Sorry for the interruption, but it doesn’t happen often

Many years ago, my feature manager and I were called into the project leader’s office for some reason or other, I forget exactly what.

We were about five minutes into the meeting when the project leader’s mobile phone rang. This was back in the days when mobile phones were not commonplace, and having one was a way of showing off your status.

The project leader answered the call, but instead of saying, “I’m in a meeting, can I call you back?” he proceeded to carry on a conversation with the caller as if we weren’t there, while we sat there and waited.

I got up and left his office.

I went downstairs to the lobby and read whatever newspaper happened to be sitting there for visitors to read while they waited. I think it was The Wall Street Journal, but it could have been The New York Times.

After finishing a section of the paper, I came back upstairs to the project leader’s office. By that time, the project leader had finished his call, whatever it was.

As I sat down, the project leader said, “Sorry, I don’t get calls on this phone often.”

I immediately replied, “That’s okay, I don’t read The Wall Street Journal often either.”