Show must go on!

“I see myself as an instrument of a will greater than my own and I really try to keep myself connected to that. All my life I have always known I was born to greatness” Oprah Winfrey

What kind of self-esteem is that? Does she post on Facebook “Oprah is attending herself”? I presume that she hasn’t been to Fratelli on a Saturday evening, at least not yet…

Someone told me that she appreciates the self-ironic nature of the posts; actually these stories are slightly manipulated versions of real memories, distorted to be more interesting.

I have stayed two and a half years in Moscow and each day had been another surprise… until I reached Romania, where the surprises are served on an hourly basis.Tomorrow I am getting my ID as a Romanian citizen and probably no one else could fit the prototype better than me.

… … … … … … …

Year 2000, we have just taken over the management of the institution to which I sold my soul. The head office is an old building, on Doamnei Street, which we were told has a red dot, indicating reduced chances of survival in case of a likely earthquake.

Main office is on the fifth floor and the branch at the ground floor, my department and staff were located at the mezzanine.

The branch manager called when I was at the fifth floor for a meeting and invited me to meet "an important client", a Chinese businessman from Voluntari, who was also curios about “the Turks”. I was looking for such an occasion, to have my first encounter with a client since I arrived (for the first 3-4 months we were kept under quarantine by the rest of our colleagues).

The lift of the building functioned reluctantly, worn and torn from years of usage. Pushed the button and waited 10 minutes until it arrived to the fifth floor. Stepped in, pushed M for mezzanine, where also the branch manager’s office was. From fifth floor to fourth it was a 30 seconds trip, but from 4^th to 2^nd floor, it took around 3 minutes and with screechy noises the lift stopped.

While I was looking for the alarm, the lift moved suddenly, as if it loosened from its bindings and fell until the mezzanine, stopping between mezzanine and ground floor. With the pressure and the effect of the fall, 25 years of dust from the lift’s hole has entered in the cabin.

I didn’t know that the director of the branch, to honor me, has brought the client to the door of the lift and was waiting outside.

I found and pushed the emergency button that also opened the lift doors, and through a cloud of dust I jumped 50 cm up to get out of the cabin. The moment my feet landed on the floor, there was the client, the branch manager and her deputy, clapping their hands with excitement, for my spectacular appearance. “Ladies and Gentleman, The Turk has entered the building!”

I was sorry for not having a microphone with me.

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Unfortunately, the clients do not show similar excitement lately when they see their banker. We, the bankers, have caused the sub-prime crisis, real estate market crash and global recession while everyone else was watching.