Communication

By Phone
“Hello,” I said to an answering machine this morning. “I’m Katie and I live at Address. I found Simon when I was walking my dog this morning and I coaxed him to follow me home. I got your number from his collar – he’s a very sweet boy – and now I’m not sure what to do since you’re not home. So if you could call me back at Number, that would be great. Thanks!”

“Now what?” I asked Friend, who continued to look sleepy and bemused by the large brindled dog I’d allowed through the front door with Chienne. I’d let them loose in the back yard where they continued to sprint around the fenced area. I shook my head at their continued energy and looked across the room for advice.

“You have two now?” she offered. “Because you stole someone’s dog?”

“Not stole!” I said firmly. “Borrowed. A little. My rule is that if someone puts a tag on their dog, I will get it home. But they didn’t answer the phone.” I googled the number, hoping that it wasn’t a cell number and beamed when I found an associated address. “I’ll take him home,” I decided. After Simon firmly refused to get in my car, I sighed and walked him back in the house.

“Take your phone,” Friend advised as Simon and I headed out the front door, leash firmly attached to his black collar. I nodded and picked it up before heading off toward the address I memorized.

“It’s all the way at the bottom of the hill!” I told Friend when I called a couple minutes later. “Simon, here, boy! That’s a good boy! He keeps circling around me. I’m getting dizzy from turning around!” I turned yet another circle and continued to encourage the pretty dog that trotted around me. “So you’re going to come get me, right? In the car? Because I’m tired and,” I turned a circle again as I was pleading with Friend for a ride, “dizzy. Oh, we’re here! Is this your house?” I asked Simon. “Oh, yes,” I said happily, “I see an open gate.”

After making sure Friend would come fetch me, I coaxed Simon in his yard, secured the fence, tugged on it to make sure it was closed, said good-bye to my canine friend and opened the phone again.

“Hi, Katie again,” I chirped to the answering machine inside the house behind me. “I looked up your address and brought Simon home. His gate must not have latched all the way, but he’s in his yard now. Or, well, if google was wrong, I put your dog at NumberAndStreet in a fenced yard. I hope that’s where he’s supposed to be. Thanks!”

On the way home from work this evening, I checked my voice mail and smiled. “Hello, Katie,” a woman’s voice said in a southern drawl. “I’m Susan and Simon is our dog. Thank you so much for bringing him home! He’s an inside dog, but he stays in the yard when we’re at work and the kids are at school. That’s so scary that he got out and we wanted to thank you so much for getting him home safely. We were all relieved so thank you very, very much!”

“Aw,” I said to Friend. “That worked out very well.”

By Email

Katie to IndustryContact
Sent: Monday
I hope Conference went well for all of you and that you're finding a bit of time to relax. You know what would be fun to do while you relax? Talking to people about my interview! I know it may not sound very exciting, but I think it could be a very cool way to spend some time.

I just wanted to remind you about feedback on our meeting and nudge you toward making a decision. I'll give you a call late this (or early next) week, but please feel free to be in touch if you're ready sooner. If questions come up that I can answer, please let me know. I'll look forward to talking to you.

I decided I wasn't up for a rejection today and resolved to call next week.

IndustryContact to Katie
Sent: Today. After returning Simon and right before leaving for work with Friend

Discussions are done! As a last step, our vice president would like to speak with you on the phone. I’ll copy you on a note to his secretary to arrange the call sometime next week.

I looked at Friend with wide eyes while my stomach clenched and hands trembled. “Before I left for my interview?” I told her, “IndustryContact’s assistant said I might need to meet with the VP and that it was a very good sign. But then she said I didn’t have to and I was disappointed because I thought that meant I screwed something up. Said something wrong or wasn’t pretty enough or something. But now I have to talk to him.”

“That’s good,” Friend said encouragingly.

“I’m scared,” I protested softly.

“I see that. But this is good news. What you want to happen after an interview, actually.”

I have since calmed down after being moderately sick with nerves most of the day. I’m hopeful – which is scary too since the disappointment will be great should I screw things up and up in a smoking cloud of spectacular failure. The time is arranged – I am to call Tuesday afternoon.

In Person
“I don’t know what to call the last section,” I complained to Friend when discussing this post. “By phone! By email! By…talking? The last part needs work.” She suggested ‘in person’ which does seem more elegant than ‘by talking.’ So we’ll go with that.

“I see what you’re saying,” I mused after giving Boss the Hopeless Paper and pausing to discuss Hopeful Paper. “I could make the point more obvious. I’ll work on it.”

“Hello,” a petite woman said when she walked in. I frowned as I tried to place her and pulled my face out of a scowl when I realized who she was. I nodded once and reached to briefly shake her hand when Boss introduced us. She was the awful PI who ‘mentored’ Winnie before she died, Dawn before she quit and who was now stressing Marlie a whole lot.

“Katie has helped us a lot with the project,” Boss said and I shook my head.

“I have done very little,” I demurred.

“Look at you, avoiding more work!” AwfulPI said and I arched an eyebrow at her even though her tone had been teasing.

“Marlie is wonderful,” I said when the silence lasted a touch too long. The subsequent silence was of even greater duration.

“She’s a hard worker,” Boss finally said and I turned to look at him quizzically. Hard worker? What nonsense was this?

“She’s fantastic,” I said insistently.

“We’re working on it,” AwfulPI sighed and I glared at her in earnest. What kind of asinine response was this? I hate you, I seethed and noticed Boss shift uncomfortably as I grew increasingly tense.

“I should go,” I finally said, unsure if I should stay and grow rabidly protective of Marlie or exit before I embarrassed Boss even more. He said a few more things about my paper and I nodded as I moved toward the hallway.

Of all the ways of exchanging ideas, I'd say face to face interactions should be most effective. Yet I seem to have done best using other methods. Stupid AwfulPI. She ruined the end of my blog post.