First day on the job, I was told to sit in on a client meeting to see how these Q & A sessions go. It was a phone conference. The client was in their offices and we were in ours.
The client had about five people on the line, we had one guy, Bill and me. Of course he was doing all the talking.
Midway through, a woman on the client side began yelling over everything Bill said. Finally, she was screaming things like, “You can’t be that stupid.”
At this point, Bill closed his laptop, picked up his stuff and just left without a word.
The tirade continued with just me on the line.
She finally ended with. “Do you understand that, BILL?” She slurred his name in a most unattractive manner.
I hesitated for a moment, before taking the phone of off mute and said in a small voice, “Um, hi. I’m Deidra”
<pause>
“This is my first day.”
<pause>
“Um, Bill left a while ago.”
<pause>
“I don’t know anything about the super awesome thingie. Do you want to leave a message?”
<pause, silence, no response>
“Okay then, I guess we can adjourn.”
I didn’t know that day, but I had been introduced to the woman who would be my arch nemesis for the next two years.
Deidra Alexander's Blog 