"Oh my god, this client is so unhappy with us because we won't give them what they want at the price they want!"
"They're not entitled to it at that price. I'm already looking after this, and they know that they can't have it at that price. I've told them that, and I've told them that this is something that the supplier has put in place, not us."
"Oh, but they're sounding really mad, and they say they're going to call our Head of Division if we can't give them the answer they want before lunchtime. Can you call them? It's really, really urgent! I told them you'd talk to N*****, and our legal people, and the suppliers and that you'd call them back this morning with the result."
Oh, gee. Thanks. Like I didn't already have enough to do this morning including, I might add, a meeting a certain person set up at one day's notice because they decided that it was absolutely critical that we have a meeting about a still-undefined issue.
"I've already called all those people. I'm just waiting for the last of them to call me back so I can give the client a definitive answer."
"But you need to call them back this morning, because otherwise they'll say bad things about us that aren't true!"
"Fine, I'll call them and tell them what I've already told them." Because that's certainly going to improve their mood.
"Great! Oh, and can you answer all my phone calls and do all my e-mail this morning, because I've got some non-critical paperwork to do."
"Wait a minute, I thought you said dealing with this problem client was important and urgent?"
"I did? But - I have paperwork! And I've got to do it sometime in the next week and, um, it's ... err. Okay, I guess I can answer my own phone..."
