Guest Post #1: You Did NOT Just Say That?!!!!!

Denice called and left me a voicemail this afternoon and said she was sick and going home to bed and if I wanted to guest post – here was my first opportunity. So Carpe Diem – I am taking it!!!! The reason I offered to guest post is that I have some great Ditsy stories that I’d like to share with you – her adoring blogging buddies.

But first, some background. Denice and I have been friends for about 10 years now. We worked together in the Technology Department for a Fortune 100 company. We were young, just out of college, recently married, naïve and ambitious. We worked a lot of hours. No, I mean a LOT of hours. Think about working a lot of hours – now multiply that by 100X. We had a hotel room next to the office where we could crash. And we all lived not more than 30 minutes from the office. We didn’t go home for the entire month of June 1997 – and it bears repeating we all lived not more than 30 minutes from the office!!! Needless to say, we got to know our team members very well.

My favorite Denice story is one that she has mentioned here in a previous post, but I’m going to tell it from my point of view. Denice was the strategic technology liaison for an entire product line that ran on our platform. She was the first line of contact for new product development, as well as troubleshooting problems with existing product lines. Our business partner happened to be rather…..um…… high strung. High maintenance and high strung. Larry lisped when he spoke, skipped when he walked and his voice got high and shrill when he was upset. One afternoon, I overheard Denice speaking on her cell phone to Larry who happened to be particularly high and shrill that day. I could only really hear her side of the conversation:
“Yes, there seems to be a problem. I will look into and let you know when it is resolved.”
“I will put together a root-cause analysis and include future preventative measures.”
“We’ve identified the problem and I’ll let you know when it is fixed.”
“It’s hard to give you an exact ETA – we will do everything we can do to get it up as soon as possible.”
“I shouldn’t take very long – I’ll get it taken care of as soon as possible”
“I’m fully aware of the impact. We’ve identified the problem and the resolution is in progress.”
“I know you want me to give you a specific time, but I can’t at this point. We’ll get it resolved as soon as we can!”
“I don’t have an ETA, Larry!!!”
“The sooner I can get off the phone with you, the sooner I can get your problem solved!!!!”

I turned to her, “Are you on mute?”
“No” she replies.
“You did NOT just say that to him!!!”
“Yes. Yes, I did.” She retorted defiantly.
My jaw dropped onto my chest with an audible "Thud."


I had always wanted to say something like that. I still do. I just don’t have the guts to ever tell a business partner (or even a telemarketer, for that matter) something like that. I still remind her of that day, every once in a while. Although we have both gotten older, wiser, more mature and become mothers, it’s still important to keep in touch with that fire -and to keep it flickering (or at least smoldering). Every now and then, I hear that old spark in Denice. That spark is the part of her that you get to experience here at Ditsy Chick every day – it now has a voice.

Get feeling better, my friend. Thanks for letting me post.
Love ya.
Yna