“Waiter, these minced meat rolls have eaten my mustard!” Gogu tried a subtle irony, but it was in vain.
“Would you like more mustard?”
“No, you didn’t get this”, answered Misu, spitefully. “It’s not the mustard, but the meat rolls. Take them back and put them a little bit more on the grill, as they are raw.”
“Coming back to our stuff, Gogu,” said Misu, turning back towards his friend while the waiter was taking the meat rolls away, appologising, “tell me what to do. Should I speak or not? Is it better for me to be honest or to protect myself? ‘Cause, after all, that’s what this whole situation is about.”
Gogu took a moment to think before he answered. It was easy to give advice to outward seeming, but the reason why his colleagues turned to him for advice was the fact that he never encouraged anyone to do something he wouldn’t have done himself. Only that in Misu’s case, things seemed to be even more complicated. But still…
“Listen, Misu, when my son tells you that everything is ok and things are very good in school, what do you do?”
“Ha, ha, I try to find out what really happened. Hm… do you think this is how that that dour Bernard is going to react, too? I have never seen a more grumbler client than this one.”
“The truth is that the client is a human being, too… Hi,hi”, Gogu laughed; he
ignored the mistrustful grin on Misu’s face and went on: “he has been through
projects, too; he knows life isn’t all pink and that there is no perfect project
where everything lines up and turns out exactly the way you expect it. If you
tell him \
Misu’s face suggested not just confusion, but rather an inner battle accompanied by physical pain. My head is going to burst: if I tell him the truth, what is there left to wrap?! It’s either you tell him or not… Uff, I wanted to be a project manager…
Gogu read Misu’s face and guessed what was going on inside the mind of the Transylvanian giant. He decided to help him with the wrapping:
“But you are doing well on the development part; you only have problems with the migration, right?”
“Yeah, but they will pull us back really bad.”
“It doesn’t matter. What’s important is to give him the chance to compare advantages and disadvantages. Ahead of time on the development part, in delay with the preparations for the migration part. He will appreciate the advantage much more. Do you know the experiment with the boots? asked Gogu, but he quickly went on, without waiting for an answer. Pay attention to this: the experiment is done in two shops where the aim is to sell the same type of boots. In the first store, the boot is exposed and next to it, visibly, there is a list of its advantages: natural leather on the inside and outside, thick leather sole, waterproof, resistant to long walks in the snow and so on, and, in the end, the price: x euro, or whatever currency there was. In the other store, the same boot and next to it, visibly, the same advantages: natural leather on the inside and outside, thick leather sole, waterproof and so on and so forth, but… “ here Gogu made a theatrical pause, “in the end they added a disadvantage: the boot was only available in two colors – black and brown. After which, the price: x euro, the same as that in the first store. Which of them do you think was sold better?” he gloriously rounded it up, his eyes on Misu, waiting for the obvious answer. “Well?”
“The ones with the disadvantage?” tried Misu doubtfully to put forth a feeler.
“Exactly”, Gogu jumped enthusiastically. “The disadvantage did nothing but to emphasize and highlight the advantages. A minor disadvantage increased the value of the qualities, making the boot more appetizing. Pretty cool, isn’t it? And you will see, this thing will also go well in the communication with the client…”
“Your minced meat rolls are back!” The waiter finally made his appearance. “I overdid them a little bit, but at least they are well done now!”
“Hm…”, Misu looked at the meat rolls, then at Gogu, “more appetizing, you say?!”
by Peter Lawrey
by Răzvan Costa
