Beata - our favorite agent
Today I present to you Béata. It would be very insufficient to say that she is an import-export agent between Mister k. and the irreplaceable Mr. Stanislaw, in Poland, our fabulous manufacturer of pieces from our, your, collections, such as our Albert blazer, or our iconic Victor shirt, the Joe dress or the Richards coat. Almost all your favorite models, in short... Béata represents much more for us than a professional intermediary, so much more... Had she been Breton or Auvergne, our products, at identical cost prices, would have had it without any doubt followed in Finistère or Cantal! Now she is surely the most French of Polish women and to paraphrase Susanna Tamaro's sensitive novel, "va dove ti porta il cuore", I go where my heart takes me. We can never say enough how trust is the premium fuel for business and human relationships. And then it's no coincidence, Mr. Stanislaw, who works according to all European QCD (quality-costs-delivery) standards, is the official manufacturer of many major French brands. So we collaborate with Mr. Stanislaw via Béata and thanks to her. I met Béata when I worked at Heimstone, where I was production director in addition to my countless hats. Mutual trust took root and it was obvious to find her so that she could join our “star” organization. This is how we designate operational models where each branch shines as brightly as the center… like a star. And then, you will have understood, in my life, everything is a story of encounters, of crushes, of connections and once again of such precious trust. So what does it do for us?
Its function definition is simple. From her office in Warsaw, Béata is a "facilitator", organizer and monitor of the tight flow of our materials on the way out and their transformation in the factory until perfect delivery to the door of our office on the way back.
However, for this final operation, it is each time the same nice, mustachioed and very helpful Polish delivery driver who rings our doorbell with the double distinction of having been born long before the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and of not strictly speak or understand any language other than Polish. Lost in translation! So, as if a satellite had been in orbit above the friendly driver's truck, we called Béata who from Warsaw provided the interpretation and validated the delivery with us. However, the most important thing is not functionality, but Béata's way of being and attitude in all circumstances. Have you ever witnessed the performance of those who are capable of moving an object at a distance or twisting a teaspoon, through the sole power, it is said, of their thoughts? Illusionism or paranormal phenomenon? The controversy between unbelieving Cartesians and spiritualists is not settled and never will be, so much the better. However, at Mister k., we can attest that Béata is capable of remotely breaking down a door or twisting the neck of a stubborn problem, in short, of never giving up mentally and physically, until the job is done. and well done. For example, I remember some time ago, when our box containing the parts to be delivered to you vanished in the night between Mr. Stanislaw's factory and us. The last computer trace located the object in a warehouse in Cologne, where no one responsible for the carrier (UPS not to name it) could identify and find it. You will ask yourself why you used air freight rather than our friendly Polish delivery driver? Well ! Due to urgency, to ensure the dress your items reach you as quickly as possible...bing! Failure, fatal imponderable that drives you crazy at the worst time. Would we have the mindset of a quasi-industrial brand, perhaps we would have abandoned our box to its fate, in the limbo of air freight, reassured by the fact that insurers would have covered what looked like a flight. Well no, not us, impossible. We owed it to you to move heaven and earth to find your long-awaited pieces, period. It is morally inconceivable to abandon the search for the black box of an unfortunate plane damaged at sea, which could still emit a weak signal.
We had invested so much, in emotion as well as money, to make our entrepreneurial model work, which owes a lot to the notions of “circular economy”. At each link that makes up the circle, the human factor is essential.
So, neither one nor two, instead of filling out an insurance claim, we went looking for our box. The Parisian squadron, Astrid, Agathe and I, harassed UPS France, even going to their headquarters in Charenton, almost deciding to camp there until we obtained satisfaction. At the other end, in Poland, Béata took the investigation in hand and dissected each stage of the delivery from the moment our parts left the factory to the point of convergence of the mystery in Cologne. I bet that on this occasion the Polish shipper responsible for boarding the cargo plane must have been subjected to a thorough interrogation! Perhaps we have so strongly shaken the UPS window, which promises reliability and respect for deadlines, that a benevolent manager of this global shipper, sympathized with our dismay from Charenton. So on a beautiful Friday morning, 10 days after the evaporation of our box, our telephone rang to learn that a security guard in charge of excavations in Cologne discovered a box of white dresses, whose recipient's address had was accidentally torn off, abandoned in a corner of the warehouse. Hallelujah! Joy, tears of joy. Some people think it's stupid to cry just because you found a lost package. Béata and I were crying into our smartphones. Astrid and Agathe, at the height of relief, had to contain themselves in their corner. Call us crazy, but believe us. I thought of those incandescent lines from Belles du Seigneur, when Solal is struck by love at first sight upon seeing Arianne “to achieve love. For me it was the time of blinking. Call me crazy, but believe me.” That's it: call us crazy, but believe us. Béata is a beautiful person. His clear blue gaze is unmistakable. It also contains all the determination of many of those who have experienced deprivation in a country once battered by history. Today Poland is resolutely European and its economy is cruising at a good speed. Béata has, in a way, embraced the trajectory of her country. Born in Lublin into a modest, but resilient and cultured family, Béata, until adolescence, devoted herself to sport intensely. Sport was often the only way to surpass oneself, behind the Soviet “iron curtain”. At the age of 18, this curtain had already fallen in tatters, Béata gave in to the irresistible call of the open sea. Direction Paris, with the encouragement of her fiancé, in order to give herself a better chance of having a bright future to share one day as a couple. Without speaking a word of French or knowing anyone in Paris, Béata hangs on, learns the language, joins a welcoming “au pair” family, with whom she discovers France. After 3 years her fiancé came to join her in Paris. They find odd jobs and live in Montmartre - which, like a wink
- during that time
Hanging her lilacs
Right under our windows
And if the humble garnished
Who served as our nest
Didn't look like much
That's where we met.
Bohemia meant we are happy.
It is no coincidence that Aznavour, another resilient exile, is present between these lines. Béata, who speaks absolutely perfect French, confesses that she owes it a lot to the entire repertoire of French variety. In this register, as in many others, she is unbeatable!
8 years have passed, the marriage is taking shape, but to live in Poland, according to the wishes of the fiancé. “He helped me leave, I had to come back for him,” Béata told me without the slightest hesitation. Faithful, loyal, determined, bilingual, in love with France, it's more than enough to succeed in her career and life in her country (an adored son has come to strengthen the couple). And this is how Béata gradually became the essential interface for major French houses with their production units in Poland: for the record, Vanessa Bruno was the first to call on Béata.
We can only be attached to the beautiful people who in business, in all circumstances, let you know that “from now on your problem is my problem”. If these beautiful people were more numerous, businesses would also produce confidence in the future and happiness.
Béata, we simply love you, thank you for accompanying us every step of the way <3!
CH
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