Work Redemption

Well, we made it back from Florida unscathed. No hurricane, not even any rain to speak of actually.

Turns out the meetings went really well. I think I even received a little work karma. One of the people I presented to responded to my "Thank You" email with the following:

"On a personal note…as I meet and work with many people from many companies I must say you personally provide an aura of energy and positive vibes that I rarely see in individuals…and you do an excellent professional job in your work…it was very much a pleasure meeting you and hope everything works out well!"

Get out-a-town man! I have to say...I was so flattered it was hard to not forward this to everyone I work with. Is that bad? Is it wrong that I want to parade my compliments around like a set of perky boobs and flat abs? I was, in fact, able to contain myself and only forwarded it to the person I presented with. Of course, he does own the company, and he did forward it to the rest of the group. Alas, I also posted it here, on the internet for all the world to see. Ewe...I think I'm done now. I have officially overdone my prideful display of a compliment.

I better be careful or my good work karma will bite me in the butt with the "pride" thing. That may have already happened actually. I mean, I have not heard if we won the deal yet...

The past weekend was great, Cyr and I just hung around the house, watched movies and relaxed. I also discovered that Duncan is shedding fur like crazy. It's like he is actually molting or something. So now I'm trying to brush him once a day to remove the hair in an orderly fashion as opposed to having black hair flying around the house. I hate it when there is a nice ray of sun pouring in a window and just when you smile and think; "Ah, the sun, how beautiful!" you see floating hairs and dust and think: "Ah, the sun, it shows me how I need to dust!" Poor Duncan, he's a little behind for the summer shedding thing, it's been hot here in Texas since March or so. Guess his little body is still on French time.

Florida!!

Well, lucky me landed some meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida!! We came over Monday and had an hour to actually go down to the beach, it was so nice. The water is warm, the sand is white and the sun was out. There were also lots of surfers out there as the surf was up pretty good. I played around in the water but after about 10 minutes of being beaten to a pulp I decided to sit on the sand and feel what it's like to relax in the sun. I almost forgot. It was as good as I remembered. The only thing that could have made it better was if Cyr was with me. And I was naturally a size 6 but able to eat and drink whatever I want...

Yesterday we had two meetings. I think they both went well. I didn't say anything stupid and no one asked me to get my head out of my ass (see August 11th post). That's always a good sign isn't it? The second meeting was actually kind of funny. The woman who was meeting us brings us to her office. She tells us she will have work coming up she would like our resources to help out with. I tell her we don't have a contract, she tells me to send her one and we should be able to start in about a month. She ends the conversation and we leave. 15 minutes. No kidding. If this deal closes it will be the fastest deal in the East! She knows our resources so she feels good going directly with us for the work. She's also (as you might be able to tell) a no-nonsense kind of person. Very nice, I think you could even say "friendly" but not into small talk. I like that. You know where you stand.

So today we have the morning free. And today there is a hurricane coming to the area. Just when I thought I could get some fun in! At least we had the hour on Monday, that was good. So now we are trying to get back to H-town prior to the natural disaster that is potentially heading our way makes landfall. Wish us luck!

Where my head is.

No, I'm not going to talk today about what I am thinking or how centered I am, or even about how I bailed on the blogging for a while. Instead I would like to talk about a sales call I had a few weeks ago that makes me smile when I think of it. I'm even smiling right now as I type this. It's one of those crooked smiles with a nasally "Humph" attached to it at the end.

So I started this new-old job about 2 months ago. I say new-old because though the job is new, as in I just started working for this company, the job is in fact old because I have done this job with these exact people at a different company. The great thing is that this new company is the cream of the crop of the last place. So it's the smart folks, the ones you trust, the ones that you are (fairly) sure they won't be looking for every opportunity to screw you out of something. Plus I'm good at it. I know the industry and who the creeps are, what to watch out for, how to qualify a lead and how to close them to become my client. It makes me feel good to be talking to people and dressing up again.

After a few weeks on the job I was able to book a meeting with a potential client that everyone at my company has had a hard time with. He is a no-nonsense guy who makes quick judgments about people, is extremely self assured and has a lot of influence with the software vendor (which he no doubt likes very much this power). He is also the decision maker of what company gets to do their software implementation. Well I want that to be us of course. So we go to his offices for a meeting. It's me and one of our Partners who is technical.

We get there early, get everything set up for the meeting and the Partner turns to me and says:

"This guy really likes you. I can see that he likes working with you."

I am excited that he has seen this and my chest sticks out a few more inches. Which doesn't hurt the sales presentation I tell you...

The "guy" in question has left the room so we can speak freely. He had to get something from his office and said he would return in a few minutes, so I am to watch through the conference room doors to see when he returns because he might need me to open the door to the area to let him in. He doesn't have his security badge.

Not 5 minutes after The Partner has told me how much this guy likes me, the "guy" walks in, points at me and says:

"YOU need to get your HEAD out of your ASS."

I think he is joking.

"Oh, you caught me, we aren't working right now."

I'm also shocked, I can't recall ever being asked to remove my head from my ass. I also note that I actually don't seem to have my head up my ass. I know this because although I am not sitting on the most comfortable chair in the world, I'm not particularly uncomfortable and I can see him clearly. I am sure my vision would be impaired in the "head up the ass scenario", but I see him fine.

"I have been waiting at that door for 10 minutes. I made so much damn noise that a person down the hall heard me and had to come let me in."

"No shit sir? A thousand humble pardons!!"

Ok, that's NOT what I said, but it did cross my mind. I actually apologized, I could not believe I didn't see him through the glass, across the waiting room through the other door. I am also a bit shaken, so when he poses his next question I don't really give the best answer.

"So, I don't have time for you to do your sales pitch in this meeting so just tell me why I should use your company as opposed to the other one."

"Uh. Because you like me? Well, you used to. You see, I'm really a great person and the people I work with are great and you would be just an idiot if you went with those other losers. Trust me on this Sugar-Bear, I have hear stories that would make your chin hair fall out."

Ok, I didn't say that either, but I wanted to. I actually stammered, gave some newbie answer then The Partner jumped in. I spent the rest of the prep time trying to blow it off and pretend I wasn't upset. The meeting went well, we showed them we were smart. Then we left.

I asked The Partner about it a few days later. His response:

"Really? That didn't even register on my radar. I thought he was pissed at you for giving a short sales pitch during the meeting when he asked you not to."

Damn...whoda thunk?! I spent the next two days trying to figgure out which I should be upset about; the missed door thing or the 5 minute pitch to tell the group the name of the f-ing company I work for and what we are here to accomplish today.

To bring you up to date:
It has been decided that I will be upset about neither one of these things. The truth is that I don't know if I want to win this deal. Ok that's a lie, of course I still want to win it, but if we do I hope I, along with our project team, can manage to keep our respective craniums out of our rectal areas for the duration of the project. If we loose it then I don't have to worry about it.

Is that the work-version of kissing a frog?