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We have a client whom we trick for on a fairly regular basis. Holiday parties. Summer get-togethers. Anniversaries. Birthdays. Graduations. Or just "please come to our summer house and whip up a little party for the neighbors, mmmkay?"

We love her. But she's the grand chamption of the talking. She's makes my nonstop babble look like child's play.

Which is fine. She's perfectly charming.

But getting that woman to focus on the task at hand and keeping the conversation simple and to the point is a near impossible feat.

The Partner and I flip coins when we have to make calls to her. Whomever loses the flip has to put aside roughly 45 minutes of time when calling for simple information like choice of stemware.

Well today I lost the flip. The trick is next week and I still don't have a final headcount nor have we put the final decision down for the menu. All we know for sure is that it's Thursday and it's 150 people or so. Or not. Maybe.

So this afternoon I called and hard as I tried to get the goods from her I ended up on a tangent about shoes at Nordstom, blooming day lillies, a bathroom remodel, college graduations, serving platters from Williams & Sonoma, trips to Florida (hers, not mine) and a 10 minute marathon about disgust over the price of iceberg lettuce and gas.

For 55 minutes I "uh-huh'd", I "Oh I know'd", I "I totally agree'd" and I nodded alot.

55 minutes.

We're at T minus 7 Days and all I know is that I am tricking for her and there will be 150-ish people and we're going with white china.

What's going to be on that china is anyone's guess.

Posted by Foodwhore at June 1, 2005 11:43 PM

Posted by: veg4me at June 2, 2005 06:26 AM

Posted by: Gail at June 3, 2005 05:32 AM

Posted by: Suebob at June 6, 2005 06:55 PM