So my uncle ran into Enver Hoxha at a grocery store in Tirana when he was an exchange student back in the 70s. He told Hoxha how cool it was to meet him in person, and that he had some questions about Stalin’s Marxism and the National Question, but he didn’t want to to sound like a revisionist or anything. Hoxha said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” My uncle was taken aback, and all he could say was “Huh?” but Hoxha kept cutting him off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my uncle’s face. Finally my uncle walked away and continued with his shopping, and he heard Hoxha chuckle as he walked off. He thought he’d seen the last of the great leader, but when he went up front to pay for his stuff he saw Hoxha trying to walk out the door with like 15 candy bars.

The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Comrade, you need to pay for those first.” At first Hoxha kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.

My uncle says that when she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, Hoxha stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent Soviet social imperialism,” and then turned around and winked at my uncle. I don’t even think that’s a thing. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.