Not a day passes in which I don’t regret firing Irena. She was my “daily” from 1991 to 2004. I don’t think I could have asked for anyone better qualified. Until she came to work for me she was a professor of geology at a Russian university, but lost her job when the Soviet Union collapsed and became an economic migrant. In spite of this setback, she never displayed any bitterness. On the contrary, she was remarkably stoical – something to do with the Russian soul, no doubt. Her only shortcoming was that she never called me by my correct name. She’d misheard me when I first introduced myself and after I’d let it go for a few weeks I became too embarrassed to correct her. So for the duration of her 13-year employment she always referred to me as “Terry”. (To read more, click here.)
