A nice Hungarian chap Tibor Nagy saved some money for the deposit and bought a house. At last he had a home for himself and his family.

But the house was empty, there was no furniture. Neither was there any money left. What would he do? Tibor Nagy went to a furniture store to see whether it was possible for him to get some furniture on hire purchase payments.

"Yes," said to him the store manager after a thorough interrogation concerning his job and circumstances, "you can get the furniture you wish on terms. But you must have two guarantors."

"What kind of people must they be?" asked Tibor Nagy.

"They must at least be tradesmen," explained the manager. "They must come here to sign the hire purchase agreement."

That looked easy enough.

Next Saturday Tibor Nagy returned to the store with two of his working mates. One was a Rumanian chap Gheorghiu Lupescu and another a Ukrainian migrant Taras Bulba, who were both only too ready to oblige.

"That's no good," said the manager. "You yourself are a Balt and both your guarantors are also Balts. I would like to have guarantors of a different nationality, preferably Australians."

"They are not Balts and neither am I a Balt," protested Tibor Nagy.

"Don't try to pull my leg," said the manager in a manner which suggested that no further contradictions would be tolerated.

Next day Tibor Nagy brought in two of his Australian working mates and everything was fixed to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. All papers were duly signed, sealed and delivered.

In a couple of days the furniture arrived and the family began to enjoy quietly their new acquisition.

A few days later a man knocked on Tibor Nagy's door and told him that he brought some furniture. Tibor Nagy went out to the gate and saw that a truck was loaded with exactly the same furniture he had purchased on terms and had already received.

He explained to the driver that this furniture has been sent by mistake as he had already received the same furniture.

"But what about the invoice," asked the driver. "I have it here for your signature."

Tibor Nagy explained that he had already signed the invoice and retained a copy of it.

The driver shrugged his shoulders and left with strong words of blame for disorder in his store.

A few days later when Tibor Nagy returned from work, he saw that a truck was in his yard and a driver — again a different one — was unloading furniture, which once again was identical with that he had bought and already duly received.

He hurried in and told the driver to stop unloading the furniture as he had already received it.

The driver became cross and began abusing Tibor Nagy for having ordered the furniture and now refusing to accept it. He just refused to believe that what he was being told by the stupid New Australian was true.

No option remained to Tibor Nagy but to invite the driver inside and show him the furniture as well as the invoice.

The driver became persuaded and was even so impressed that he allowed Tibor Nagy to make a few strong comments about the disorder in his firm.

No furniture arrived any more. Tibor Nagy conscientiously paid in the course of time what was due to the Vendors, immaculately making every payment at the right time. Still it was not the end of the story.

A couple of years later Tibor Nagy expected a visitor form interstate and decided to buy a settee to accommodate his guest. As he lacked enough cash and the little money he had was required for other purposes anyway, he decided to take the settee on terms from the same firm.

He approached the firm and the settee was readily sold to him on terms without any guarantors being required. The delivery was supposed to take place the next day.

A few days passed and the settee did not arrive. Before the day on which his guest was due to arrive, Tibor Nagy went to the store and asked why the settee was not delivered. He was referred to the accountant.

The accountant received him in the waiting room of his office and asked him to show the contract.

Tibor Nagy produced the contract, the accountant took it in his hands, immediately tore it to pieces and threw them into the waste paper basket.

"What do you mean? Why did you tear the contract?" exclaimed Tibor Nagy.

"We have already had enough trouble with you," said the accountant in a very hostile manner, "and are not prepared to have any more. As a matter of fact we will never sell anything on terms to damned Baits!"

And he angrily withdrew to his room, unwilling to listen to any excuses.

The honest Tibor Nagy remained alone in the reception room under the reproachful eyes of the receptionist girl.

He was burning with shame and felt an overwhelming urge to ask this good-looking girl exactly what kind of trouble he had caused to her firm, hut after a second thought he succeeded in suppressing that urge. The girl wouldn't believe him anyway, she would believe the accountant, for he was her boss and the boss is always right. On the other hand, Tibor Nagy was afraid that this girl, like so many unsophisticated people around, would share the common prejudice that a foreign accent in English is an unmistakable sign of both queerness and questionable integrity.

David Marquis

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