An unpleasant
presentation
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
One day in the
80’s I received a call from a woman in
Belgrade saying her boss wanted images of
commodities. She said she would get back to me,
Retrograph Archive. I disregarded the call and
didn’t give it another thought until an
almost hysterical call came in early September
obviously reading the commodities out that were
listed in my brochure such as shipping, aviation,
perfume and alcohol to name a few. She informed
me the head of marketing would be in London in a
couple of weeks and insisted on a date for a
presentation. Her English was excellent and I
wrongly supposed Mr Markovina would speak just as
well.
On a Sunday morning Martin and I went to a large
market outdoors. I was surprised to see an
unkempt man selling good numbered bottles of red
Yugoslav wine. I guess the small stock must have
been stolen but no questions were asked. I bought
a bottle. The wine was velvety like Barolo and
obviously meant for consumption in a fine
restaurant. I was very impressed with the quality.
But where would I get another?
The answer came to me in a flash. Mr Markovina so
when the same lady phoned for an appointment, I
asked that he should bring a bottle of the
wonderful wine. She didn’t comment.
The day dawned and I was about to have a cultural
shock. Mr Markovina was on the doorstep wearing
the typical Russian beige cum light grey sinister
raincoat with the traditional epaulettes on the
shoulders with a small carrier bag that obviously
contained the nectar. Behind him was his sidekick
Mr Bajovic who was grinning like a clown. Mr
Markovina without a word thrust the bag in my
hands and glared.
‘Thank you. You shouldn’t have bothered.’
Said I, escorting them into the small back lounge
which doubled up as a room for clients. Mr
Bajovic informed me that the wine was a special
limited edition and congratulated me on my good
taste!
The sidekick instructed me to show my treasures.
He spoke in Serbian and his sidekick translated.
I had to open the window because Mr Markovina
wanted to smoke. I was displeased but it was too
late to give my rules. Worse, another rule broken,
he fingered an original old piece of advertising
and bent the corner as he was holding the print.
This time I reacted and practically shouted at
him. More discussions in Serbian and then the
bastard amazed me by speaking in English to say
exactly what he wanted!
They gave me a big order for the transparencies
and the sidekick explained it was for a business
calendar. I demanded twelve copies to give as
gifts keeping one for the archive. This was
agreed and sometime later someone from JAT
Airways called with a gigantic box. I hadn’t
thought to ask the size of the calendar!
The artwork was spectacular and was probably the
best job we did. We were immediately paid from
their office in Regent Street without any
haggling.
Written
16/12/24 in Nightingale.
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