You like me, you really really like me...or at least listen

For the past few days, I've been working on the presentation we're doing Friday for a potential long-term job with arguably DA's crankiest partner, Bosley.  Ethel used to call Bosley "Mr. Personality," and it's not a totally wrong nickname, even if it is unrepeatable.  If you pass Bosley in the office--hell, if you sit next to him, as Ethel used to do--he doesn't say 'hi' or 'how are ya' or 'good morning' or any of the polite acknowledgements that human beings make at each other in those situations.  He has a reputation for being on the cranky side and for being downright untenable at times.

So far, so good for me.

I met with him on Friday to begin figuring out how we wanted to do the presentation.  Our team would also include Winston, who historically has annoyed me but I'm willing to work with if it means I'm actually busy, and an interior designer.  Winston was out of the office on Friday and Monday, and Prudence hadn't picked the interior designer yet, so it was just Bosley and me figuring out how the presentation should go.  Turns out that Bosley really liked the majority of my ideas--editing bullet points and verbage, using abstract images to describe concepts, etc.  He liked my turns of phrases and, when the rest of the team reconvened today, he was very supportive of my ideas and even encouraged the interior designer to work with me to trim down how many words and bullet points she was using, because (as he put it), "Pixie is really good with language and being descriptive without being long-winded."

Wow.

So far, Bosley's been civil and accommodating.  I spoke with Veronica, our head of marketing, early this week, and it turns out she's the one who dropped my name to Bosley.  He wanted to try a new approach to presentations, and she felt like I'd be a great addition to his presentation and project team.  Our approach will include bringing the team that will actually do the work (rare) and letting those people speak (even rarer).  This is the second time I've been invited to be at the interview presentation, and it's the first time I've been allowed to speak.  It feels good to be useful and to feel valued.