Let me give you an example about the bizarre complications of our country’s alcohol policies. Once, there were summer, flies and a massive international World Congress taking place in Teekkari Village. Back then we didn’t have Dipoli. The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China had reserved the entirety of Servi’s Cottage to host a reception to the partakers of the congress. And thus, without any warning, a truckload of fruits and Chinese liquor were delivered to the cottage that morning. They were meant to be served to the guests. The thing was, one of the absolute directives of the alcohol dispensing licence was that the only dispensable liquor allowed were products of ALKO, which through strict accountancy had been “officially” delivered to the restaurant. Knowing this, I immediately contacted the embassy in question and declared that their plume liquor couldn't be dispensed in Servi’s Cottage. And what ruckus that turned into, when they told me that “invitations had already been sent, containing special mentions of tastings of Chinese products etc. etc.”. Mr. Ambassador gave me a very direct “order” to sort the issue one way or another. I called the Espoo county official - no authority to bypass beverage laws. A called the local manager of ALKO - no exceptions will be made. As my final straw I made contact with the then head manager of Alko K. A. Fagerholm, who figured a way forward. Based on his office he gave a verbal permission (against a written requisition to be sent afterwards) to dispense the plume liquor, though not in Servi’s Cottage, but in the lobby of a certain dormitory, which wasn’t a restaurant at all but part of the building temporarily given to the Chinese ambassador for representation purposes. Therefore this area benefitted from diplomatic peculiarity for the occasion. But since the staff of Servi’s Cottage was needed to handle the dispensing I had to “release” them for the duration so they could go “voluntarily on their free time” go and help Mr. Ambassador. In order for these employees to be properly compensated, ALKO required me to personally and with utmost care notify the amount of dispensed liquor and to send both this information and a sample of the liquor to ALKO.

After a couple of weeks Alko sent a written announcement, wherein it was stated that according to laboratory test results the liquor was declared to correspond to this and that product of Alko and therefore the compensation of the staff was to be X marks. Around two hundred it was. This sum ALKO authorised Servi’s Cottage to invoice the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and then to further reward it to the partaking employees. Apparently everyone involved was content, save for Servin Maija herself. She still had to pay for the employers social expenses corresponding to the dispensing compensation - out of her own pocket.