Manfred’s Story I arrived at the Swimming Club with a weather system already forming above my head. The Mayor asked me, quite innocently, what my mood would be if it were a weather forecast. I considered the options. Calm sunshine seemed too optimistic. Sudden storms near the inbox sounded dramatic, but not entirely wrong. In…
Manfred When The Mayor asked me what image came back first from my two weeks in Croatia, I did not need to search through many dramatic possibilities. There was no heroic mountain pass. No storm. No spectacular sunset with violins. The picture was very simple: I was sitting on a chair, feet up, looking over…
Manfred I learned very early in life to minimize input and maximize output. Other children may have mistaken this for laziness, but I would call it strategy, and The Mayor, asking the questions, seemed to understand that childhood games were never just games. They were early laboratories for power, efficiency, and plausible deniability. Football was…
There are many elegant stories about first jobs. Stories about ambition.Stories about discipline.Stories about a young person stepping confidently into the world of work, ready to learn, grow, and become a productive member of society. This is not one of those stories. This is the story of two men who entered working life in very…
What makes work fun? Is it the people, the atmosphere, the little daily successes — or simply not having to drive 50 kilometers to the office? In a lively conversation, Martin and Manfred explored exactly this question, guided by their host, Fruitloop, through a series of simple but revealing prompts. What followed was not only…
There are two kinds of work fails. The ones that make a good story later.And the ones where you’re just quietly grateful to still be alive. Manfred belongs to the second category. Martin… negotiates between both. Manfred: No Margin for Error In Manfred’s world, a “small mistake” doesn’t really exist. Electricity doesn’t believe in “almost…
There is a very specific moment in every working life when the myth collapses.The “cool boss” — generous, human, almost friend-shaped — flickers… and then, quietly, reasserts authority. Not loudly. Not cruelly. Just structurally. Because power doesn’t disappear. It just learns to smile. Martin’s first “cool boss” was his father — which sounds wholesome until…
Dream jobs are usually sold to us as destinations. Clean, structured, achievable with the right mix of ambition and Wi-Fi. Martin’s dream job doesn’t behave like that. It wanders. It contradicts itself. It sits on a park bench and refuses to be rushed. And somehow, it still makes perfect sense. When Martin was younger, he…
The Discipline of Avoidance There is a moment—very small, almost invisible—when a conversation stops being about “health” and starts being about us. It usually begins with a harmless question. What is one healthy habit you fully believe in… but actively avoid? At first, we think we can answer politely. Drink more water. Sleep earlier. Walk…
It began, as many modern meetings do, with a little chaos. Martin was missing. Not metaphorically—literally. Lost somewhere in the digital wilderness, armed with the wrong link, outdated bookmarks, and what can only be described as uncooperative technology. While Janita and Manfred waited (and waited some more), messages flew back and forth. Zoom crashed. Browsers…
