Dealing with the corporate machine
May 12th, 2008
Phone call this morning:
Large corporate client: “Yes I’m wondering where that order we need is.”
Me: “You haven’t placed an order.”
Large corporate client: “Oh, can we have it by this Friday?”
Me: “Does that mean you want to place the order?”
Large corporate client: “Yes. So can we have it Friday, in four days?”
Me: “Ok great. But as you recall I told you this job will take 7-14 days.”
Large corporate client: “Ok we need 10,000 of them.”
Me: “Ok great.”
Large corporate client: “Maybe 15,000.”
Me: “Um, well I need a number.”
Large corporate client: “I’ll have to call you back…”
Synopsis
Large corporate client wants to know where the order he hasn’t placed is, which is an unknown quantity.