“If you can not avoid a rape, at least try to enjoy it”
Part 1
(to read part 2, click here)
Fundulea, Calarasi county. Thursday, 14.00
When the gentlemen went to speak with the newcomer, Grigoris turned around and looked at me. His shoes were white, like mine. His clothes were full of dust, mine too. Our faces were dirty. He raised his hands up to the level of his shoulders…
– “I am desperate. What is this? A circus? Do they consider us THAT stupid?” – “Looks like they do” – “But how is it possible? We have common sense, how can they tell us all these ridiculous lies?” – “My dear brother, you kept on telling me that my job is easy. Welcome to my world, the world of Real Estate agents and consultants in Romania”.
Grigoris was very upset and continued our short dialogue…
– “I will tell them… how can they dare doing this to us?”- “Ah, don’t bother. For them it is just “business as usual”, actually they might believe that they do us a favour too”. – “You must be joking… I feel that they are raping my mind, I will explode!” – “Take it easy”. – “I can not. They are raping my mind…” – “Look, if you can not avoid a rape, at least try to enjoy it”…
We saw the gentlemen returning to us after two minutes. I looked at Grigoris and…
Visinilor Street, Bucharest. Tuesday, 20.00
Grigoris Papageorgiadis is my brother. In total we are three and he is the middle one. If you ask me to provide you the definition of a cool character, I would propose you to meet him. He combines the business spirit with a scent of art and an intellectual approach to things. Plus his humour can “break your bones”, as we say in Greek.
That warm evening of 2008, we were sitting in our previous office, back to Visinilor street. He happened to be in Romania during the same period when I was searching for lands around the city, for several clients of ours. For him, someone who was involved with all sorts of other stuff, this appeared to be an easy stuff…
“Ok, you work much, but I think you exaggerate. It is not THAT difficult to find good properties after all…”
It was summer and after another difficult day, we were both laying on our chairs. Grigoris was drinking a Greek frappe coffee, I was following my diet with just the 4th ice cream of the day (the nutritionist said “not more than 4). I was checking my papers, getting more and more upset…
– “Three different clients are coming next week. I work for so many days and I still don’t have something very good in my portfolio…” – “Maybe you make a mistake. Who knows?” Grigoris replied… – “I don’t think so. It is very difficult to find good properties nowadays…” – “Ok, I understand you. You work too much, but I think that you also exaggerate. It is not THAT difficult to find good properties after all” Grigoris insisted. – “And what is the secret strategy for success?” – “Maybe you are just too tired and you make mistakes”. – “So what do you propose?”
My brothers were never afraid of work…
– “Look, I will go to see properties myself too. I will start from tomorrow”. – “But you don’t know Bucharest so well” – “Look at the expert and his results” – “Are you sure? It is a bloody job…” – “Exactly, it is a bloody job and someone has got to do it”, Grigoris did not allow me to oppose his opinion…
The programme was modified, telephones rang and everything was organized for Thursday morning…
1 Decembrie village, Giurgiu county. Thursday, 08.00
We left from our home at 06.45, being dressed good, as we were supposed to meet some “important people” in the afternoon. We had to cross the city and head to South, were our collaborators were for waiting us. We arranged meetings every 30 minutes, trying to catch up with the schedule. Together with my colleague Liviu, we reached our first meeting at about 07.50. A gas station at Soseaua Giurgului…
A blue BMW was waiting us… We followed it (driving our white Dacia Logan) and reached our first destination, 1 Decembrie village. Then we also “explored” Jilava and the villages around, we also drove until Calugareni. For me it was a typical day, but not for my brother…
We arrived there around 11.30. A lovely collaborating agent met us right on the highway and showed us the way to right. After 4 kilometers of mud road, we reached the 11th property of the day…
“Are they drunk or what?” Grigoris marked this property as well. The sign next to it was pretty clear, one more big X.
– “Are they drunk or what? They keep on showing us crap at very high prices”. – “What did you expect?” – “Well, I thought that when someone tells you that a land is “at 200 meters distance from the highway”, he says the truth. Or at least it can be 200, or 300 meters. But not 4 kilometers!” – “Never mind. What is next?” – “We finished from here, we will head to East. But I hope that our luck will be better there, I can not believe it. 11 properties viewed, 11 properties deleted…” – “Good streak…”
Tomorrow:
“Welcome to Fundulea, here you will become rich” “This is the next Pipera!” “And is this an advantage?”