One of the crazy, unimaginable from the outside, impossible things to fully grasp of my work is what happens when you get along really well with a client.
These people have their job, which is stressful enough as it is as it usually consists in making a company work. Then they get through one of the most stressful, incredible (and sometimes successful and fulfilling) period in their professional life: they are involved in the sale of the company, or in purchasing another one. Half of the time (ok, 85% of the time) they are clueless about what they are doing, which is normal, as it's not their usual job.
This is where I come in. When a project works out real well (10% of the times to be honest), I'm the person they call every time they are in doubt, the person who is sitting or standing next to them in the negotiation, the person they call when they don't know what to do, when they need a solution, when they need to spill their stress over to someone.
And sometimes, this creates a very intimate relationship, because these thigs can last months, and you develop something when someone stands with you in your difficult times.
And then projects are over, and suddenly you no longer meet each other.
Sometimes they call me for a while, until they ask me on a date and I suggest breakfast instead and they disappear.
Sometimes they send a token at the end of the project (a book, a gadget) and a card at Christmas.
Sometimes, but only sometimes, they call me every other month or so for a quick chat. It gets awkward over time, because I'm less and less part of their lives. I never was really, I know little of their life outside work. Sometimes the project lasts for years, and it's harder to let go, even for me. Sometimes there is even a new project, and suddenly they realize that when this one will be over, we'll probably never see each other again. And you end up with bleary eyes on both sides, because you'll miss each other.
How can you leave me standing,
alone in a world that's so cold?
Maybe I'm just too demanding,
maybe I'm just like my father
too bold.
Maybe I'm just like my mother,
she's never satisfied.
(When doves cry, Prince)
3 comments:
I'm not sure if I would like that. I tend not to make strong relationships at work and I have tended to switch jobs about every 6 years or less. There are a few who stick around though, never in a romantic way. Does this make it easier to let relationships with friends go?
95% of my current ongoing relationships have started at work. It's very common in my line of business, as you live in a way that is hard for others to understand. a very common pun back in my early days was that we live like whores:
- we charge an hourly rate
- the client pays the hotel and the car
- we have weird working hours
- we end up to be socially involved with colleagues
- it is difficult to keep a stable romantic involvement
....
hmmm quite interesting.
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