MoldovAnn

A few months ago, we got a new “signalizatsia” (electronic alarm) system in our office. Being the customer-focused country that is Ukraine, there were a few strange new rules that came along with the system. In particular, we can now only be in the office from 8 am to 8 pm Monday-Friday, and not at all on weekends or official holidays. Even knowing and using the correct code to deactivate the alarm upon entry is insufficient evidence of you being a person actually authorized to use the office during these “off hours.” This makes for some hassles for those of us who live close the office and are accustomed to coming in on weekends or staying late on weeknights to use the internet. But the rules are the rules and we had to adapt to the new plan since there was no way in hell the company was going to adapt the plan to our needs.

Yesterday was a national holiday – Victory Day. As such, the office was closed. Today at about 1:45 pm, two men from the alarm company came to the office to “investigate” an incident from 23 hours ago. They said the alarm was triggered yesterday around 3 pm. Natasha, our secretary, just went through the office asking if anyone had come in yesterday, and it seems none of us was the culprit.

“Natasha,” I innocently asked,”if the alarm went off yesterday, why are they coming only today to check it out?” She stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing.