Horrible Work Experience in Luxembourg

MY HORRIBLE WORK EXPERIENCE IN LUXEMBOURG

         EUROPEAN DREAM
I had long thought of leaving Russia. I am a native Muscovite from an intelligent family, my parents are kind and honest people who have done no harm to anyone, but have not made a big fortune. I went without cronyism. Wherever I worked, I was paid up to 20 thousand a month, and it happened that they did not pay it either. One day, a girl in a dating network, after learning of my plight, advised me to learn programming. I started to study on the Internet, no paid courses, for many hours, day and night, sitting at the monitor. I often understood that in a few more minutes I would die, my head ached so much and there was not enough air. But he continued to work hard with the only thought - to become a strong specialist and leave the country. In the end, I got a job in a Moscow company. But I hated everything in this office - illiterate, insubstantial managers working on cronyism, the semi-gangster management of the company and what they had to do - look for errors in programs that are not completely refined, but will still be accepted into state structures. Therefore, I lived with one thought - to leave as soon as possible, start a family there, preferably with a foreign woman (chronically unlucky with Russian girls - having learned that I was poor, they immediately abandoned), have children in a democratic country and take parents there. In addition, the international situation is difficult, the war with NATO is about to break out, ours is in default and a complete dictatorship with repression. And there.... In Europe, everything is close - everything can be easily traveled around, traveling every weekend! I love museums and theaters so much, and there are a lot of them there! And finally, the Europeans - they are our brothers, cultural and educated people, excellent managers! They have the rule of law, no corruption! My children will live in a free country without warrior and turmoil! Over the weekend, I will take them to different theaters - in the Grand Opera de Paris, La Scala, it will be possible even to visit Covent Garden in London! We will travel a lot with my European family and live in no need of anything! Eh, I would rather get out of here, I just lose time and years in this musty swamp ... These were my thoughts.


JOB SEARCH
To start, I created a profile on Linkedin.com and started sending dozens of resumes on this site and on the Monster.com page. Everything is in English. By the way, I have no problems with the language, I studied it well in my childhood. I began to call from different parts of Europe and assign interviews. I passed them several times a day - before work, during the lunch break and when I returned home from the office. And all the time he received refusals. The language was different: "Dear Alex, you made a good impression on us, but the competition for the vacancy is over and we have to let you know that you did not go to the next stage. Good luck in everything! "," Dear Alex, thank you very much for the interview, but we received a large number of resumes and must inform you that we cannot move forward with you because your experience does not fully correspond to what we are looking for " "Hello, Mr. Orlov! Thank you for taking the time, but we are forced to inform you that after a long study of your resume, we focus on other candidates who are more suitable for vacancies "and an infinite number of similar variations ... Often forgotten about me, even without sending a refusal, and I was engaged in self-digging, thinking that something is wrong in me, something I didn't like or don't take just because I am Russian. It is worth noting that in most cases I was not hacked as a specialist - I confidently answered all the questions, then I was still refused.
But I persevered to my goal. At some point, I even began to realize that on the weekend, when I was alone, I didn't even have enough of these interviews - so I got used to them, and I don't communicate with anyone anymore.

LONG-EXPECTED OFFER
Once I received a letter from the Arms Development corporation with an office in Luxembourg - I change the name of the company to a couple of letters. In this story I will change the names of companies and people a little, so if you deal with them, you will understand who they are. HR Harry Tsigos offered to have an interview on Skype. At the agreed time, I got in touch. The interview was conducted by Harry himself and the leader of the team, Frenchman Jean Norse. Everything went like clockwork - half an hour of conversation, basic questions and words about the fact that I made an excellent impression and most likely will take me. The result was promised to be reported within the next week. After that I waited for 3 weeks and forgot about them already, when suddenly I receive an email with an attached file. At that time I was at work and, having seized the moment when no one was around, I downloaded the file and opened it. It read:
"Dear Alex!
I want to congratulate you - you showed a high level of technical skills and that we share our values at the interview. Arms Development makes you an offer to work with us in our Luxembourg office!
We offer you:
- Contract for permanent job
- Probationary period of 6 months
- A salary of 5,000 euros per month before taxes
- 18 coupons for free meals per month
- 5 weeks vacation per month
- MacBook for personal use
Keep in touch!
Respectfully,
Harry".
Believe me, I almost jumped up with happiness! Honestly, I was ready to run, jump, shout for joy, that at last I would give up everything and would rather leave! But I remained silent and calm, because I was still at work.
While still working, I applied for translations and apostilization, after which I sent them to the Luxembourg government for consideration. For a couple of months I was nervous that the dwarf state would refuse me a visa because I am Russian, I have no IT education or are not sufficiently qualified. They send the answer by mail. Finally, one letter arrived confirming that the documents had been accepted for consideration and then an invitation to the embassy for a visa. I filed for dismissal and began to get ready to go.
And here is the end of January, preparing for departure at the airport. I am accompanied by my parents. "My dear, maybe I will never see you again. After all, my father and I are already old", - my mother cried. It was very sad, hard to leave them, but I flew with the thought that my future in Europe, everything will certainly work out. And I will drag my parents later when I buy a house and we will live together happily with them, my wife and children in a house in the center of Europe.


FIRST TROUBLES
A ticket to Luxembourg cost me 700 euros. There are no direct flights from Moscow, and it is necessary to fly through one of the countries of Europe plus I booked it close to departure time. Upon arrival, I noticed that there is no passport control at the airport of the dwarf country - it is carried out in the state through which you fly. No one met me, it was necessary to independently get with suitcases to the office of the company. In order not to risk getting lost, I took a taxi. Outside the window, clean, well-groomed streets, rare trees and low houses flashed. Soon I was near the business center, where my IT company is located, and immediately saw the human resources team Harry - he smoked near the entrance to the building.
- Hi Harry, I'm finally here.
- Hello, Alex! I'm glad to see you! How was your flight?
- Normal, although tired.
- Ok, now you will sign some papers and I will take you to a corporate apartment.
For some reason, we entered the building and went not to the negotiation room, but to the cafeteria, where a French girl from the personnel department gave me to sign an employment contract, not to disclose company confidential information and some numerous questionnaires for the Ministry of Immigration. After that, Harry put me in his car and drove, explaining everyday questions as he went.
- This is the "Belle Etoile" shopping center, there is a large supermarket "Cactus" here. There you can buy groceries. At this bus stop you will take bus 77 and you will reach the center, and then you will move on 21 and he will take you to our office. Take the SIM card provider Orange, this company does not require a local residence permit. A bank account is better to open in the bank ING, at first they will get a Russian passport. Other banks will only open deposits to people with local or European citizenship.
Finally, winding in the dark for a long time (Harry didn't remember exactly how to drive), we arrived at a 3-storey house. To my surprise, there was an elevator, a basement with underground parking and a laundry. Harry opened the door with the key and we were in a huge three-room apartment.
"Settle down," - said Harry, showing me how to turn on the internet modem. - "Just remember that here you are temporarily and in 3-4 days should rent a house for yourself. People come to our corporate apartment from the foreign offices of our company, so this is a temporary solution".
The next few days, before work, I gave several medical tests to go, applied for a Blue Card. There were countless pieces of paper needed and there was absolutely no time to search for an apartment. I stayed in the apartment, where my colleagues from Brussels regularly visited, visiting on business in the Luxembourg office of the company. By the way, there was a church outside the window of the house, whose clock rang every quarter of an hour. I sleep very sensitively, so I often wake up, not having enough sleep, I went on immigration matters before work and only then to the office. In the evening, it was necessary to buy groceries and catch the last bus to get home.
By the way, all the shops in Luxembourg are closed at 8 pm and, if you live far from the center, the last bus goes there at 9 o'clock. I was just living far away, so there was no stopping. Already in the first days I began to longing for Moscow. After all, I lived there normally, came to work when I wanted and stayed late (and often worked from home at all), after that I went to the convenience store near the house and bought everything I wanted. I practiced dancing, had a good job, which I easily coped with, my relatives were near. What am I doing in this village? Why am I here? These questions began to appear in my head, but I tried to put aside such thoughts. I decided to fight to the end, because a lot of effort, time, hopes and money were spent on the move.


MODERN SLAVERY
On the first day of work, I was introduced to the chief, Jean Norse, with whom I had an interview on Skype. A tall, very thin, stooped man with a round back, with cold, evil gray eyes, a huge mouth and incredibly long fingers on his hands for a long time silently studied me with his eyes, then with a strong handshake squeezed my hand and said: "I am glad you are here. We will start exploring all the projects. A lot of work and work will have to be very fast. As you know, we are an outsourcing company. We take projects from various major European players, they need to pass as soon as possible. We have 127 projects, a few hundred programmers, and there are only 8 testers so far. So there won't be an easy walk. "
I nodded silently, listening to how this guy was very burry while talking and realizing that something was wrong with him. Whether he is too nervous, with a frequent nervous tick - twitching of eyebrows, head, or just simply abnormal. But I had no choice. It was in Moscow that I could get up and leave the interview simply if I didn't like the person. And here he came, so he came - there is nowhere to go, we must work.
A few words about the company. The Arms Development company occupies the whole building divided into huge open-space halls. In each room - 80-100 people. The noise and din is endless, all the time someone is talking, arguing, discussing work. Focusing is simply impossible. The furniture is all shabby, she is many years old. Computers are also old. I could never have thought that this could be in Europe.
The management of the company is a separate song. If in Moscow I spoke with the leaders of the company on "you", in "Arms Development" the management simply doesn't notice their employees. You go to meet them, greet them, but they do not respond, and they seem to not see you. The head of the company, the Greek Turban Berberidis, set up a startup a few years ago, which has grown to a multinational company with thousands of employees. His office was next to my workplace. Sometimes he would come to work on a Porsche - a small, bald man with a crimson drunk face and a sodomist gay look. "Well, it was necessary to create such a company in order to live a stupid meaningless life and eventually become alcoholic," I thought, watching how this man, reeling, leaves his office in the middle of the day. Other managing partners looked like executioners and inquisitors from paintings by European masters, for whom people were consumables. Kicked out one thing - in the personnel department are thousands of resumes from around the world - take on the work of the next victim. We will squeeze the juice out of him and if he breaks his the health - we will get rid of him, next please. Indeed, for what respect cannon fodder, which even did not pay for the move to the slaughterhouse? And before that it seemed to me that in Europe the management of companies appreciates its employees and stands with them on one leg.
The team of testers consisted of 9 people: 3 French, including Chief Jean, 3 Indians, a Belgian, a Spaniard, and I was the only Russian. By the way, programmers from Russia and Ukraine worked in other teams, but as soon as they learned that I was Russian, they began to keep as far as possible. As I understand it, they were very afraid that I would ask them for help. And everything was completely incomprehensible to me in the new country, where, besides, everyone speaks French. And the best advisers turned out to be Hindus. They even suggested something, and so I was all alone.
The work was no end. For each project, a week was allocated, a maximum of two, and it was necessary to test the web application alone with dozens of roles, hundreds of users and countless services. They simply did not hear about test automation (and when, there was no time for it!) And everything was tested in manual mode only. Imagine - you have a lot of test cases in front of your eyes. Each test case consists of a multitude of steppes and sub-steps and looks like this:

1. TC-001. Mailbox operation check
1.1. Go to https://12.13.145.66:8891
1.2. Enter "admin" in the "Login" field
1.3. Enter "password" in the "Password" field
1.4. Click the "Login" button
1.5 Make sure you are on the page
1.6. Press the "Write a letter" button
.
.
.
And so on to infinity during the day. Interesting? Everything must be done very quickly, because there is a lot of work and no one to work. And all the time next to the evil driver, named Jean, who says that you are not productive and need to work much faster. I often noticed that Sandip, an Indian working next to me, rolls his eyes from fatigue and is about to fall backwards on the back of a chair. I also crawled home, not understanding anything, but continued to fight. I'm in the richest country in the world, Luxembourg, in the heart of Europe. I'm here for my parents and future children!




HOUSING SEARCH
- Well, Alex, how are you doing with finding an apartment? - every day I asked HR personnel Harry. He had windows to the corridor and he could perfectly see who and where was going.
- Not yet, Harry, - I completely drowned in immigration matters, for the time being I just didn't have time to go to shows ... And Jean demands that at 10 am I was already at work.
I repeat, in Moscow I had a flexible schedule, I could come to the office in 3 days, and leave at 12 at night, and have dinner at 6 in the evening. Here I was required to dine strictly in the interval from 12 to 2.
- Alex, I told you that corporate housing is a temporary solution. The management is already annoyed that you live there for several weeks. You urgently need to take something off!
It is worth noting that several times before I approached Harry and asked his other colleagues from the personnel department to help or at least give advice on how to find an apartment as soon as possible. After some time, I saw the hatred in the eyes of these people and did not address them anymore. Europeans are completely unwilling to put themselves in the shoes of another person, to do something elementary and to mess around with you somehow.
I took his words seriously, although now I understand that it was necessary to continue to live and slowly search for an apartment for myself. Nowhere on the street they would not kick me out - they simply have no right to do so according to the law. Even if you do not pay rent, according to local laws, the landlord can not put you anywhere.
By the way, finding an apartment for rent in Luxembourg is almost unreal. But first things first. The search process begins like this - you go to www.athome.lu or www.immotop.lu and look for a place to rent yourself, using the search. The cost of a studio on the outskirts starts from 900 euros per month, a normal apartment - from 1600. After you have submitted an application on the site, a realtor contacts you (not always!) And you negotiate a meeting time with him. In this case, you usually need to send an e-mail or bring your documents and employment contract with you to the meeting. If you get less than 3,000 euros per month - most real estate firms and homeowners simply will not deal with you. But even when the meeting takes place, the realtor says: "Ok, you are a great guy, but I will send your documents to the property owner for consideration and he will make a decision". And then either the answer does not come at all, or the refusal comes. The owner sees that you are not a European, you have a low income compared to someone, and simply rent housing to another person. Luxembourg is a small country and apartments for rent are just a little. But there are a lot of those who want it. People from everywhere, from Italy, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, India and even Great Britain, go to high wages compared to Europe. Yes, the whole of Europe is now flooded with the Anglo-Saxons, everyone is fleeing from England because of high prices and ethnic conflicts. There is another point. Luxembourg massively accepts African refugees. In the six months that I lived there, the number of black people doubled, if not tripled. All these people need housing - and it is the state that pays for it, renting it from the owners. But qualified professionals housing for rent is sorely lacking.
There is another absolutely monstrous European law. When you rent an apartment, you need to give a large deposit, the so-called Security Deposit, which ensures that you do not break or break anything. And if you spoil it, the owner of the dwelling will deduct money from it in order to repair the damage. For example, you have agreed on everything for 1500 euros per month and begin to rent housing. You should pay the following amount in one sitting: 1,500 euros for the first month + 1,500 euros to the realtor + 1,500 * 3 euros Security Deposit + 120 euros insurance for the apartment for a year. Total 7620 euros immediately. Now, if you have signed a lease for a year (and for a shorter period they are almost not signed) and want to terminate it early, you still have to pay for the accommodation until the landlord finds a new tenant or until the end of the contract! Will not you pay? Then they will not return Security Deposit or your 4500 euros! Such a law of renting real estate is valid in all EU countries, but employers are always silent about it, luring those who are looking for a better share of people from Russia, Ukraine, India and other third world countries.


HOUSE IN THE VILLAGE
- Well, Alex, did you finally rent an apartment? - Once again I met the personnel officer Harry at the door of the office.
- Not yet, Harry. - All looking and continuous failures. No one wants to rent housing to the Russians.
- Let's do it this way, - the Greek said grimly. - It's time for you to leave the corporate apartment for a long time, the company's management is very dissatisfied. Find yourself a room through the AirBnB website and take it off for a while. Living there, find yourself an apartment. I see this is a slow process.
I began to look for a room through this application, but I have not had a bank account yet. And as soon as I offered to meet and pay cash, I was quickly finished chatting.
In the end, after much effort, I found the hostess of the house, who agreed to rent me a room. Chantal was a Frenchwoman who bought a 3-storey house in Luxembourg and made a mini-hotel out of it. In the house 8 rooms were rented for 30-40 euros per day. But I had no choice - I had to rent something quickly. In addition, to obtain a temporary residence permit, you must have a rental contract and a permanent address - only then you can apply for the EU Blue Card.
I paid in cash, giving 1800 euro for 2 months and 1200 euro Security Deposit. If I break or break something, the hostess will deduct from this money. Having received my copy of the contract, I went to work, promising to move this weekend. And on Saturday I took a taxi, loaded a single suitcase into the car and finally moved.
Chantal warmly greeted me and took me to the top floor, where a tiny room under the roof of no more than 10 square meters in size was waiting for me. A double bed only, a plasma TV panel on the wall, a window with blinds, a chair, a tiny table with a dwarf electric kettle and a horizontal iron tube with clothes hangers. The closet in the room simply did not fit.
- On this floor there is a toilet, but it is used by your neighbor, who paid for renting a room with a toilet. Therefore, use the bathroom on the second floor, where everyone goes, - Chantal introduced me to the rules, - You can use the washing machine once a week. See the paper on the wall? You will need to sign up when you book the bathroom and washing machine. And yet - be sure to wipe behind a sink, faucet, washing machine and bathroom. For all this, there are separate cloths, they hang next. After all, after you here will be other tenants.
We went down the creaking wooden stairs and Chantal led me to the kitchen.
- We have two refrigerators. I use one and my boyfriend, for all of you, my tenants - this one. I give you this shelf for products. All other products put in the closet, here is your shelf. And be sure to wipe the table, as you eat my sink after you wash the dishes.
Listening to her, I wondered how many rules I would have to follow for a lot of money. By the way, in the neighboring Belgium for 400 euros you can rent a 1-room apartment, but here I pay twice as much for a tiny room and there is not even a hint of any kind of service.
"As a bonus, you can take breakfast from my shelf for a week," continued Chantal, "it's bread, cheese from the package, ham, and some greens." Well, boil water, tea, coffee at your service.
Of course, as a Russian person who was accustomed to a hearty breakfast, I simply did not understand this trifle and always cooked myself - for example, scrambled eggs, porridge or potatoes with sausages, made a salad, certainly fruits, yogurt. Chantal was surprised how so much could be eaten, and that we Russians drink food, and the French eat and then drink.
 The rooms in the house never gave up everything. The regular customers were the Corsican-bartender Max and the Belgian builder Jacques. Both worked in the same village, literally across the road. By the way, there were only a few streets in the village, not a single store, but 4 restaurants worked. The bus went once an hour, on weekends - once every 3 hours. There is absolutely nothing to do, but near the forest, streams, small mountains, fresh air.
True, for me, a resident of the metropolis to be in this wilderness was torture. One day I was up late for a walk in the center and missed the last bus to my canton. The time was about midnight and I decided to get to the next village by another bus, and only then walk to my walk. It is worth noting that I tried to contact Chantal and my colleagues on my mobile, but so late nobody picked up the phone. And here I am walking in the dead of night, on the street not a soul, cars do not stop, no matter how you vote. I reached the forest belt and saw that the pedestrian road was over - there are no street lamps and no sidewalk. Well, okay, I think, here a little, walk along the road through the woods and dedicate myself a mobile phone. And suddenly, from behind a tree, someone growled. There was total darkness, I did not see anything, but by a growl I realized that this was far from a dog, but some large predator. "It was necessary for me to go to Luxembourg from Moscow to be eaten by a wolf!", - I thought. - "No, I'll turn around, go to the church in the neighboring town, it's not so cold, I will sit on a stool up to the first bus." In an hour I finally reached the center of Steinfort, a small town on the border with Belgium and decided to still search for someone alive to call a taxi. And lo and behold - I came across a bar that was still working around one in the morning. I go - inside a couple of alcoholics and the barmaid girl. Having ordered a beer to relax, I asked her to call a taxi. The girl had been dialing to different companies for a long time - they didn't pick up the phone somewhere, they refused to go somewhere, but the car was called. And the cafe was already closed, another hour of waiting outside and, in the end, I was in a warm taxi. I literally threw myself around the neck of the Portuguese driver, taking him as a savior. And, of course, when he drove me, gave him a generous tip.
Meanwhile, life in a picturesque village was by no means sugar. Every day, at 5 am, trucks, wagons, tractors and buses began to walk under the windows (the house stood at the intersection of two main streets), and at 8 am, demolition hammers, excavators and other road repair equipment began to work outside the window. In the evening, in a house across the road, a brass band rehearsed. I, accustomed to my room in a good Moscow apartment, hardly slept. In addition, the builder Jacques went somewhere for a night looking, and, returning, in the morning, several times he fell drunk on the stairs. The barman also finished work late and, returning to the house, began to take a shower, destroying everything in the bathroom, which was right next to my room. And, returning to his room, loudly started rap. Needless to say, then at work I simply suffered and could not focus at all, made minor, but errors, which caused anger of the boss and colleagues.
"Alex, you already live with us for two weeks, and we communicate so little," - Chantal told me once. - You know, my boyfriend comes from vacation, Yannick. Let's have dinner tonight. I'm sure you will be interested to meet him".
I agreed, thinking that I would see some handsome Polish man, blond, two meters tall. Yan is a Polish name, Yannick is probably his derivative. It is interesting to see who Chantal chose as her chosen one - a rather beautiful, but lonely 45-year-old Frenchwoman, whom you will never give her age. And so I come home from work, sit down at the table and instead of a Polish blond macho, a small, bald, bow-legged Frenchman with a facial expression like a bulldog appears before me. Chantal is higher on his head. You know, at that moment I first flashed the thought of the degeneration of Europe, which I so praised. If their women choose such men, so what can we expect from these people? We sat at the table, ate a dinner primitively prepared from convenience foods, drank red wine and I thought that in Russia women still mostly want to have a husband, a family and children. And this lady has got herself a coming lover who does not help her with anything - she will come, eat, sleep with her and is absent for a week. All the housework, the purchase of products Chantal did herself. And I could not understand why she would not find herself a normal man, would not marry, would not lead a child? Who will inherit this house after her death? Yannick's children from his first marriage? To be honest, as a Russian Chirstian Orthodox person, I was disgusted with living with such a woman and being present at all this.
Gradually, our relationship with the hostess began to deteriorate. For example, I, as a tenant, had the right to use the kitchen for half an hour, according to the contract, the silence in the house was supposed to occur at 11 pm, and Chantal rolled up loud dinners with friends and acquaintances that lasted until one o'clock in the morning. I tried to explain to the landlady that I need silence, I cannot sleep, and my work requires concentration, but in response I received an offer to join dinner and drink with those present. The argument that I never understood at work tomorrow. Soon the lady began to miss the money and she began to demand 50 euros from each tenant for cleaning. Of course, all refused to pay - the French and Belgians would rather hang themselves than give an extra cent, but for some reason I was considered the instigator of the rebellion. The first thing I was denied to use the dryer, which stood in the room Chantal. "The dryer has broken, so here's a hanger for you and hang your washed laundry right on the stairs," - the Frenchwoman explained to me directly and without blinking, and gave me a standing structure with branches in the shape of a Christmas tree. Is it worth explaining that without access of light on a wooden staircase, the linen has dried for weeks. Then there were comments like: "Snickers disappeared from the bus driver. I'm not saying that it was you, but don't do that anymore". At such times, I often recalled the memoirs of the first wave of immigrants to France, former White Guards who came to a foreign land and could not get used to local reality, faced with the lack of sympathy, greed and utter heartlessness. They longed for their homeland and many hoped to return to it until the end of their lives, but they did not succeed. In the end, I finally exhausted and decided that it was time to urgently move out.


CHINESE "DYNASTY"
With great difficulty, I found a hotel through Booking, which could be booked for a month. All the other hotels were painted for a long time ahead, as I understand, expatriates who came to the country in large numbers like me. It was a two-star Chinese hotel with the proud name "Dynasty", standing on the edge of the village in the middle of the field. Room cost 82 euros per day. Of course, he was two more spacious than the room at Chantal, so I transferred money through the Internet site and, after a few days warning the owner, began to collect things. I want to note that life in the village nevertheless played a role in my legalization - I indicated this address in all documents and presented a lease agreement, therefore an invitation to immigrate to receive a residence permit came to him. Soon the EU Blue Card was in my arms.
- Thank you, Chantal, - I told her on the day of departure. - You helped me in a difficult time for me. Now I have a residence permit, but I still got used to silence, to live alone and have to leave you.
- Well, I understand, - the Frenchwoman replied. - Just let's settle a couple of questions. First of all, either you pay me 50 euros, or you clean your room yourself before you leave. I need it clean for rent to new tenants. And second, more important. I added to the contract here that until you register in the new canton, I will deduct 35 euros per day from you.
- Why is that?
- According to local laws, I can not surrender a room to anyone while you are registered in it.
- Okay, Chantal, of course, - I said, putting my signature. - You can be sure, I will quickly get registered in a new place, there will be no problems.
- Ok, then I will return your security deposit - Security Deposit.
In order not to pay, I cleaned my room. By the way, Chantal long fooled and asked to finish something, remove the dust, where it was not at all - probably, to make fun at last. And then I checked for a long time whether I broke something from the furniture and whether there were scratches somewhere. I called a taxi, we said goodbye coldly and the car drove me through the fields to the hotel.
All the work at the tiny hotel was done by a few Chinese women, and they cleaned the rooms, prepared, washed and answered the phone at the front desk. Entering the room, I finally gladly felt the silence and space. Finally I am alone! Freedom!!! There is a fridge but no stove. No problem! My breakfast is included in the price, I will have lunch in a cafe during working hours, but dinner is generally harmful. I'll interrupt yogurt and fruit. And it does not matter that the room is cleaned once a week, and towels are changed and that less often - I will suffer! The main thing is that all these neighbors are left behind: drivers, builders and bartenders with angry housewives. Now you just need to register in the new canton to deregister in the previous one. And here I was waiting for another trouble.
In the morning before work, I arrived at the administration of the canton to register. The administration was in another village and I had to get there by bus for a long time. I went into the office of a local official and introduced myself.
- Hello. I am Alex Orlov, came to work in Luxembourg and just recently changed my address. I came to you to register in your area.
- Well, please give me your residence permit and rental agreement, - the fat female clerk said dryly of no middle-aged appearance.
I handed her a plastic card of my new local ID and a printout of the hotel reservation.
- Unfortunately, we cannot register you without a rental contract, - the aunt snapped dryly.
- Yes, but I live in this hotel for a month. Here are papers about reserving and paying a room. Understand, I have to be registered somewhere.
- Sorry, I can not do anything. We register only if you rent a house, otherwise it is not legal, the official said.
In a panic, I arrived at work and began to ask everyone, including Harry, the personnel officer, what I should do. "You should go to the central administration and register there," - he advised me. And everyone agreed with him. "You must understand," - Harry justified, - "we have no experience working with people from third countries -- we are just starting to hire them to our company. Most of us are citizens of the European Union and do not need to get registered here. The majority of our workers come from France, Belgium, Germany, work out the day and drive home in the evening. "
I went to the Jean Norse, explained the situation to him and asked to let me go, because the registration issue had to be urgently addressed.
- When will you finally start working? - evil blinking and looking with hatred into my eyes was parried by Jean. Jean's face twitched and his dull gray eyes drilled through me. I imagined myself as a Russian peasant-partisan of 1812, who was detained by French soldiers and was given to this maniac, Shoulder Master who would torture me with sophistication and then behead me.
- I'll register and stay today to work through the time spent.
- You are not disciplined. You linger all the time for some endless business.We must work strictly from 10 to 19. And lunch from 12 to 2. Do you understand me?
I understood that this man does not want to stand in my place, that he is much younger and he probably enjoys scoffing and showing me his power. For example, endlessly transferring me to new places for no reason.
And yet I was let go. Once on the bus, I reached the center, where I wandered for a long time and hardly found the central administration. And finally, I am sitting with my number in front of the bald clerk and give him the documents for registration.
- You have already tried to register in the canton of Diekirch - all this is in our database. What brings you here? the official asked dryly.
- Yes, but I wasn't registered there because I live in a hotel and I don't have a rental contract. As a result, I can't get off the check in Steinfort. What should I do?
- According to the law, they should have registered you, but we have each canton, and we have more than 100 of them, interpret the law in their own way. What they do is illegal. You have two options - either contact the burgomaster of the district to consider your situation, or go to court. All this will take a lot of time, much more than the month that you live in a hotel.
- So how should I be?
- Move out of there as soon as possible. Remove the accommodation or hotel in the center and then our central administration will register you without any problems.
I returned to work, all in the nerves, explained the situation and sat down at the 50 test cases. Every day before work, I went to look at 2 apartments, and then went to the office. Soon, the manager Jean called me back into the conversation.
- Alex, you are completely unproductive. Will it last long? I warn you once again that this will end badly, the boss told me. His eyes often blinked, a huge mouth was grinned and air was coming out of his massive jaws with a hiss. The long fingers of huge hands drummed on the table.
- Jean, I explain the situation to you. I'm about to find an apartment. There have already been a lot of shows and it seems that we have reached an agreement. As soon as I move and all these cases with housing search and registration end, I will be able to work in full force. Put yourself in my place!
- I do not want to understand anyone and put myself in someone's place! - He almost shouted. - There is a plan, you do not fulfill it!
- What is the specific plan? How many bugs in the program should I find during the day? And how many test cases to perform? You do not call anything specifically.
- You have to change, otherwise everything will be very sad for you," he said, stammering in anger, and, slouching, quickly left the negotiation room.
I returned to the workplace, and my colleague, Hindu Rakesh, was sitting next to me. "Finally you came back, Alex, there is so much work", - he breathed. I looked at him and thought that, despite the salary of 5,000 euros per month, he was still a slave. He came from India to Luxembourg, where he was introduced to and married an Hindu who received local citizenship. Rakesh never loved his spouse, she had a terrible temper and she twisted him as she wanted. Will the husband behave badly? Divorce, send him home to India and find another fellow tribe. Awful work, misfortune in personal life, but Europe. Is there a need for such a life in Europe? Not for me.

MY ACCOMODATION
And finally, the long-awaited day came when luck turned to face me - I rented an apartment. Responding to the next ad on the rental site, made an appointment with a real estate agent. The apartment was located on the top floor of a 4-storey building in the pedestrian zone of the very center of the city and cost only 1,200 euros, including utilities. You enter inside and you get into the living room combined with the kitchen, from which the door leads to the bedroom. Plasma hob with steam hob, dishwasher, tiny fridge, sofa, TV, bed for a couple of seats. Bathroom combined with toilet and standing space under the shower. In the basement is a laundry room with washing and drying machines. What else is needed for the life of a bachelor?
"Your neighbors are calm here, the furniture is new, everything is close," - Arab-born realtor Daoud Hasani praised the accommodation, - "there are several shops nearby, all within walking distance."
I quickly happily signed a contract for six months and at once gave more than 6,000 euros - for the first month of the lease, a commission to the agency and the Security deposit, consisting of 3 monthly payments. "I finally rented my apartment! I have never had such experience, but now I live alone! What did I need to find housing, but still I won! "- there were my joyful thoughts.
But the reality was tough. In a hurry, agreeing to rent, I did not notice that the house across the street was covered with a film - it turned out that it was completely rebuilt. I did not realize that on the top floor it is always hot - even at night. And, of course, I could not imagine how it would be noisy to live in the pedestrian zone. Early in the morning every day at 6 in the morning the jackhammers began to work, and at about one in the afternoon it was all over. As I understand it, the builders started and tried to complete the work earlier, while there were few people on the main street. Only they were finishing - street musicians came right under the windows, people began to walk, children run. This whole celebration of life went on until late and ended in drunken fights of blacks with each other and local alcoholics. In addition, on the other side of the narrow street there was a house and people living on my level all the time looked at me through the windows. We could perfectly see each other and they were happy to watch me: when I got up, I cook and eat when I went to the bathroom ...
In order to somehow compensate for the loneliness and meaninglessness of being in a foreign land, I gave all the power to work. But the executor-chief was not always happy. Once he once again called me to the meeting room.
- Well, Alex, I can tell you that everything is very bad. You have no idea how bad things are!
- You're not at all doing the job, - said Jean, grinning, looking angrily at the eyes of a serial killer with bags under his eyes. From his half-open mouth, a stinging saliva flowed right onto the table.
- How can not cope when I do everything? The heads of all the teams I work for are happy, - I retorted.
- You do not fulfill the plan, I warned you earlier. This is the last warning. A little more - and I will dismiss you.
I looked at this paranoid, realizing that he hates me for no reason and that this is not about work. For some reason he assigned me to enemies and will never calm down. It is necessary to stop this torment. After all, I came to Luxembourg for a better life. Am I supposed to die?
- You know, Jean, - I said. - I have already made a decision. We have to part.
- Are you serious? - He was taken aback and for some reason his neck turned red, and his face, on the contrary, turned white.
- Yes, we are different people and I will not work with you.
- Oh well. The company will pay you for another 3 weeks ... You can not leave tomorrow, but according to our rules, we pay our employees to find something new for themselves ...
Do you think I was sad? I left work to nowhere in another country and realized that, most likely, I would not find anything new. Yes, I was happy and ready to jump for joy! Breaking out of this juicer, preserving health, seeing no more evil, annoyed, exhausted faces of colleagues and, on the contrary, evil and aggressive leaders. We live once and should not tolerate bad conditions and horrible people around! In addition, I strongly stretched my foot when I moved, when I was dragging a heavy suitcase and almost could not walk normally. And besides this, in a hurry, he hit his elbow on the corner of the wall when he carried the suitcase into the apartment. Elbow was very sick and swollen.
After that, I tried to find another job. I sent dozens of resumes per day throughout Europe, posted on the sites of Monster, Indeed, but there were no offers. It is worth noting that I have always indicated that I have a European residence permit and a work permit - it did not help. My attempts to find a job in other European countries were also unsuccessful. And then I decided to return home to Russia, which I greatly missed. There was absolutely no regret - I was completely exhausted, I hadn't slept for almost half a year, I hadn't seen my parents.
Why did I come here? Indeed, in Moscow I lived in a good apartment, I had an interesting job, I was valued ... I created an idol for myself, that somewhere could be better! Being in a foreign land, I realized how attached to Russia. The power of my country, its size attracted and did not let go. I remembered going by bus to some monastery - and for hours outside the window there were forests, rivers and lakes, no shelter and not a soul! And our Orthodox Church, its beautiful services, good grandmothers in handkerchiefs. Moscow lanes near the Kremlin, in Zamoskvorechye, in the city center. Our theaters are Big, Small, Moscow Art Theater, the Russian army. Our literature is Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Bunin, Kuprin, Pushkin, Lermontov. Our rock - Viktor Tsoi, "Alice", Kipelov, "Nautilus" and many ... Vladimir Vysotsky. Countless museums. Russian ballet. Our beautiful Russian girls - with regular features, wheat hair, bottomless eyes and chiseled legs!
And here in Luxembourg - all some kind of small, clumsy, puppet. The people do not know anything - neither their own history, nor art, nor literature. Empty Catholic Cathedrals - they have no soul.
And in general, the soulless people around - they smile meaningfully to you, but their eyes are evil and, as soon as they realize that you don't know something and have slacked somewhere, they will immediately dissolve them for money. I did not see any values and moral principles, or rather only two values - money and tasty food. No sympathy, no compassion, no sincerity, no friendship, no love. I imagined the rest of my life in this country - you are well off, you don't do anything to anyone, you eat in a restaurant every day, because there's nothing else to do here and the vast majority of the population lives like that. Years pass, you become fat, still angry and something forever dissatisfied, as everyone around is selfish and consumer. Only you buy more and more goods, but this does not bring you happiness and satisfaction. There is no friendship and love in your life, because those around you are not capable of it. And all is just for the money. Is this the ultimate dream? Meaningless life and hell after it. Oh, how we, Russians, have deteriorated lately, but in Europe everything is many times worse! Do I want my children to grow up in such a society and become ignorant fat morons? Of course not!
         Eh, it's time to go home! But before I return, I decided, it is necessary, taking advantage of the fact that while here, to see the neighboring countries - Belgium, Germany and France and only then go home. And hit the road.