We've been watching The Office on Netflix, and sad to say we are a lot like Ryan and Kelly stuck back in the annex with little communication with the rest of our office. I suppose some of that is our own doing as we tend to keep the door closed now, but for months it has felt like we have been frozen out of office functions. There seemed to be a little bit of an attempt yesterday to bring us back into the fold, but at this point we are wary of such gestures.
Much of it stemmed from our lack of ability to nail down clients during the lockdown. We had multiple leads the director had given us, but for whatever reason couldn't get a client to commit to a project beyond our good friend Julius. Unfortunately, we don't work for him through the office, as he doesn't like paying any extras and the office puts 15 percent on top of any commission we secure. We've been doing projects for him for 12 years now through our own personal company. My wife likes keeping our place at the office as it allows her to maintain valuable contacts, but I'm not sure they are that valuable anymore.
The lockdown affected us in other ways as well. We rekindled a couple of our friendships but for the most part stay home, watching these serials on television. Evenings feel wasted, especially when a show like The Office no longer offers much charm and just reminds us of the bitter situations we often confront at our office.
I used to talk movies and television shows with Giedrius but we rarely talk these days. He made an effort at one point, inviting me to lunch. We had a pleasant chat, talking about Dune, but I got the sense he was trying to feel me out and report back to the director. Paranoia maybe, but my wife felt the same way, saying she heard Marija talking with Giedrius earlier. You don't need bugs to hear what is going on as most of the conversations can be heard through the ventilation system.
Nevertheless, Rasa tries to keep us in the loop, inviting us to the second half of her birthday party after we missed out on the festivities after lunch. We had a client meeting. I suppose you could look at Rasa as the good cop to Marija's bad cop. They started the company with 10 others back in 2003 or 2004, and have since bought them out and have it to themselves now. We were offered Algis's share, but he didn't want to sell at the time, so we started our own joint stock company to have in reserve. It was hard to tell what Rasa thought of us. I always felt like the pet American in the office but over time we seemed to form a nice bond, mostly over a shared interest in film and literature. Rasa likes persons who pique her intellectual interests. It's just too bad I don't speak better Lithuanian.
Over time, we grew used to our office and came to accept the situations bad and good. If nothing else, we can always shut the door and screen everyone out. The only problem is that we get on each other's nerves from time to time as well. I create space by working at home. The lockdown made this an acceptable alternative.
Today we are both at home. We took our COVID booster shots yesterday and figured we would feel the after effects. Daina had a rough night last night. I was totally knocked out. She said she tried to nudge me at one point to get her some medicine but I made no response. The dog woke me up around 6:30 this morning, demanding I take him out. Other than a little soreness in my legs I felt fine. Daina seems to be doing better after venting her frustration with me. She ordered Indian food for lunch, wanting something spicy.
I don't know how much good it does to say all these things, but I suppose it gives you a little taste of who I am. I still think of the political situations back in the US but it seems more and more distant. After 24 years in Lithuania, it is hard to consider that my home anymore, yet I still have a strong interest in what goes on, largely because decisions made there affect us over here.
Case in point, the 2008 economic collapse fueled by the bankruptcy of AIG. All our clients dried up and we really struggled for years, as the Lithuanian government chose to take the austerity route. It wasn't until 2012 that we finally felt like we were on our feet again. The only thing that sustained us was our ongoing projects with the US Embassy and the American International School of Vilnius. We still haven't managed to get back to the same level of projects that we had between 2005 and 2008.
We thought the Lockdown would take us right back to 2008, but this time around the EU and the US chose to pump huge amounts of money into the economy. Business is booming here, particularly in real estate, but we are only getting the crumbs tossed our way, trying to make the best we can out of them. One project is a small red brick school built around 1900 that the client wants to make into a guest house, largely for his company employees. He and his wife envision a glass hall to the back of the building on top of the foundations of a former extension, so I'm trying to make that as beautiful as possible. If it turns out nice, it might garner us some attention.
It was the same for Paliesius back in 2008. No one wanted that project either but it fell to us, and we made a lovely little concert hall out of the old ruins of a horse stable that has since become a premier location for international musicians. My mother called it "making a silk purse out of a sow's ear," or a horse's ear in this case. The acoustics turned out to be first rate and musicians love to record there. I have an album of violoncello preludes by Gidon Kremer recorded there in 2017. Very beautiful!
We try not to complain but it would be nice to get bigger projects. However, the way we work it is probably better that we have these small projects. We can put more time into them, make something special out of them and in most cases have happy clients.
It's just too bad our office situation isn't better. While not as dysfunctional as The Office, there have been too many unpleasant situation that leave a bad taste in the mouth. Is there a humorous way to present them, I don't know yet?
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