An Unconventional Solution to an Ultimatum
After working for years in a low level position at Platinum Investments, Eli was finally up for a promotion which might finally change his life for the better. He was desperate to prove himself, and took on any opportunities to demonstrate his hard work ethic. His moment to prove himself finally came when Marian, one of his firm’s Client Relations Managers was going to go on extended maternity leave due to a challenging pregnancy. Eli readily volunteered to backfill Marian’s role to maintain relations with several notable clients. Sofia, the Director of Client Relations at Platinum, agreed that it would be a good metric to measure Eli’s skill, but still risky. She gave him full reign over Marian’s role, with one contingency: lose a client, lose your job. Eli had to put it all on the line to prove that he was worthy of a promotion. To Eli’s shock when finally assuming Marian’s role, was how many of her clients invested at Platinum purely because of their relationships to Marian. Her kindness, hospitality, and warmth put investors at ease. Eli could not believe in how many of Marian’s emails where her clients cited her character as the main factor for their continued investment. Eli was screwed, he thought there was no way he could possibly maintain relations with all these clients as a newcomer. Panic set in, what would he do?! After quite a while of contemplative thinking, the answer he came up with was: NOTHING. There was no reason the clients had to know there was anyone different handling their investments, he could still keep signing the emails as Marian. Sofia did not specify how Eli had to keep all Marian’s clients, just that he couldn’t lose any.
So Eli’s mind was made up, he would become a digital version of Marian, to maintain the illusion to her clients that she was still the one handling their accounts. Well the first few days of this illusion went totally fine, Eli carefully studied Marian’s emails to match her cadence and vernacular. Thusfar none of his clients were any the wiser. He had taken up residence in her private office, and could not get over how easy this ruse was. He was practically guaranteed a promotion at this rate. Then came a rude awakening, an email containing an invitation to a video conference with one of Marian’s clients. Eli obviously knew he could not accept this invitation, so he declined and asked the client to reschedule for a later date. The client almost immediately responded that this was a pressing issue that he wanted to discuss, and could only delay by two days. Two days. What could he possibly do? Marian’s success as a Client Relations Manager was her positive relationships with her clients. He couldn’t possibly divert this client to another manager, or keep delaying the meeting invites. The client was nervous about his investments, any missteps on Eli’s part and the client might take his business elsewhere. He had to handle this on his own, but how? The stress was driving him crazy, and the idea that came of it was crazy too. He was already digitally impersonating Marian, what’s a little physical impersonation as well? A poor quality web cam, a wig, a little makeup, how hard could it be?
----->Chapter 2