Living on Russian Time
Don’t tell a Communist that it can’t be finished by the end of the month
Ivan Ivanov (not his real name) was a pretty important person in his little town in Russia and was involved in a lot of building projects. I’m not sure if his work included the statue of Lenin near the airport (or the one at just about every street corner in town).
This project was to be completed by the end of the calendar year.
Which sounds reasonable. Unless there just isn’t enough time to complete said project by the end of the year.
Then, there could be problems.
The government was making an addition to the hospital and it was crucial that the project must be completed before December 31.
BEFORE the end of the year!
I don’t know why this project had to be completed by then. Maybe communism would, like a famous carriage, turn back into a pumpkin.
Who knows?
If you’re looking for logic, you’re looking in the wrong place.
But, when it became clear that the project would not be finished by the end of the year, the communists did what any communist would do.
Simply accept reality and plan accordingly that the project would run into the new year.
No.
Of course not.
Their solution? Extend the year.
One of the communist’s slogans was that “communists didn’t need the sun because communism made its own light” or something like that.
If they could control the sun, then they controlled the calendar. My father-in-law, who related this story, finished by saying that he signed the paperwork himself that “extended” the year.
The completion date?
December 44.
The power of the pen has no boundary.
Who knows what would have happened if they had actually finished the project in January.
Of course, we don’t have to wonder, because it did.
Just don’t tell them.
