There’s a sign in the restroom at our office. It says “Many people spend more time here at work than they do at home. Be nice to this place.” The idea rings true to how people work here at our office in St. Petersburg. Like in many places, work, to a major degree, is life. But it does come with peculiarities.
It all started with a rookie foreigner mistake for me. I scheduled a meeting for 10 am. I figured that’s not too early and not too close to lunchtime, which was true in my American world. The next morning, I showed up to someone from a different department unlocking the front door at 10, with everyone else trickling in closer to 10.30. At the same time, when I was done at 5 pm, most of the team was deep into their projects and was showing no signs of leaving for another couple of hours.
But even then work often doesn’t stop. The office whatsapp chat is often ablaze well into the evening. Once I was caught in the middle of grocery shopping at night when a story needed to go live. It had to be edited on the spot, then someone proofed it on their tram ride home and someone else posted it almost at midnight.
That brings me to another point – deadlines. If it’s at midnight, there’s a good chance that’s exactly when the project will be completed no matter how much time people had to prepare for it. It’s not uncommon to pull an allnighter, just like in college, to get things done at the last minute. And we’re talking big projects, with lots of money involved. Setting earlier deadlines helps some, but if you’re working with a Russian team, be prepared for that last-minute push.
If things don’t come together just right, there’s always the magic of one of my favorite Russian concepts - avos. It’s this almost fairy tale-like faith that things will somehow work out in the end. Doesn’t look like you’re going to meet that deadline after all? Avos it happens! The Russian soccer team made it into the quarter finals of the World Cup, which no amount of avos can explain. You’ll meet that deadline too.
Because people spend so much time at work, the people they work with become their second family. It’s your birthday? Don’t forget to bring treats and a cake for everyone to share. It’s lunchtime? It’s not uncommon for the office to order from a food delivery service or make plans to go out together. I was thrilled to find out that sometimes come 4 pm people at our office gather in the kitchen and make smoothies. They’d even bring fresh berries from their garden for that. It’s pouring and you forgot an umbrella? Someone might share theirs. Your child needs a pair of snow boots? Someone’s child has just outgrew his. It’s a kind of comradery you can’t fake.
It would be naive to generalize that this happens at every office. I just got lucky. But the fact that people here are excited to work for a greater good is a value that’s hard to find anywhere else.
