Life is apparently very good for one cleaning woman working for Russian gas giant Gazprom -- even if January 12 wasn’t a particularly good day.
According to reports, the 44-year-old women had complained to police that robbers had stolen her crocodile-skin Dior purse.
"Unknown persons broke the window of a Mitsubishi in a parking lot of a shopping center close to Rumyantsevo village and stole a purse worth 300,000 rubles [almost $4,000] with a small amount of cash and the personal documents of the victim in it," an unnamed representative of Moscow law enforcement said, according to the Russian TASS news agency.
The news baffled social-media users, who failed to understand how a cleaning woman -- even if she works for Gazprom -- could afford a haute couture bag or even a car like a Mitsubishi Outlander (the prices for new cars start from $23,000).
"In the hierarchy of cleaners, the Gazprom cleaner is an elite caste," one tweet reads.
According to 360° Podmoskovye TV channel, the purse actually costs about 2 million rubles ($26,000). Journalists contacted a Moscow Dior shop, who told them that the bag, made out of black- and navy-colored crocodile skin, was a centerpiece at the company’s latest fashion show. It was never available for purchase in Moscow.
Russia’s Ren TV channel reported that Gazprom can’t comment on the news yet. Dmitry Martynenko, a company spokesman, said that they "still have no understanding of the information."
The mocking on Twitter has continued, however, and "Gazprom cleaning woman" became an instant meme, including the aptly named @CleanGazprom twitter handle.
"Worked a double shift, because I really need the money. I found a wonderful villa in San Gimignano," the account says.
"They say that [Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry] Peskov is leaving Putin, because he is applying to become Gazprom cleaning woman’s press attache," says another user.
And this is how Peskov would handle the situation, according to the satirical Twitter account Peskov’s mustache:
"Press secretary of Gazprom cleaning woman denied rumors about the robbery."
