Houston, we have a problem.

I want to date a girl named Houston so when we break up I can say "Houston, we have a problem."



I don't know what he's eating over there but it sounds a lot like it's pea gravel.

I forget what the actual plan was for last night but I could tell you that going into the second office wasn't on the list of options.

"Hello, Tim?" it's my freaking cell phone who else would it be?

"Yup"

"Can you hold on?" I held on because I thought she had to answer another phone line or something but then someone else's voice came on the line.

"Tim it's *so-n-so*. How are you doing?" at that very moment I was kind of pissed. I hate it when people have other people make phone calls for them, especially when they are people of no important status and second she really doesn't give a care about how I'm doing but I had to address the question.

"I'm doing all right"

She then said some things about an ad that I had completely redone the night before, it took about seven hours and I was up half past midnight to finish it. I was told the owner didn't like the green I used and I was also told that a price change was missed.

I wasn't happy with the news. The green that was on the printed in-house copy of the ad wasn't going to be the green that would show up on newprint and one price change wasn't a big deal for an entirely new full page ad. Also, it was agreed that we would go with the new ad and do any tweaking, for the next week's issue but I was asked to come in and fix it, anyway.

I was steaming when I walked in. I was up against a deadline. I had about fifteen minutes to get things finished and email it to the publisher. If I missed the deadline I would have to call and ask for a favor the next day. The publisher would have no problem with the change but I really hate asking for favors for things that aren't truly important.

I sent the corrected file with two minutes to spare and then stuck around a couple hours doing other things so I wouldn't have to show up the next day. Upon leaving I dropped some things at the owner's desk, I guess she had come in while I was upstairs.

"Did you change the ad?"

"Yes, but that green you saw wasn't the green that was going to be printed."

"It wasn't going to be a kelly green." she said as a statement.

"We talked about that last night. It's hard to tell that the green we used is actually green in the paper so I lightened it a tinge but I changed it back because I didn't have the time for discussing it."

"What about the price change?"

"Yeah. I did that too."

"Don't I get to have a say about the ad?"

Her question surprised me a little. I made the two changes I was told she wanted and I also thought we had an agreement to fix the minor issues, next week. My problem wasn't with the changes but with time. We weren't alone in her office. I had actually interrupted a meeting she was having with another employee. I thought I was just dropping things off and splitting so I really didn't mind just poking my head in for that and she had the door partially open anyway. I hadn't planned on a conversation.

"You're the boss you get finial say on whatever you want. It's your ad." I said as matter-of-factly as possible. She often defers to my personal style on many things, usually I have free reign over design issues but I know the freedom I have is a privilege that I'm grateful for but bottom line - she's the boss. And sometimes, I plead her for feedback when there is time.

"I didn't ask for the green to be changed" she said.

I'm certain she saw the fire flash in my eyes. She knew I instantly had a problem with a certain messenger. I just kept quiet.