About six months ago, we were selected on a preliminary basis to do a web presence for a new health care organization. This organization has major backing, and is going to become part of Canada’s health care system. In short, a potentially large client with ongoing needs. We are invited to intend a kick off meeting to discuss our involvement and our capabilities. Attendees from our side are myself, HPDEB and the Riddler.

The meeting quickly turns into a debacle. It’s fairly clear that the client has little to no experience in developing media of any kind, which is to be expected…that isn’t the source of the atrocities. That comes from the Rid. For some reason, he had gotten it into his head before the meeting that what they wanted us for was to step in and redesign some processes for the Canadian health care system. As in, deciding how fundamental operational aspects of health care relate to each other and stream information. To this day, no one is sure where this idea came from.

So suddenly the client is looking at all of us like we’ve just grown extra ding-dongs and whipped them out on the table. It turns to HPDEB and myself to assure the client that we are in fact capable of performing this kind of work, because the Rid decides to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the meeting, sneer at the work we are being offered and sits in silence with his arms crossed, staring at the floor for the last half hour.

Everyone in attendance is aghast.

He also walks away feeling that somehow during the meeting we actually did redesign aspects of the health care system and that our ideas had been stolen.

All of this was followed up by a panicked phone call from the client, asking for reassurance we could do what was necessary. I managed to smooth this out and we went forward with the project, up to the point of creating and delivering a concept that was approved by the organization and its membership.

At this point, the Rid shoved myself and HPDEB out of the process and insisted on attending the next meeting with the client on his own.

The project disappeared into a black hole and was never heard of again.

Commentary

One of Riddler’s quotes from the meeting, “We don’t just want to be your web jockeys, we can offer more than that.” Except, we were specifically invited because they wanted someone to only do the web work.
- HPDEB