A tale of two clients

Last updated on January 20, 2023

Once upon a time, there was a woman who worked hard and earned the respect of colleagues and clients. She never missed a deadline, and did what she could to get her clients back on track after they missed theirs.

One summer, this woman decided that she wanted to take a long weekend and go away with her family, laptop-free. She hadn’t taken a single day off in seven months; even her travel days involved a few hours of work from a hotel room.

She told Client A of her plans. She gave them a status update as to where things stood on five different deliverables, and assured them that she would be back in the office Monday morning.

“Have a great trip!” all of the contacts at Client A said.

She told Client B of her plans. She gave them a status update as to where things stood on their single deliverable, and assured them that she would be back in the office on Monday morning.

“You’ll be available via email, right? How can we reach you? This is a critical path project and we don’t think it’s appropriate that you’re leaving now,” said Client B, who was now 2.5 weeks delayed in giving their feedback on the last revision. “It’s unprofessional.”

For a moment, the woman took the critique personally. Was it inappropriate to take a long weekend as her only summer vacation with her family? Was she being unprofessional? And then she remembered the words of a former boss:

Is anyone going to die? Is anyone going to jail? Then don’t let them push you around.

So, she told the client that she would be more than happy to give the project the attention it deserved on Monday when she was refreshed and happy. She went to the airport and gave a gleeful, “no!” when the TSA agent asked if she had a laptop in her bag. And guess what? No one died. No one went to jail. The woman had a wonderful weekend with her family. She made a vow that she would do more work with people like Client A and less with people like Client B.

And she lived happily ever after.

The end.