That's because I just couldn't deal with the non-stop friendliness. Take the PR I just this second got off the phone with. She was excellent at her job; I know, because after two seconds of chatting with her I felt like we had a real connection, as if she really liked me. Such is the warmth and enthusiasm she managed to project into her voice, in spite of the fact that I have just given her extra work. Extra work, with a deadline that would make a non-PR person snarl like a Rottweiler presented with a dripping T-bone they're allowed to sniff but cannot taste.
That's pretty much my standard reaction to similar requests. Many is the time when clients have dropped chatty little mails, innocently asking if I don't want to "just do such and such" quickly, and I have to sit on my hands so that I don't send them back a simple, yet eloquent, response: No. No, I do not want to do anything except go and find the nearest cake shop where I can challenge myself to a brownie eating competition whilst reading. I would also love to point out to someone that 'just' is not a synonym for please.
In spite of my dim view of 'service with a smile', I have done my utmost to develop my own cocktail laugh; the tinkling little giggle that is made at the end of every business call, accompanied either by the phrase "Bye now" or exhortations to "take care" (two expressions I loathed before joining the working world). Sadly, though, my sister tells me it is less Grace Kelly than The Nanny with a sore throat; a bray, if you will.
Sigh. Sometimes, you just have to live up to your limitations.
That's pretty much my standard reaction to similar requests. Many is the time when clients have dropped chatty little mails, innocently asking if I don't want to "just do such and such" quickly, and I have to sit on my hands so that I don't send them back a simple, yet eloquent, response: No. No, I do not want to do anything except go and find the nearest cake shop where I can challenge myself to a brownie eating competition whilst reading. I would also love to point out to someone that 'just' is not a synonym for please.
In spite of my dim view of 'service with a smile', I have done my utmost to develop my own cocktail laugh; the tinkling little giggle that is made at the end of every business call, accompanied either by the phrase "Bye now" or exhortations to "take care" (two expressions I loathed before joining the working world). Sadly, though, my sister tells me it is less Grace Kelly than The Nanny with a sore throat; a bray, if you will.
Sigh. Sometimes, you just have to live up to your limitations.
Hah! I have found you :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in PR, I hated it so much that I spent many days doped on Rescue Remedy and Nerva 3 (for grief, tearfulness and mild depression, its friendly label tells me). It definitely helped with the friendliness.