When I lost my last job I decided to start my own business. The Employment Bureau gave me a chance to attend a retraining programme for masseurs. I found an empty shop in the centre of the town suitable for my new small massage business.
I was entitled to get a subsidy under the condition I create at least 3 working positions in one year. I took the chance. I worked hard, saved as much money as possible and soon enough I could employ another masseur. Then I hired a lady as a receptionist. However, when I wanted to have the third employee, just one month before the dead line, the officer at Employment Bureau told me that my third employee must be disabled. It was a condition I had forgotten.
I did not want to give the money back. I put and advert in the local newspapers and on the website of the Employment Bureau. Five days later before the dead line I received a call. A young lady was asking for a job of a masseuse, she said she was disabled and had a necessary certificates. I invited her for a job interview.
When she came I was shocked. First, she was albino. Second, she was of African origin, which is something very unusual in this small country in east Europe. Third, she wore glasses so strong and thick, that I could not see her eyes behind the lenses. I do not know why I expected a woman with some minor problem with walking or something like that. What I really did not expect was this combination of problems. Due to the communist past, east Europe is not as tolerant as the west. An albino, with big, puffy lips, and African features could be a problem for some customers. Moreover, her glasses looked strange. I had never seen do thick lenses as those sitting in the black frame on her nose. Strange or ordinary I had to make the interview with her. Only after I offered her a chair I noticed she had a white cane in her hand. She sat down, folded the cane, and turned her face towards me. I was not sure if she really saw me.
While we were talking I could not help staring at her unusual face. She was not pretty. She was not ugly either. Her features were symmetrical, just her lips were too big to look nice, her nose was too African, her hair was not white, it was dyed blonde. I could not see her eyes. They were hidden behind the thick glasses. They looked tiny. That was all I could recognize. I wished I would not have to hire her, but I had only 5 days to the dead line.
“What is your working experience, Ms Kovarova?” I asked staring at her glasses.
“I have worked for 10 years as masseuse.” she said. I thought she looked younger.
“Do you have any certificate?”
“Yes, I have.” she said and started putting one certificate after another on my desk: sport massage, Reiki massage, lymphatic massage, Chinese qi-gong massage, reflexive massage, this massage and that massage. The young woman had 9 different certificates for 9 methods of massage. She had documents proving her 10 year experience in the branch. If I had refused to employ her, I would have had to explain why to the Employment Bureau. Well, the argument that some customers would not like her because she looked like she looked was unreasonable, null and void. I asked her some more usual questions, but her answers could not change the simple fact that I had to give her the job. She did not even try to negotiate higher salary than I was offering.
“When can you start?” I asked the last question.
“Anytime you want.”
Simple.
“OK, Ms Kovarova, we will be happy to expect you coming tomorrow at 8 in the morning.”
She stood up, smiled with her giant pink lips and we shook hands. I felt the strength of her grip, I felt warmth of her palm, and I felt something I could not describe at the moment. It was a kind of power, like electricity or magnetism, something I had never felt. Her touch was magic. Fascinated, I looked at her exotic face.
She smiled and said: “Call me Albina, please. It’s my name.”
I opened my mouth and then she was gone.
… to be continued
I was standing at the window watching Albina crossing the street. When Johann, my masseur knocked the door and came to my office. His face was one big surprise.
“Ahmed, what was it? I met an alien in de corridor!” he said.
“Well, Johann, this is our new colleague.” I answered looking at my hand. It still felt warm and rather tingling.
“What?” said Johann, “She looks like… like a… a…”
“Yes, she looks like an alien.” I nodded. And she feels like an enchantress, I thought.
“Is she blind? She had a white cane.”
“Well, she is visually impaired. Obviously. And I obliged to employ a disabled person, because I received the subsidy when I started a year ago. There are 5 days left to the dead line. And she is the only applicant for the job who is disabled.” I explained.
“Mein Gott!” Johann sat down with a cup of coffee in his hand.
“What will de customers think about her?” he asked the same question I had in my mind.
“Many people in our job are visually impaired or blind.” I said.
“Well, yeah,” said Johann, “but she is ehm… you know.”
We were staring at one another for a moment. I knew what he meant. I knew what he was hesitant to say loud. I knew I was the boss and I had made my decision.
“Johann,” I started slowly, “you are a German, our receptionist Olga is Ukrainian, and I am a son of Syrian immigrants. You have an accent, Olga has an accent, and I have an accent, too. We are three strangers in the middle of the sea of Czechs. I want to give this lady a chance to become one of us. She has a Czech surname, no accent, and she is the only applicant. Besides, we are running of time.”
“But the glasses.” blurted Johann.
“I wear glasses and you wear glasses, too.” I said.
“Yeah, I have 12 dioptres, but she’s got military binoculars on her nose.”
I decided to ease the atmosphere: “Yes, that is a problem. If they fall on a client, they will break his ribs.”
Johann burst out laughing and spilt the coffee on his trousers.
I took out a bottle of moonshine vodka Olga had given me and poured two shot glasses.
“Either she saves this business or she ruins it. Na zdraví!”
We had another shot and called it a day.
… to be continued