Tuesday, 10th February - "Pushkin too hard"

Today in 1837...

"Russian poet and novelist, Alexander Pushkin, was killed in a duel"

Alexander Pushkin, 1799-1837

Defending someone's honour in public used to be much different. Nowadays if someone says something nasty about you, out come the lawyers and the libel game begins. Weeks, months, sometimes years in court. Before the libel laws were created, however, you would go about it differently. First, you would approach whoever slighted or slated you. Then you would throw down your glove, and then you would have it out, either with swords or, latterly, pistols.

It was pistols what got Pushkin. 20 paces. Classic 'defending of a lady's honour' stuff. More on that later..

Extremely thorough Internet research (ie the quick search I just made) throws up a book, Pushkin's Button by Serena Vitale, which deals with the events leading up to this dramatic conclusion to the great Russian poet's life and, obviously, the duel itself. Anyone interested in anything more than a rough'going-over' should probably refer to that book. For everyone else, have a quick glance over the very useful New York Times book review..

."On the afternoon of Jan. 27, 1837, on a snow-covered field outside St. Petersburg, Aleksandr Pushkin was wounded in a duel with a young Frenchman. Carried home, the gutshot poet reclined upon a sofa in his study, blithely attitudinizing until the agony of peritonitis became too much."

You may notice that the day is noted here as the 27th January, 1837... "two weeks ago in history", perhaps? The date appears to be confirmed on this Russian site about Pushkin...

"A duel with d'Anthès took place on January 27, 1837. D'Anthès fired first, and Pushkin was mortally wounded; after he fell, he summoned the strength to fire his shot and to wound, slightly, his adversary. Pushkin died two days later, on January 29 ".

The reason for the confusion seems to be the following:

"He was buried beside his mother at dawn on February 6, 1837 at Svyatogorsky Monastery, near Mikhailovskoe.Today, as annually on the 10th of February, 6th of June, 21st of August - memory day, the poet's birthday and the date of his arrival at exile-at the poet's gravestone a joint pray will be carried out for the repose of the eternal sole of Alexander Pushkin. Nowadays the poet’s grave is declared as the national property of Russian Federation."

But anyway. Why? How could something like this come about?

The interventions of a french dandy, of course!

"In 1834 Mme. Pushkina [Pushkin's wife, who by accounts seems to have enjoyed the odd flirt when out dancing] met a young man who was not content with coquetry, a handsome French royalist emigre in Russian service, who was adopted by the Dutch ambassador, Heeckeren. Young d'Anthès-Heeckeren pursued Mme. Pushkina for two years, and finally so openly and unabashedly that by autumn 1836, it was becoming a scandal On November 4, 1836 Pushkin received several copies of a "certificate" nominating him "Coadjutor of the International Order of Cuckolds." Pushkin immediately challenged d'Anthès; at the same time, he made desperate efforts to settle his indebtedness to the Treasury. Pushkin twice allowed postponements of the duel, and then retracted the challenge when he learned "from public rumour" that d'Anthès was "really" in love with Mme. Pushkina's sister, Ekaterina Goncharova. On January 10, 1837, the marriage took place, contrary to Pushkin's expectations. Pushkin refused to attend the wedding or to receive the couple in his home, but in society d'Anthès pursued Mme. Pushkina even more openly. Then d'Anthès arranged a meeting with her, by persuading her friend Idalia Poletika to invite Mme. Pushkina for a visit; Mme. Poletika left the two alone, but one of her children came in, and Mme. Pushkina managed to get away. Upon hearing of this meeting, Pushkin sent an insulting letter to old Heeckeren, accusing him of being the author of the "certificate" of November 4 and the "pander" of his "bastard."

Things ot out of control from thereon in. The date was set for the duel, and Pushkin did not survive.

...AND ON A DIFFERENT NOTE ENTIRELY, THE QUOTE:

"If we don't take care of the customer, someone else will"

You know how it is. A busy day at work, the resentment is building up and things aren't going well. Maybe you were in a bad mood anyway, but the stress - oh, god,the stress - you're ready to burst. Maybe you're on the phone, or dealing with a customer, and your boss breezes in and asks you to do something trivial yet disruptive, something tiny which for whatever reason absolutely infuriates you, but you can't say anything to your superior - not whilst you're dealing with a customer, anyway. But yet you're niggled, and you cant't help passing on some of the frustration to this poor customer, guilty of nothing except the blameless crime of wanting you to perform whatever service it is they came in to buy.

So you're maybe a bit short with them. Still annoyed with the fatuous demands of your boss. Who the fuck does he think he is anyway? In the time he's been hovering around to reiterate his utterly pointless request he could have gone out the back and done it himself. The rotten bastard!

Anyway, you come off the phone. Unsurprisingly, your boss has been listening to how you dealt with the customer, how tense you sounded, and how unwilling you appeared to be to volunteer extra help, to "demonstrate excellent customer service". This phrase, rattled around your department meaninglessly but regularly for as long as you can remember, is enough to bring a vein or two out, to get the teeth clenching that little bit harder than normal (for work).

And that's when he drops the bombshell.

"If we don't take care of the customer, someone else will!"

Phrases like this should be banned under the European Convention for Human Rights. I'd push for them to be put into the Geneva convention as well, just to be safe. In times of war something minor but odiious like the phrase "blue sky thinking" should be an immediate court-martial.

Anyway, the correct answer to any boss who uses today's quote is "And if you don't shut up, I'll kick your stupid head in, so help me god".