SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

That morning, they started with coffee and a favourite male topic - cars.

"Cars are my pleasure," says Stanko.

"Yes, I believe so, because it's hard not to notice that you maintain all your vehicles beautifully; both cars, the motorbike, not to mention the tractor and the caravan," replies the neighbour.

"I also like to fix things so I don't have to go to the mechanic for every little thing."

"A little something, you say?" smiles the neighbour. "I've watched you change the engine oil many times before. Or changing summer and winter tyres, fixing brakes and probably more. Not many people know how to do it themselves."

"It's true!" agrees Stanko, explaining, "I've always been interested in everything to do with cars, and you learn a lot over the years. I remember the days of Juge. At that time, we were mainly buying second-hand cars, and with them came problems. Every now and then something would break and you had to deal with repairs."

"Have you been to the car fair in Maribor?" asked a neighbour, recalling his own experience from the last century.

"Of course! And quite often," said Stanko. "I was there almost every Sunday. Sometimes I was trying to sell something, but more often I was looking for good buying opportunities. Half a day went by, but there was no other way. Today it's much easier. You put a post online and you get feedback quickly."

"The internet has done its work," agreed a neighbour. "I recently successfully sold my previous car. As soon as I placed the ad, I started getting calls from interested parties and ..."

"Interesting!" Stanko jumped in. "I had a similar situation as you. I posted an ad on the Bolha portal for the sale of an old car and almost immediately the phone rang. The interested party agreed to the advertised price of €3500 and it was agreed that he would come the next day to collect the car."

"You were pleased, weren't you?" remarked a neighbour.

"Of course! But no sooner had I put the phone down than I got a call from the next person interested. I told him I had already promised the car to someone else, but the caller didn't give up. He wanted to persuade me to sell the car to him instead. He was even willing to pay €500 more."

"And what did you do? Did you sell to the highest bidder?"

"No! But I gave my word to the first one and made a deal with him."

My neighbour did not comment on what he had just heard. Perhaps for a split second he wondered how he would have reacted if he had been in Stank's shoes, but then he heard his firm words, which he will never forget: "You know, if you keep your word, you may lose in the short term, but in the long term it will certainly pay off, or in a way, it will pay you back!"

Bojan Rus, 26. 2. 2025