Welcome to the real world!

It was on Monday that I received a call from the office asking me to block out Wednesday at all costs because we will be meeting this scrupulous client who has harvested much talk around the office. We were to brief her on a new module of training tailor made for her co. Having heard about her since my arrival 10 months ago, I was looking forward to put a face behind the stories. The series of events and encounters my colleagues had with her had not been exactly pleasant or easy to deal with. You see I work behind the scenes so I deliver what is requested upon the client. The front liners get the bad attitude and quirky behaviours whilst I sit behind the desk typing away. Of all the encounters I’ve heard thus far, I do not doubt altogether the accounts of my colleagues, however leaving room for a slant of bias for objective opinion (as all humans tend to add or leave out some details however much we like to think they don’t).

Now walking into the cold, speck-less, unspotted room of hers, my colleague (SK) and I had previously psyched ourselves for the worst of all nightmares. Bare in mind throughout the whole journey to M’cca we were rehearsing lines, studying the modules we prepared, thinking of possible questions she’s shoot us with. I had painted a mental picture of her, gathering all information within reach. In my mind she would be this tall Chinese lady dressed in a smart pants suit with her hair up in a French twist. She would have a fair amount of make up and a tag hung around her neck.

My anticipated imagination came to a halt as I reached out to shake her hand and pass her my name card. Every part of my mental sketch was warped (all except her race). She was a short Chinese lady with short cropped hair and she had no make up (in fact I think she is doesn’t believe in make up). She donned a grey jacket over a blue flowery cheong sam and had no tag hung around her neck. So it was, now that I had to get out of my distorted imagination and jump into a state of readiness to uncover our work.

She took a casual glance at us and then passed a nonchalant remark, “My, the both of you look awfully young to be good at what you do.” Slightly taken aback by her statement I asked her “What do you mean?” (Almost adding a “ma’am” to it) We slanted into this little debate about being young and having little life experience to be able to know the subject matter or life well enough to be a writer for a consultant. I rebutted politely saying, “Age does not equal experience although one would like to think so or if majority proves that point. However I admit that our corporate experience might be a little steep but everyone has to start somewhere, hence we hope you will allow us to prove you that we do the best at what we can”. It felt as if a wisp of optimism etched its way through, and her ears pricked to hear every word we said. Now it wasn’t easy smooth sailing all the way, she remained meticulous, picky and perfectionist-ic throughout, pointing out the errors in alignment, font spacing and icons used. She even had a gigantic Webster’s Dictionary within arms reach to check on spelling and meaning.

On the flip side of the “matron” picture that I’ve painted, she was one woman who has gained my respect after our 2 ½ hour conversation. She had a solid set of values, a sense of humour that can easily go unnoticed, an attitude of readiness to teach and an eye for detail. Despite her cold stern posture that portrayed an undesirable approach, I would think she is one that is able give sound advice and will tell you off if you are straying the wrong path.

We finished the meeting since she was close to starving and we needed a mental cool off having been on high alert rebutting, exchanging and regurgitating an eighty page proposal. Sending us off, she remarked, “I hope I didn’t scare the both of you today.” “Absolutely not, in fact it was enlightening having met!”

Frankly I do think we need more people like her who are excellent at what they do, not just good at what they do. Pondering on it, I sieved out some good for eternal sake. Apart from the ego/pride, wouldn’t you think the Kingdom would benefit heaps with people who live a life of excellence for His name sake… upholding His standards, top class servant hood, knowing His Word at the back of our hands and to living a life of that is far from mediocrity. Imagine if such effort for the name of an organization, how much more effort/excellence for a Kingdom?