Raking me with a look of irritation, the girl huffed as she reached for a carton of juice and huffed some more as she gave me my change. I, the one and only customer in the shop, had committed a cardinal sin by wanting to buy something during her favorite television show, crackling on the black and white set beside her. Next morning, I was awoken at 7 a.m. by the sound of municipal workers busily shoveling snow from the sidewalk near my house in temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius.
The word for work in its broadest sense is rabota, and you will rarely be wrong if you use it in just about any context. Technically, the girl in the shop was working, however much at odds with the concept she might seem. But for the real toil of, say, clearing snow, one can sparingly use the word trud. Although more literary, and carrying connotations from the past - it was always trud that featured in the exhortations of Soviet propaganda and rhetoric - it can be used to convey a particular sense of conscientious endeavor and real effort.
The corresponding verbs are rabotat' and trudit'sya, which may refer to both physical or mental work. Rabotat' nad knigoi means to be working on a book, and rabotat' is also used of machines or instruments: Mashina/faks ne rabotayet (the car/fax is not working).
Sluzhba refers to the work or service of an official or professional person, perhaps a sluzhashchii, or a white-collar or office worker.
Zanyatiye (an occupation or pursuit) is often used in the plural to mean academic studies. Zaniyatiya v universitete zakonchilis' letom (classes at the university finished in the summer). The verb zanimat'sya is widely used to mean being busy with something (ya zanimayus' rebyonkom, I'm busy with my child), but indicates study when used on its own: Ya dolzhen zanimat'sya (I have to study).
Delo may refer to a bit of business or work (on uyekhal po delam, he has gone away on business) or a matter or affair: Delo nepriyatno konchilos' (the affair ended unpleasantly).
There are also various words for the doers themselves: A worker in a manual sense is a rabochii (rabochii klass, the working class) whereas rabotnik is generally used to denote scientific or academic workers, or researchers in any field.
Sotrudnik may be an employee of a company or official structure: A sotrudnik posol'stva is an embassy official.
The words truzhenik and rabotyaga can be applied to someone who doesn't hesitate to rabotat' kak loshad' (to work like a horse). There's even the word trudogolik (workaholic), but for everyone of those there is a lentyai (lazybones), who in his lifetime is sure to be reminded over and again that rabota ne volk, v les ne ubezhit (work is no wolf, it won't run off into the woods).
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