:
Any old mechanic from Cherepetsky Mechanical Plant will do
Парамон Неуловимый: (responding to above)
Can they all sing in Italian?
Боцман Стар: (also responding to previous commenter)
They use some very specific machines there.
Сергей Спиридонов:
Will they give them spikes for the oars? It’s just that from October to April, going around on lakes in Chelyabinsk with paddles is tough. They’re hardcore, these lakes in Chelyabinsk.
Ал Хр:
[…] Is this the same lake where the meteor fell?
Макс Ник:
Those hardcore Chelyabinsk gondoliers will only take their gondolas out in winter on frozen rivers
Остап Сулейман Берта Мария Бендер Бей:
“In Chelyabinsk, a job vacancy has opened for a gondolier.” Here we go, the side effects of the meteorite are showing. Scary to imagine what would happen if it had been a comet that crashed there)))