GIVE ME A PROBLEM AND GO AWAY

1. “THE ELECTRICITY GUY”

I am a power electrician by profession and I came to Alma on 9th February 1996 as an “electricity guy”.

I have been in Alma for 23 years.

When I came to the company, in addition to locksmiths, civil engineering technicians and employees of other professions, the team needed an electrician to be a “complete set”. There were only a few of us: Sanče, a Greek who was Alma Media’s representative, Goca, Joca, Sanja, who was in charge of sales, and about 5-6 guys who worked in the field.

Dragan Stanković, Darko Antonić, Branislav Vučetić, Vladimir Mikšin, Ognjen Vojnović, Dejan Sotirovski i Nenad Đorđević.

Since there were only few of us, the business organisation was different. There was a direct information flow between the guys in the field and the director, with whom we used to have meetings on a daily basis. We would immediately get the answer whether to solve a problem or not. That’s why we grew so quickly.

That mandatory morning meeting was also attended by a representative of the Greek investor. While Nick was the representative, we knew that we would get any equipment we requested. He would listen to us, and if we explained that what the thing we asked for was necessary, it would be purchased right away. He would always have the same answer in a mixture of Serbian and English:

What? Buy it, pi**u materinu, buy it! Sta? Sta, bre, ne moze? El treba? Kupi. Where is the problem? Buy it!

We liked him a lot.

In 2008 I became the head electrician. My job is based on organisation, control, and development of the electrical section of the technical department. The administrative part of the business has drastically increased (obtaining various decisions, consents, and permits from the City Administration and public utility companies). Organisation and making of connections with EDB (electric power distribution system). Solving technical problems …

Ivan Marinković, Ignjat Janković, Predrag Grubnić, Darko Antonić, Nenad Marinković, Vladimir Mikšin and Marko Marinković.

2. “I LIKE SOLVING PROBLEMS"

Working in the 1990’s was strange. People didn’t know what to think when they saw us on the streets.

Đavo (Devil) and I were changing a poster on a bus stop shelter near the Sava Centre. The door on bus stops had a door closer, but then there was no damper that would keep the door open, so we used a bar. We parked on a traffic island. A woman was walking towards us and when she saw us holding a bar in our hands, she got scared and started running in the opposite direction.

As we were doing something that had not been seen in the city before, the curiosity of passers-by was sometimes a challenge we had to deal with creatively in order to finish our task.

When we were fixing a malfunction on a bus stop shelter on Zeleni venac, passers-by gathered as they didn’t know what we were doing. Since there was no point in explaining and arguing, I removed a fuse from the light and returned it slowly, which made sparks crackling, a buzzing sound and blue light (an electric arc). It made them get out of the trance state, step back, and let us finish our work.

Once again, we were the first who brought the technology to the country and didn’t know how it would operate in all circumstances.

For instance, posters: the winter of 1998 was very cold. Ognjen and I were attaching a poster on a backlight in Cvijićeva Street. When we stretched the poster, it exploded and it was like throwing confetti during a football game. We were learning on the fly what to do and how to do things.

Dejan Sotirovski, Ognjen Vojnović and Vladimir Mikšin.

We often had assignments to do something needed to be done “yesterday”. When we were installing BG2000 (bus stops shelters with a kiosk in the middle), we were working day and night to make everything operational and safe.

3. JCDecaux PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND RETRAINING

I perceive Alma as my second home and I am doing my best to contribute, to advance my part of the job, and to be as best I can.

Therefore, every second year, on my own initiative, I attend the world’s biggest lighting fair in Germany. During the fair I have an opportunity to meet a lot of influential people, make many arrangements, get informed about the parts that will no longer be manufactured, about innovations in the business, etc.

At that fair I realised how JCDecaux functions. At one manufacturer’s stand I saw some assemblies and fittings that we purchase from them, but they were much cheaper at the fair. It turned out that they had an exclusive agreement and, therefore, they could not sell those assemblies to us. We managed to buy something else, something we can find on our market and implement in the existing components here in Serbia.

I like solving problems. I am still in Alma because my hands are free. Give me a problem and go.

JCDecaux is also famous for manufacturing street furniture in cooperation with world-famous designers. One of the famous designs is a street lamp called Sunflower, designed by Philippe Starck. It got its name after the way it functions. When there is voltage, the lamp swivels down before the light turns on (it bends its “neck”, moves like a sunflower).

Streetlight in Los Angeles, designed by Philippe Starck.

There is also a table version of this streetlight (Streetlight table lamp), which we bought for our business partner. Before we delivered the gift, the lamp broke and my colleagues brought it to me to repair it, saying that it was just a lamp. I thought: “OK, a lamp like any other lamp. Bring it to me”.

When I saw how it looked like, it was clear that it was not simple, but only after I had opened it and after a heap of wheels and gears (similar to clockwork) and micro switches had fallen out of it, did I realise how complex it was.

I was determined to repair it and was working on it for a couple of days, besides my regular work. I assemble it, it doesn’t work. I disassemble it, then re-assemble it, but it works only partially. Here we go again …

Finally I understood the layout of the parts within the lamp and it worked.

We also went to Plaisir (a town near Paris where JCDecaux has its training centre and administrative building) a couple of time for training and retraining on media servicing, since we didn’t get manuals with the media and we had to “find our way”.

Those trainings mainly confirmed to me that I had actually done everything correctly. While the trainers were giving instructions, I was already putting the media into operation.

They had no idea. They especially had no idea how we managed without manuals, both as a company and as individuals.