This story happened about fifteen years ago and was directly related to a fairly well-known American company, which at that time had a whole network of factories in Russia for the production of its mega-popular product.
This product was popular on the world market, and overseas top managers arrived at the Moscow office quite confident, expecting in Russia to meet completely uncouth people who still needed to be taught, not only about professional business management, but also about civilization in general.
Excessive snobbery disappeared, however, quite quickly — as soon as the visitors learned that in the region of Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East, the Moscow team is considered the “coolest”, since almost all of them consist of doctoral candidates in multiple fields, including chemistry, technical sciences, and the humanities. Moscow specialists were invited to international audits, and it was widely known: if you passed an audit by the Russians, then everything was fine at your plant.
Alas, such were the times — the flower of Russian science found itself in the service of foreign companies, producing consumer drinks, chocolates, and cheesecakes...
One day a certain James arrived at the technical department of the Moscow office, with obvious signs of the above-mentioned arrogance: “I’m from the civilized world, and here you have villages, and in general, an undeveloped people.” Anyone could recognize his arrogant look, which James was quite successful with. He, among other things, had quite a tall stature and an impressive athletic physique.
This American's arrival coincided with an inspection of Russian factories, which had to be conducted everywhere — from Moscow to the Far East.
"I want to take the Trans-Siberian Railway!" James desired. "No planes, I want to see Russia up close!"
Well, we travelled along the Trans-Siberian Railway, and somewhere between Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk we lost poor James in the snows of Siberia — in the most literal sense of the word.
The road is long, the weather is winter, and the “technical people” in the compartment decided to “use it” (the real reason for this action, which we certainly condemn, will be explained later). The Russians, however, approached this matter wisely, and James, out of frivolity, gained a fair amount. At the next stop, for some reason, he got out of the train car — perhaps he wanted to freshen up, or maybe he was visited by that same irresistible desire to look at Russia up close. At night the stops are short and the stations are small. A minute quickly passed, and the train started moving again. And the unfortunate James was left alone at the stop. It was just a small Siberian stop — there were no substantial towns, nor hotels, nearby.
The prospects for James seemed sad and possibly tragic, because trains on the Trans-Siberian Railway run at intervals from days to weeks, and it was unknown what would happen to him next. Fortunately, however, a local railway lineman — an ordinary Russian worker — found this poor, lost, American traveller.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he asked.
But the American doesn’t speak a word of Russian, he can’t explain anything, and in general he’s completely drunk. But the lineman, despite all this, throws his own sheepskin coat on James and leads him to his lodge-house, where he and his wife compassionately begin to warm up the stranger, put him to bed, and in the morning give him a bath. He doesn’t understand a thing, but he completely surrenders to the will of his saviors.
His colleagues travel quietly all night, and James’s absence is discovered only in the morning. Searches in the neighboring compartments, in the dining car, and then throughout the entire train did not yield any results, after which all that remained was to immediately call the company's emergency service.
"We lost him!!"
The corporation, without wasting a minute, launched a special protocol: they immediately contacted the country’s security services; with calls in all directions — in a word, they began to look for this missing person very seriously, enlisting the assistance of Russian government authorities.
By evening, they discovered the truth: an American top corporate manager was sitting in a hospitable Siberian lodge, equipped with warm clothes and knitted socks from the owner, since he literally had left the train in jeans and a shirt. On the table there was borscht, duck baked in sour cream, and pickled cucumbers. In general, everything was more than perfect for him.
But from everything he had experienced, and the impressions he had received, James’s emotions simply went off the charts. As gratitude for the rescue, after returning to the office, he immediately organized a real Russian treat for the team — the table was simply bursting with the best snacks from an expensive Moscow restaurant — and he made a heartfelt speech:
"Friends, how wrong I was in supposing that I was going to some completely dark and ignorant country! Now I simply have to tell you that my perception has changed dramatically. An unexpected incident, somewhat absurd, opened my eyes to the real Russia... Having returned home, I will tell everyone how amazing this country is, and how extraordinary people are found here literally at every step..."
"Having noticed a person in trouble — a complete stranger to them and even speaking an incomprehensible language — nevertheless they immediately take him to their home. They feed him, calm him down, give him clothes, and put him to bed. These wonderful human qualities testify to the extremely high moral level of the people, and even, I would say, to a refined spiritual culture, which in fact is immeasurably more important than all the achievements of modern technology and civilization taken together."
Leaving Russia and saying goodbye to his colleagues, James could not hold back his tears. He then sent holiday greetings to the Moscow office and wrote from his heart:
“You should know: I now wear a watch with both New York and Moscow time on the dial... I always know what the weather is like in Moscow, what events are happening... Russia has remained in my heart forever...”
The Astoria story
The adventure at the Siberian stop was, however, not James’s only adventure in Russia. Previously, he had already experienced another interesting story, connected with an April Fool's joke. Because of the excessive snobbery and extremely arrogant behavior of this particular visiting colleague, the entire team was already at the stage of "white heat" by that time, and a unanimous decision had been made: to take good revenge at least on April 1, on the “legitimate” occasion of April Fool’s Day...
The day before, James had returned from St. Petersburg, where he had gone to inspect another plant, and where he had stayed at the Astoria, a luxurious five-star hotel that has not only historical importance but also great cultural value. The famous Russian film “The Adventures of Italians in Russia” had even been filmed there.
Techies are creative people: a real special operation followed. A fake fax message was sent — supposedly from the Astoria hotel — addressed to the head of the personnel department Goran G., a Serb by nationality, who was persuaded to participate in the prank.
The fax read:
“Mr. Goran G., allow me to express my heartfelt gratitude for the fact that your company has invariably signed a business cooperation contract with the Astoria hotel for many years now... We are very glad that your employees stay with us... But this time, in addition to expressions of recognition and gratitude, we are forced to also send you an additional invoice...”
The attached invoice contained a completely exorbitant amount — almost a hundred thousand US dollars.
“The fact is that your employee, when leaving his room, left the hot water tap on, as a result of which not only his room was flooded, but also the room on the floor below...”
Then the cost of irreparably damaged plaster, stucco, parquet, carpets, paintings, and expensive furniture was indicated...
“We are waiting for compensation and hope to continue our business cooperation in the future. etc."
Goran placed the fax on James' desk with a sticky note: "James, we need to talk."
James arrives, reads the fax, and his eyes widen (the whole team, of course, secretly and voluptuously watches everything that happens). The victim runs to the secretary:
"Kate! What is this? And why did they send it not to me, but straight away to Goran?"
“James,” she replies, “perhaps because this is an out-of-the-ordinary incident — a historically significant hotel, with such a great loss... it’s good that they didn’t send it to upper management... Maybe we’ll somehow settle the matter at the local level and get by without worldwide publicity...”
In complete panic, James runs to the HR department.
“I sympathize, James,” Goran tells him with the most innocent expression on his face, “but you understand: the Astoria is perhaps the most famous hotel in Russia; everything damaged costs a lot of money — it’s not like flooding an inexpensive room in some American motel... There's nothing else you can do. You'll just have to pay for the damage!”
James runs back:
"Katya, urgently dial Astoria’s number for me. Before we begin the process of paying the money, I must apologize to them!"
The whole office says,
"For what? No need to apologize. We’ll just pay. That’s all!"
But James is already dialing Astoria’s number himself:
"I owe you a huge apology!"
“But why?” they answer from the guest registration department, “Nothing like what you’re talking about happened to us. Everything is fine. There are no complaints against you...”
"Well, of course something happened! I just received a fax from you!"
The clarification begins, and suddenly the girl from Astoria says:
"I understand everything! Today is April 1st — it looks like you were just played!"
James, slowly turning red, leaves the secretary's room — and only now notices that the entire office is literally lying on the tables — exhausted from laughter...
A while later, having set off on a trip to visit Siberian factories, the Russian colleagues lost the unlucky James in a most remarkable way... Once it was all over, however, everything was more than good. James had received an unforgettable experience, and the watchman and his wife from a distant Siberian stop succeeded in opening the eyes of this American guy to the real Russia...
"Incredible people live in Russia, absolutely incredible! Their inner world is amazing, and at first glance it seems completely incomprehensible... I have traveled half the world, but I have never seen anything like it," he often repeated later, in complete and genuine admiration.
Originally appeared at: pravoslavie.ru (Russian)
I feel such a spiritual closeness to the Russian people and their pure hearts. I soak up their customs culture and way of life,as I feel less connected to the Western society now as it appears to slide downhill although I am doing my best along with other good people to try and reverse this damage. From the Russian people I get my strength as I follow their example..
Incredible people live everywhere. If you can see them...