I met my Big German Friend, like just about everyone I know, in the pub. He had been sent over to run the Polish side of a large German company, I had also recently moved to Poland and we became close friends immediately.
BGF is very German. A substantial frame, chiselled features and fair hair that tumbles down his forehead in romantic locks like those of a First World War poet. Intelligent, well-informed and organised. Strong, athletic, fearless, and with a directness that I find refreshing. A man's man.
He used to tell me endless stories of his daily troubles at work. He was constantly receiving anonymous letters from his Polish workforce bitching about fellow employees. "They have no loyalty" he would sigh, "...to each other or the company." He once told me how one woman, high up in management, failed to get to a meeting with a client and renew a large and important contract, simply because she had reached the limit for her company petrol allowance and refused to drive any further at her own expense (it was a question of about 8 miles)... even though she would have been compensated! On hearing this, BGF fired her immediately.
Once, we were out on a Saturday night, strolling along a main street. Boy racers were screeching around and showing off. One idiot accelerated very fast and narrowly missed hitting a small girl. We looked on with horror. BGF said "If he hit my child I would kill him." And he meant it. He then recognised the car, a new BMW, as one of his company vehicles. The next day, having discovered it was one of his junior managers, he summoned him to his office and confronted him. The little prick couldn't understand what the fuss was about but BGF sacked him nevertheless.
Eventually, after many years of working all over Europe he began to miss and long for his beloved Dusseldorf. The few years in Poland was the straw that broke the camel's back and my Big German Friend took a job back in his home town to be with his new beautiful wife and soon to be born baby. Since his departure Lodz is certainly a greyer place and another person like him in Poland I will not find.
