Glad I could be of service…

I had meetings non-stop from 8- 2pm. Then I had two back-to-back conference calls this afternoon. I got tied up in a meeting and missed the 2pm call. Rushing to jump on the 3pm call I dialed in and got ready to speak. They didn’t do the usual round table to introduce themselves so I kept quiet until I was ready to speak. I gathered that the discussion was between 4 attorneys and whether or not we could serve a competitor with a cease and desist order on some false advertising they were doing. Now this isn’t my expertise but you can believe I had some thoughts on the important matter.

Here’s where things kind of went downhill.

I spoke up confidently after feeling I had a firm grasp on the challenges, even though they weren’t what I initially thought the call was about.

I didn’t just speak- I orated passionately! I found my voice and realized I had an informed opinion and this meeting simply couldn’t adjourn without my thoughts! All the planets aligned and I felt perhaps it was fate that I had been asked to attend this very important forum.

I spoke of precedence. I spoke about what was RIGHT. I outlined the grounds for our claim. I talked about our need to become more aggressive against these predators! I asked for the team to UNITE against our common enemy! I called for ACTION and DECISIVE ACTION NOW!!

When I was finally done and the call was silent, I thought to myself…WELL AND TRULY DONE GOOD SOLIDER!

I sat quietly reveling in the fact that my comments were quite possibly the defining moments of this call. After more than 4 fairly long minutes of silence from the other participants, the General Counsel spoke. He quietly thanked me for my passionate support of the issue. He agreed that it was time to act.

Then came the good part.

He asked me who I was and why I was on this particular call.

Scrambling, I pulled up the meeting maker on my laptop and realized that I had dialed the wrong conference bridge for my meeting. I wasn’t supposed to be on this call at all! No wonder I hadnt heard about the issue but no matter, I am a COMPLEX woman of DEEP thought and firm opinion!

Fine and dandy.

Here comes the even better part.

I introduced myself and quite gracefully added that I was there merely to provide a secondary input to the matter. I reminded the team that it was always good to get another eye on such an important issue. Then I excused myself letting the other participants know that while I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion, I had much bigger and more pressing matters to attend to but I was glad to be of service.

Yep, yep. Well done indeed. Glad to be of service.