russian unhinged the diminutive as a term of endearment she was looking for a coat. with my typical laissez_faire sales strategy, i started talking to her about where i grew up. she had the accent, was eyeballing me. turns out, she's ukranian but of course speaks russian. she dismissed me as completely americanized until i told her i knew how to make pierogies and kolachki. she was what hawky sales people would consider a nightmare. i just liked talking to her. the accent soothes me on a freudian level. she couldnt make up her mind; i gave her too many options. she put things on hold numerous times; i learned her name was galina. she came back one day to look at her holds. 'oh hey galina. let me get your holds.' im always happy to see regular customers like her that i enjoy talking to. she smiled back 'you can call me galya' 140507 ... unhinged i saw her for the first time in months the other day 'oh galya, it's nice to see you' brought a smile to my lips on a day where i might otherwise not have smiled. i wanted to hug her. 'yes, good to see you too' 140717 ... epitome of incomprehensibility A_Woman_in_Berlin: You_are_a_bear. Russian man: No, I am a chelovek. A woman in Canaduckia: This reminds me of A_Clockwork_Orange, which I will ramble about. And also a colleague's first day on the job, with B. being slightly embarrassing: The new admin assistant, A., was wearing a shirt the same colour and texture as boss B.'s - red and sweater-y. Mine was dark burgundy. At one point B. reassured him that he wouldn't blame him for his country's government. "We all know the culture, the people, are not the same," and he said something vague about Russian literature. Shades of Fawlty Towers: "Don't mention the war. I got away with it this time, but..." etc. A.'s accent reads to me as "mostly British, but with a tinge of unidentifiable other-European" (he went to school in the UK). 230214 ... e_o_i That last anecdote wasn't super clear, was it? A. was from Russia, that was the thing, though he'd gone to a boarding school in England for high school. "Boarding school in England," like he was from another generation. Not long after he quit, or let B. let him go. He cited headaches, but it might have been stress from B.'s bossings, all or partly. 240119 what's it to you? who go blather from