The Dirt Field

"If we offer them a 13% discount off of our commercial prices-" A loud crash boomed from the ceiling. The client paused for a split second. "Hmm, apparently one of our employees just hung himself. Anyway, with that discount, the contracting officer...."

When I came into work today, I found that the light bulb in my desk lamp had burnt out. I unscrewed the bulb, walked out to the office assistant's desk (remember New Girl?), and asked her if she knew where we kept the replacement bulbs. As she is still fairly new, she was unsure and said that she'd call our company president on her cell phone to find out.A few minutes later, New Girl came into my office, dead bulb in hand, and explained, "She said we keep them at the store." We both chuckled appropriately, and she promised to go out and get a bulb for me later in the day.She stopped by my doorway several hours later to announce that she was going to get my bulb now. I asked if she wanted me to write down the kind of bulb to buy, but she said she remembered ...continue reading.

As I've mentioned before, I am employed as a consultant that assists dozens of small companies with government contracts. This means I work with all different types of folks, from the intelligent businessman who markets management consultant services to the shifty salesman who sells colostomy bags and does garbage disposal repairs on the side. Needless to say, the people in the latter category can be somewhat challenging to deal with on a daily basis.There are a number of clients that annoy me on a small scale, by doing silly things like repeatedly misspelling my name despite the fact that I sign every email with my name spelled correctly. I write "LindsAy" and they respond with "LindsEy", and I'm unclear as to why they are having such a problem. These people have names like Rephuleges and Sansquate, and I spell them right on a very regular basis. And why? Because it's ...continue reading.