
9
AMBASSADOR EVICTION
We had an ambassador visit our office to celebrate an aircraft delivery. Much like delivering a child, the aircraft delivery process can be painful and a high-pressure situation. This particular delivery saw an ambassador form part of the delegation to celebrate and give a speech at the delivery ceremony.
The only issue was that she hadn't had time to prepare a speech on account of a grueling travel schedule. I was put in charge of being her keeper while onsite, so I found a meeting room for her and her colleagues to undertake their speechwriting. In addition, we were expecting a couple of CEOs and other high-ranking officials from various organizations who would all have to be escorted to the delivery celebration. It was a busy day in the office to say the least!
It only needed to be a quick 5-minute speech, but she took the speech very seriously and camped out in the office for a solid hour. I kindly checked in to make sure there were no IT issues and also to see how far along the speech had come. They still weren't done after an hour, and guess what? The other VIPs were arriving shortly and required a meeting room to sort out some business. So there I was, covertly popping in and seeing how the speech was going. I'm sure they thought I was bizarre and slightly annoying, but I figure it builds character. A coworker of mine called me and asked if the meeting room was ready for the VIP meeting, and told me I'd have to get the ambassador to go elsewhere. A very unusual task for an unusual day - of course it had to be me!
In the couple of hours since I met the ambassador, I'd been the helpful, overbearing and overly concerned company representative, and now, I'd have to pivot into the person kicking her out of a conference room while still maintaining a positive rapport. I'm also not trained in kicking ambassadors out of a space; few people are. For the umpteenth time, I checked in and mentioned that there would be an important meeting in the room shortly. They very quickly left the room and continued working on the speech in the main lobby area until the delivery ceremony started.
It ended up being a very nice 5 minute speech - if only people knew how many hours of work went into it. And I learned a new skill: how to evict ambassadors from meeting rooms with a smile on my face. United Nations, here I come!