Okay, so it was more than "fairly important."
Unfortunately, he was conference calling using a phone that almost constantly cut out on me. I don't know what the trigger was - maybe background noises were being interpreted as conversation by the phone? - but whatever was causing it, it made the call almost unbearable. After three attempts to hang up and call back to resolve the issue, it was clear that the issue wasn't going to go away.
Thus I began an audio version of Mad Libs, during which I would hear:
"CEO... CFO... 'no-bullshit leadership' session to introduce... 30th."
And then I would respond positively, as if I were certain that I had been told that the company's top execs were going to kick off the program with a session they were jokingly referring to as 'no-bullshit leadership' and that they wanted to do this pretty much right away, as in by August 30th. It was a lot like trying to navigate a maze in the dark, so I was verbally bumping around while still trying to sound like I totally know my shit...
Which I normally do!
...but without overstepping or overcommitting myself based on what was essentially a series of tenuously achieved assumptions.
I hadn't realized how little pressure I have had to deal with lately until I felt the tight coils of it wrapping around me, and I am just thankful that I didn't muck things up horribly. In fact, to my relief, my associate called and told me I really impressed the guy on the phone, and that there were future projects that I might earn as a result.
Still, if possible, I'm going to avoid playing this particular game again anytime soon. Hope he likes exchanging e-mail messages!
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