Receiving Clues

Pretty Lady had an Annoying Client Encounter this weekend. This person had the temerity to call her on a glorious Sunday morning and peremptorily demand an appointment within the hour.

"You must book in advance," Pretty Lady replied. More than one hour in advance, she explained. Pretty Lady is Flexible and Accomodating, but not so accomodating as that, particularly for persons with whom she has had no prior connection.

After much whining and confused logistics on the side of her potential client, and much soothing pragmatism upon the part of Pretty Lady, an appointment in two hours was agreed upon.

Pretty Lady hustled; at the time appointed, the doorbell did not ring.

Shortly thereafter, Pretty Lady plugged in her cell phone, and discovered that for reasons unknown, the client had called her Other Number and left a message requesting the selfsame directional information with which she had already been explicitly provided.

Pretty Lady returned the call and re-stated the information. The client declared, "I don't have time now."

Pretty Lady blew a gasket.

Normally she doesn't do that. She understands, normally, that people in pain become confused, and do foolish things. She is generally patient, understanding, accomodating, flexible, and only occasionally stern and unyielding. Moreover, blowing up at even potential, flaky and needlessly whiny clients is bad for business; she is nothing, generally, if not practical.

So after hanging up on the never-again client, she did what she should have done first, which was to call the friend with whom she had been feuding and make it up. Because she knows, and has always known, that when a person blows a gasket, it is never about the Situation At Hand. It is about the Past. The Past is, definitively, Over. And she is happy to declare that the Present is lovely.