The Ouk-rra-i-nah Story by Warren Metzler Table of Contents
9. Becoming Johnny Appleseed
Somewhere during the Poltava stay, or perhaps on my way back, I now don't remember exactly when, I had the following thoughts. The Ukraine was a former member of the Soviet Union, and during Soviet times major deceit, bureaucratic absurdities, and massive inefficiency were omnipresent. Maybe some of those views were still present in business in the Ukraine, because it is hard to extricate from your personality actions you followed for decades. Further, maybe some businessmen were not yet aware of standard western business practices. Perhaps I could view my working with the vodka factory as me being a Johnny Appleseed: planting effective ways to do business in the Ukraine (instead of planting apple seeds throughout America). I was unsure of this possibility, but deep inside I sensed the project was again active.
After I returned to the States I wrote to Igor and told him about this new consideration. Then a few days later Igor wrote to me and told me some interesting news. He stated that on returning from his vacation, Vlad had contacted him and was now strongly insisting to Igor that a deal was possible. Vlad wanted Igor to contact me and encourage me to reconsider. After I read Igor's letter, and remembered what I had sensed in Poltava, I had an inner voice tell me to continue the process. I then applied for a California importers and wholesalers permit, obtained and read many regulations regarding importing and distributing distilled spirits, searched for warehouses where I could store the alcohol when it arrived, considered marketing techniques, investigated the alcohol wholesales and importing business, and so forth. Once I received my Federal and California permits and felt fully prepared, I wrote Igor and told him I was ready to return to the Ukraine. We found out a time when Vlad would be present in Zhitomir and Igor would be available, and a date was set; which was in November, 2005.
Some more interesting complications occurred. During my first trip to the Ukraine I had flown with Austrian Airlines; from Los Angeles to Dulles, near Washington, D.C., to Vienna, and from there to Odessa. This time I thought I would try a different airline. So I booked with KLM and flew from Los Angeles to Detroit, then on to Amsterdam, and afterwards to Kiev. The take-off in Detroit was delayed, and when we arrived in Amsterdam, an airline representative told us passengers that most of us would miss our connecting flights. This information bothered me.
For my first trip to the Ukraine I had scheduled all my travel plans, and obtained assistance in obtaining a visa, through a travel agency in Toronto owned by a man I’ll call Sergei. For this trip I had again scheduled a few aspects through him. Before I left, Sergei informed me that he and his daughter would be on the same flight as I from Amsterdam to Kiev. I had communicated with him a number of times by email and phone, but had never met him in person. So I really wanted to connect a person to the voice. (*Our being on the same flight, unplanned, was another intriguing coincidence of this trip.)*
Hence I didn’t heed the instruction of the airline person as we disembarked, and I rushed to see if I could catch my scheduled flight to Kiev. I made the flight. And during the flight I met Sergei and his daughter. When I reached Kiev I assumed my baggage had not accompanied me, and I thought it would be on the next flight from Amsterdam, which was scheduled to arrive a couple of hours latter.
I went through immigration without my luggage, and asked if I could go out and meet the people who were waiting for me. I was given permission, and went out and met Igor to tell him of my dilemma. After the later plane arrived, I went back into the incoming baggage area, but low and behold my luggage had not arrived. And there were others with the same problem. I registered the problem with the airline’s luggage office, went back out to Igor and informed him of my problem. I decided I would buy sufficient clothes for the Zhitomir portion of the trip there in Kiev, and hope my baggage would arrive the next day. My luggage did arrive the next day, but the airline did not deliver it to Zhitomir as promised, and I was not able to retrieve the luggage until I returned to Kiev. Fortunately I was able to purchase sufficient clothes for the five days I spent in Zhitomir.
My shopping experience was interesting. I am a large person, and particularly like to wear suspenders instead of a belt. Yet I was able to find clothes in my size, and even found a person to attach buttons to the trousers I purchased so I could wear suspenders.
Once I had purchased all the clothes I needed, Igor and I drove straight to Zhitomir (in a taxi) and checked into a hotel. Then Igor called Vlad. It was arranged for us to meet him at the factory the next morning at 9 am. We had a good night’s sleep, and arrived at the factory as scheduled. I had wanted to tour the factory and learn exactly how the vodka was made, and that occurred. But numerous difficulties occurred involving the next item on the agenda, which was to determine the details of the contract. Fascinatingly, none of those difficulties were between Vlad and I. Almost all were between Igor and I. I began to realize that Igor had very fixed views of what needed to occur, and when any of his fixed views were incompatible with mine, he would be very resistant to perceiving my view on the current issue. However, in time all the details of the contract were satisfactory.