All I’m going to say is…it went well. Keep that in mind, because the story of how I actually got there is a bit of a kicker.
Okay, so you remember how I was in the limousine, on the way to my ultra-high-flying business meeting that would decide the fate of everything? Well, I finished my lemonade just as we pulled up. The driver tipped his cap to me and I stepped out, right in front of the building. He said something that I didn’t hear, I thanked him and he was off, leaving me all alone. I was too nervous to register what it was.
Anyway, I went inside and informed the secretary that I was here for the meeting with the CEO. I was directed to the elevator, where I rode it up to the top floor, and I emerged into a lavish waiting room. I have to say, it was a good thing they had a great air conditioning service in Canberra, otherwise I would have been sweating bullets. It was lovely and cool, and I was beginning to relax with another glass of lemonade when the CEO invited me into his office. It, too, was air conditioned. Lovely. In fact, he had air conditioners all around the walls, like it was some kind of museum. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I just assumed he liked air con.
We started to chat about my flight up, and the journey. I complimented his air con collection. We had a rapport going. Then we got down to business…and things degraded. He said he wanted 40,000 units shipped by the end of the month, and presented all these complex graphs. I said we were only rolling out in old folks’ homes, to help them get up the stairs. He was confused. I was confused. We sat in silence for a moment.
That was when I noticed his desk, which read ‘CANBERRA AIR CONDITIONING TECHNICIANS’. I had, of course, wandered into the wrong building, a building that dealt with the redistribution of cooling units, a building with a CEO who was also waiting to meet a client. The CEO made a call to the CEO of the neighbouring building, who we saw across the gap looking very amused. I had my meeting in the real building. It went well. Now I’m going to bury myself in my hotel room bed sheets and not emerge for at least 24 hours. At least the air con in here is efficient.