The following conversation took place at 2:23pm this afternoon.
Setting (in the interest of providing a visual):
I am sitting at my desk in cube I share with another consultant. Two computers are in front of me - my laptop and my client desktop. Why? Because I'm "not allowed to access the firm's network on the client desktop, but I AM allowed to access it on a laptop if I bring the laptop from home." That's faulty logic piece #1. The 20-year-old A/C window box unit is running - so loudly that anyone I talk to on the phone thinks I'm in a wind tunnel. Not the mention the fact that the A/C is surely spraying deadly 20-year-old bacteria in my face. Makes me think that will one day I'll die of a mysterious disease that will be cause for a comeback of the X-Files. The office generally smells of cockroach and old carpet mixed with burnt coffee and client's daily bag of excessively buttered microwave popcorn. All other consultants are out of the office today.
Client walks in.
Client: Hey - yeah - why don't you go ahead and get out of here.
Me: Wait - what? Are you leaving?
Client: Oh no - I'm not.
Me: So...then...why do you want me to leave?
Client: Well - you know - Monday is Columbus Day (enter faulty logic piece #2).
Me: Riiiight. Okay. But wait - isn't today Friday?
Client: Yup.
Me: (Confused) Okay...so...we're all just leaving early?
Client: Well I'm not. But you can, mmm kay?
Me: Kay. I think I'm going to go ahead and finish what I'm working on, and then maybe I'll leave. I mean it's only 2:25.
Client: Okay. Whatever. Later.
One Hour Later... I wandered down to the client's office to see what he was up to - if there was anything else I could do to help him out, etc.
He was gone. Lights were out.
I went down the hall, and the rest of the client office was dark and LOCKED UP.
After all ... Monday IS Columbus Day.
I left at 3:46.
I swear I'm living in the Bizarro world.
2 comments:
It seems like you played that exactly right. You outstayed the client and let him feel good about them getting good value out of you.
I had an analyst last week collapse on us during a late night work session. While the PM and I were working to finish a deck at 9pm, he was surfing the web because he had "hit a wall." This is in a single small cubicle as well.
ConsultantNinja.com
Almost the SAME thing happened to me on Friday at my client-site. Except my client came by each of us contractors' cubes asking what we were working on and regardless of our answer replied with "go home!" yet he insisted he was going to stay around to "work on some stuff." He was gone in less than 35 minutes.
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