Back to regular life. Got on my bike and rode it to MPSŠC, to report for work. Should have to do that the day before, but 7th was the Uprising day in Serbia, an official holiday so I was off the hook for the day. The 4th, the Fighter's day (actually the day they decided to start an uprising in 1941) being so close to it, nobody scheduled anything at the school for 5th and 6th, considering that more than half of the people would be somewhere else.
So I met only the secretary and maybe one more person there. Which was all I needed - to have her register that I reported for work, even though I had nothing to do for at least next 40 days. Said she considered me technically on leave until late july last year, and then only when I was supposed to report for no work to do, registered me as "on serving the military term". So my staž wasn't exactly 365 days short, but more like 345 or so. Nice. And so I went off to enjoy the summer.
I have some pictures with us taking Go, on bikes, to visit her parents, or maybe we took the car and the pics on bikes were on some other day.
update 2019: as Žuca reported in november, the above statement on the staž isn't entirely correct. While true for 1981, where my nominal holiday workdays counted, not true for 1982, because despite my reporting to work on this day, they counted me in only in late august or beginning of september, when the work in the school resumed. No matter that there were some staff in the house today and that my presence was noted. Someone didn't like me so I'm about 40 days short.
For that matter, I know who she was, the secretary at the time, nice girl, well rounded where proper, cop husband, and she had a thing for me a few years later, when I had that storage room... and she'd find a reason to sit there with me, at some distance just so I could see her legs better... Well, no, didn't bite. As the moron who taught geography said „these childless ones are dangerous“. [refreshing my memory returns different secretaries - the one in 1982 is not the one from 1984]
But there's more to the story. Even before this day, i.e. during those holidays, one Dušanka Šunjalo called. She was my replacement while I was away on state business, so a graduate mathematician. I remembered her from Zmaj, she was in that accordeon orchestra, I actually can recognize her on the couple of pictures of it. The reason she called was to ask me to delay my reporting to work, for about three weeks, so she'd have enough days of work to qualify for some aid from the social services. Well, I said I'd gladly do that if I wouldn't, in doing so, break the law and possibly lose my job. So, sorry, colleague, but I also have a family to feed.
And I forgot about this call and didn't hear from her afterwards. She was doing another year teaching in MPSŠC, but not in my shift, so I didn't see her much, except we held one popravni together. I asked her how did she manage back in 1982, and she said it turned out fine. And I forgot about it again. I would have forgotten that sitting too, but for the nasty detail that occurred: it took far longer than we thought it would, so we sent one of the kids (of those who were finished) to get us something to eat. The kid returned with a box of napolitanke (layered biscuits with thin filling) by Medela (of Leskovac?), the flavor of which was too strong and blatantly artificial, unforgettable. I never touched anything from that brand ever again.
Then in 2020, as I was retiring, there were those forty days missing. I wrote that off as the above secretary's whim. Only one morning in 2023 I remembered that phone call and the missing 40 days and, well, girls, no damage done. By the time I got to retire, I had larger omissions in my registered workdays than these 40 days. On the other hand, it wasn't unheard of that one returns from the duty weeks after the scheduled date, for whichever state reasons, so it's not that the school had a set date for me, I return when I return, so nobody would raise an eyebrow, and nobody really did. I only wonder how did I get my july salary then? There must have been more than one person involved, to have me on the payroll but not registered at the social security for that time. Someone there knew how to play the system, kudos.