Of Faux Pas and Morals - Part 1

It came to me like an epiphany...
That the greatest morals...
Are born...
Out of the greatest Faux pas…

A shiny board outside the office main entrance 'ATP welcomes Jennifer Whelan and Jeff Spooner from U.K'

The garden watered, pruned and cleaned.
The office spotless...dustless...and chat-less.

The largest conference room bustling with last-minute action...
Microphones tested, projectors adjusted, chairs aligned...
Bisleri bottles placed on milky-white, crispy-starched table cloths.
Two men posted to serve tea or coffee from shiny jugs.
IT department on their toes...configuring usernames and domains.
Men in their best ties...women on their highest heels.

Enter Jennifer and Jeff in white Toyota Corollas...
With the promise of a few million...

Jobs need to be saved...and some more created.

Handshakes...garlands and camera clicks..

Chairs pulled...people seated
Throats cleared...
Introductions and words of praise and hope...
Silence...and the sound of laptops booting...

Presentations made...

More laptops booting...more presentations
And more...

Till the final and the most important one...
Figures shared...statistics unraveled...
Some promises...
Claps and sophisticated cheer...

Jennifer at the head of the long conference table...
Jeff walking past petty mortals...sparing a kind smile at some...

Jeff stops...
By me...
Looks at the notepad I have been taking notes on...
Smiles...
Walks away...

I look at the notepad...
Amidst smiley’s and some vague figures...
A message that I wrote for a colleague beside me…
Because we couldn’t speak…
While the presentations were on...
It said…
'These guys must be crazy to pay us so much for this project'
Friend’s reply...
'I don't care what these morons pay...I haven't been more bored in my life...these presentations suck!'.

Moral: Never keep a notepad with you in a conference, unless you are making a presentation yourself.