The most important thing in a driver's job is... keep secret

This year, on the occasion of our company's 140th birthday, we interviewed several veterans of Vilniaus Duona and asked them to share their memories. For your attention – the second conversation.

Stanislav Biajgo, who came to work at Vilniaus Duonas on June 1, 1981, although he was appointed from the Institute of Chemistry where he studied, did not sit on a laboratory chair, but at the helm of the 24th Volga – this is it:

Since then, he has been transporting most of his career as directors, starting with Pavel Feodorov – to other bakeries in Druskininkai, Palanga, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys, Šiauliai; to the then Ministry of Industry on Jakšto Street; to Riga. When I asked him what is most important in the driver's job, I was surprised: no, not to know the shortest route or not to have a single traffic accident. The most important thing is to be able to keep a secret.

Journalist: Well, isn't there one thing from all your 42 years that you wouldn't tell about the previous directors, their travels, their affairs in the history of Vilniaus Duona now, many years later – even if not for me, but at least for friends and family members?

Stanislav: I don't tell and haven't told my family, or my colleagues. My attitude has always been this: I work, everything is fine, I have received a salary, and I don't know anything else. This happened once: we went to the bakery, to the workshop, and there people ask me: "So maybe there will be bonuses?" I say – "well, maybe there will be..." And they – "The director's driver says there will be bonuses!" Since then I haven't said anything.

Magazine: Forty-two years... I wasn't born that long ago. What was "Vilniaus Duona" like back then, what kind of baked goods did you like?

Stanislav: Vilnius Bread was very big. 1500 people. Bakeries in 7 cities. In Vilnius alone, there were five bakeries: Graičiūnas, Konarskio, Vivulskio, Saltoniškių streets and Tuskulėnai. It was a state-owned enterprise subordinate to the Ministry of Industry. They had a lot of products – from bread, baguettes, buns to šakočiai, pasta, chips. The bakery in Druskininkai, for example, was fired with coal in 1986 or 1987 until it switched to electric stoves.

The "Eglė" cake, the one with nuts, was very tasty – but it was not easy to buy it so easily, it was made only to order. The bread of "Vilnius" was very tasty, buns "Three kopecks" and a sliced baguette. When I would go to the bakery (it was not possible to enter it so freely), I would be fed.

We also had shops near our bakeries. In those days, you could only buy one loaf of bread in the store. And in the bakery's canteen, it could be eaten for free, it was already prepared on the table. The employees of the workshop could take one packet of milk per day for vouchers.

Magazine: I already remember those – such triangles?

Stanislav: Yes, triangles, paper.

Magazine: Does a driver have a lot of work?

Stanislav: Now I'm not just a driver – I'm also responsible for transport and security. And in the past, having our own fleet of 150 cars, we not only transported people, but also repaired those cars ourselves, we had repair garages and a brigade of employees on Graičiūno Street. It wasn't the case that he sat and had nothing to do.

When we went to Riga, meetings there usually started at 9 a.m. Already at 3:30 – 4:00 in the morning I had to leave. Not only the director would go, but also the commercial director, the head of finance, and someone else from the ministry would sit together. We used to go to Druskininkai every Thursday, to the board: the director, engineer, and energy expert would gather there.

When we were privatized by Vilniaus Prekyba, I also worked as a driver-courier: I transported documents to the bank, the ministry, from bakery to bakery, and if necessary, I took parcels.

Magazine: You really got up early for trips to Riga. And you're an owl or an owl?

Stanislav: It's hard to say. Like ever. Sometimes, when I pick up an interesting book before bed, I can read until midnight and until half past one night.

Journal: Not many people work in one company for 40 years. Have you ever considered leaving?

Stanislav: I considered it, and I had a lot of offers, but in the beginning I wanted to get an apartment – it was assigned by the company, and people were waiting in line to get it. I worked like this for the first 7 years, only then did I get an apartment.

And anyway – the salary was good, and so was the work. Although sometimes things were complicated by non-standardized working hours, understand: at that time it was not the case that there was a lot of work and there was a shortage of people. On the contrary, there were queues of people waiting at Vilniaus Duona who wanted to get a job. In order to be able to get a job here, you had to have acquaintances or somehow stand out from the others.

All the directors I worked with were neat people. He paid on time. Once, when I was thinking of leaving again, I said, and they asked me – "Why do you want to leave? Higher salaries?" I say "yes". Then they increased my salary, and I stayed.

Magazine: And what do you spend money on, what do you like, what do you do in your free time?

Stanislav: In the summer, we go with my family – I have a son, who also worked at the Vilniaus Duona bakery during the holidays while studying, and my granddaughter and grandson – to the homestead, to nature, to the sea. We visit our mother-in-law in the homestead, and we go to the river that flows nearby.

And I myself am very fond of cars and motorcycles. I have both one and the other, I take care of them, update them. My motorcycle with a mud (a "cradle" for the second passenger on the side of the motorcycle) is from 1976, I bought it on Vivulskio Street, near the administration of Vilniaus Duona at the time. There were policemen's garages there, and they sometimes sold used machinery. I paid 750 rubles for it. For comparison, at that time the salary in hand was 130-150 rubles, "Palanga" bread cost 18 kopecks, shaped bread – 14-16 kopecks.

Journal: Tell us one good thing about Vilnius Bread a few decades ago, and one thing about the current one.

Stanislav: From those times, there was a very good team. Everyone is friendly, helping each other. I wouldn't lie when I said that I went to work as a holiday, really.

I can say the same thing from these times. Now there are a little fewer people, but they are excellent, and there are long-term employees with whom we communicate: the accountant has been working for many years, there are such people in the bakery, and there are also mechanics in the group.

Magazine: Thank you for the interview.