Legal Question

I had the pleasure of working under the supervision of the late Mec. A. Patron, as it was said at the time, the old school. For every occasion he had a ready-made proverb. He probably knew about 1,000 of them. He kept telling me that we need to be prepared for an emergency so that “we don’t dig a well when there’s a fire.” These proverbs spoke better to the imagination than all the words. The patron had an unafuffed and rather sly opinion.

But up close he was extremely sensitive, cheerful and witty. He did not like it when the petenci – directors and managers of other cells of the office – bothered him with questions, which, as a rule, should not be questions to the lawyer at all. More questions for these Directors and Managers. One time he came to the Patron asking the Chief Accountant: “Mr. Patron, how do I post this and this.” The patron replied, “I am not an accountant who has a legal question.”

The accountant corrected the question: “Should such an expense be treated as a cost to this group or another?” The patron replied: “I repeat, once again: Mr. Director, what legal question do you have?” The accountant is already a bit confused: “Mr. Patron, I ask you, what do you advise me to do?” The patron then replied, “Mr. Director, I advise you: do what you think.”