What a wild and wooly day today. Working on a large family group for next summer, regular clients of mine who I really like. They're a rarity: wealthy people who live in a Red State but vote Blue. They have solid Midwestern values, and they're very kind people. But they really have been putting me through my paces. By 3 PM, I realized I'd still not gone to lunch, so I sent them an email saying that the two options I currently held were all that would work for their 33 people. I got the sweetest email back, had lunch, and made a few more changes -- and now it's perfect. I'm so happy.
And I mean that. My job is about service. I facilitate dreams in the form of travel. Sometimes it's enjoyable, sometimes I want to run out of the building screaming, but when I can work with decent people and make them happy, it is quite satisfying.
One client recently lost his wife of 60 years. I've got six honeymoon couples going to Fiji, all around the same time. I've got more than six honeymoon couples, but six to Fiji is unusual.
In my workaday life, I avoid talking politics, unless the client says something that indicates they are on the same page as me. I have a new client who is booking a wonderful trip, but she said "this will happen only if that idiot in Washington hasn't taken away all our passports." And I suddenly realized that could happen. Shrubya, Blasty McBirdshot (I do love that name, Alicia) and Minister of Evil Propoganda, Herr Rove, might just drop the gate on international travel at some point.
We've already arrived at a time when people are expected to spy upon one another. At work we have more spyware on our computers than you can imagine -- it's a fucking TRAVEL AGENCY, for god's sake -- but we have spyware. The only reason I'm not in trouble is because I produce. If that falls off, I'm toast, because I ignore the rules and blog away.
And a quote today from Thomas Jefferson about sums up what we're losing:
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
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2 comments:
When I worked at the university I always let the students set the tone for the conversation. I didn't talk politics unless the student brought it up first. My sister is a real estate agent in Ventura County. She never talks politics with her clients. They're almost always republicans in Simi Valley. There is such a sense of freedom and relief when you are working with someone who shares your sense of political outrage. Those are the best moments on the job sometimes!
Robin, it's true -- when on the job, we have to completely efface a large portion of who we are. It's a form of performance, really. And you're so right about the sense of relief when a client shares your sense of the world. A little bit of a secret bond gets established. I'll never forget when my favorite client sent me an email from Move On. I thought they were Republicans, given their address and their wealth! She still finds that funny.
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