5 ideas
In "Nervous People," one tenant in a communal flat uses another tenant's small wire scrubbing brush without asking, and the quarrel escalates into a brawl among all the residents. The narrator's only explanation is that people are 'nervous,' when the real cause is too many strangers forced to share one kitchen and its few objects.
In "The Galosh," the narrator loses a galosh on a tram and finds it at the lost-property office. He is told he cannot have it back without official documentation, so he spends about a week collecting certificates to prove it is his.
Zoshchenko's semi-educated narrator speaks in a mix of official jargon and street slang, and he sincerely approves of the absurdities he describes. The satire works because the reader sees the gap between his contentment and the facts he reports, while he never sees it. Censors and readers can each take the story at a different level.
When space and goods are rationed and shared by force, ownership of small things like a primus stove, a light bulb or a brush becomes a daily test of status and rights. Conflicts that look like bad temper are really produced by the material setup. Petty objects carry large stakes because no one has anything else to control.
In "The Lady Aristocrat," a plumber takes a woman he is courting to the theater. The mechanism is new citizens copying old-regime manners of refinement and generosity without the income to support them, so the pose falls apart at the moment of payment.