Everything has started on Kreschatyk. Oh yes, exactly there!
Well, actually, not there where You could think but in the subways. Mass trade documents of strict reporting has started exactly in the subways and metro stations. The USSR was catastrophically falling apart and civil servants were arranging conversion or looting property. The same situation happened with forms of strictly account table documents – chaos, ridiculous seals and filling in right in situ. Everything hastily and with enthusiasm from both sides. Merchants offered diplomas of any Ukrainian UNIVERSITY and their clients, playing ball and getting deeper into flattering promises, often got the document on the original form about which people in the university even hadn’t heard.
After several years, closer to the end of the past century, sellers and customers had become more skilled even at the forms of business communication as in American movie. Competition and suppliers appeared and cheap, self-published forged forms started showing up (now the market is full of them), and customers wanted to find out: “who they have to deal with and why the prices differ, where the true is and why everybody is everything okay, but Stephan Grygorievych is fired with a shame for the forged educational document”.
Mutually beneficial consensus
Gradually sellers started to ask prepayment, motivating this frequently by the lack of purchaser’s seriousness and firm decision of state servants, who didn’t want to take it on trust. But often it is just because of usual logic that points at the fact that in such business relations this is not about baking cakes, which can be resold or, having heated, can be eaten by yourself – this about illegal activity, where there is a number of representatives of state services. Hungry, lonely, greedy and depraved but those, who follow generally accepted rules and regulations, perfectly know the level of responsibility and risk (because they have to communicate with any categories of people that can be whoever).
Citizens got in the opposition, and well deserved, – constant deception, falsification of forms, simple deception about prepayment, discrepancy in filling in according to norms and rules, rude4ness and cynicism, brazen deflation of additional funds. All this is all the time in any levels of society and consumer, who is not prepared to such stress, started to look for support in dialogs with each other, guarantor of chastity and strict implementation of reached agreements.
Purchasers (interested parties) said that producer just “twisted arms” by conditions and prepayments, gave the examples: has anybody got prepayment from Chain stores?
Sellers’ logic changed upside down: prepayment – by default, while working with state employees, committing not a good deed ADVANCE. It is not a deposit, not at all. As bail – it is just illogical. The right formulation – ADVANCE (prepayment). Disputes and wrangling on both sides led the dialog at the new level – PREPAYMENT, IT IS JUST BACKGROUND OF FINAL CALCULATION. A lot of wreckers from both sides felt the logic of this far not cheery phrase.
Briefings were even not about the ways of supplying commitments (extra strain on customer), which bail and deposit are. Prepayment means initialization guaranteed making people in official armchairs to accomplish their commitments, staying as a guarantor of clearness in business relations. Another way, levers of different kind, as ancient as the world, turned on.
The guarantee for either party – clearness of relations
Exactly to address these matters we went on a dangerous rout between honest people and tremendous machine of bureaucrats in the middle of nineties of the last century. We are people, who gave a word ourselves and others long time ago – to live and work, be friends and compete only acceptable secular rules and norms without antics and prevarication, in full agreement with conscience and universal principles. Discipline and coherence, clear implementation of the commitments and norms according to conditions of agreement, show us an image of German knights’ group.
Once, far not in a private conversation, one of old-timers of our activity – the customer with long experience (length of service) has made an interesting discovery:
I have been in many hinterlands of the country, regions of not only one continent (he looked at us like some legionnaire).
Almost everywhere I had to communicate with Your partners or representatives. And this is the result of analysis:
Having heard once, that You are like Germans…
I thought – Well. But what should I agree with? Yes! They are punctual, it is a fact.
What is more?
Even Germans can be different – only Israelis are the same.
In the end, for several years I had been making transcriptions of my traffic tips.
And finally this is a conclusion in its pure form:
Germans can be different – Volga region, Kazakh, traditional. But all the same – German – he is German!
For You, for the world without limits! (here he raised a glass and we had to drink a Scotch).
Exactly that evening I spat the last time gave up and said aloud:
Well, Germans – so Germans. We are not in the war, at long last.
In general – this is our short biography (real truth).