You may recall that Mr. BIL is a bit messy. Okay, a LOT messy. He’s fortunate that I like him because an event similar to the one I’m about to tell you happens at least one or twice a week.
He calls out from his office “I can’t find my notes on Mr. Client. Can you come in here for a minute?”
I go in, and he proceeds to declutter his desk, handing me about 30-40 sheets of yellow paper that are NOT related to Mr. Client. “I need my notes – the client’s gonna flip out if I don’t have my notes when we meet in a few minutes.”
I half-heartedly look at his desk, feigning a search as he bounced around his office looking at different pieces of yellow paper. After a minute or two I wander back to my desk since I have about 7 hours of work to do before 6 p.m. rolls around in a few hours. “Check Client 2’s file!” he calls out.
I don’t have Client 2’s folder. He does. In the middle of his desk. Right where he’s standing. I go in, flip open the folder, see no yellow paper, and say, “It’s not in Client 2’s file.” I go back to my desk again.
“Go ask Tall Admin for Client 3’s folder back – maybe it’s in there.”
I take my time, spending about 20 seconds to get up from my chair, and as I’m about to leave my cubicle Mr. BIL cries, “No! I found it! I found it! Why do you keep hiding things on top of my desk?”
“Mr. BIL,” I said, “You are going to drive me to drink.”
He laughed and said, “You really need to step up here. Get more organized. This could have been a major emergency.”
“You notice how fast I was to go look for it, right?” was my nonplussed response. “It wasn’t an emergency on MY part.”
“And therein lies the problem!” he cackled.