11:51 p.m. | 2004-03-06 The Fine Art Of Negotiating Experiences A Redundant Nervous Breakdown, Which Results In Creativity Begotten Of A Quartet Of Control Freaks. On Friday, OMC, Colleague, NewBoss and I promptly jumped on the lunch [band]wagon. We solicited others, but apparently, no one wanted to dine with us. Well, and they had other plans. Which, uh, didn�t include us. Obviously. I�ll readily admit that I�m a control freak, and I have no right to speak on the behalf of the other three people involved, but I have this �theory� that they�re also control freaks. And, I will say that my �theory� is based upon frank admissions, repeated observations and witness testimony, but you know, it�s still only a �theory�. Officially. (To fellow JournalCon folks, I�ll just say that I�m merely telling my �own story� and not anyone else�s tale.) Moving on. Kind of. See, I have to backtrack a little. NewBoss loves sushi and has been craving it as of late. I�m allergic and the other two don�t care for it. Actually, I don�t care much for Chinese/Japanese/Asian food. Well, depending on the place, day, and the condition of my stomach. There�s something in it � well, outside of seafood and fish � that makes me either nauseous or ill. I think it�s mostly sauce related. And, I�m not talking about the yummy salt-in-liquid-form more commonly known as soy sauce. Well, and the fact that they tend to forget to disclose that they slid some seafood/fish into� um, say, hot and sour soup? Or whatever. However, nine out of ten people � me being the tenth person � that I know absolutely, positively LOVE Chinese/Japanese/Asian food. As in: �I could eat it three times a day every single day of my life and be very, very happy�. Well, and still hungry. Being the Lunch Diplomat, I�ve learned what I can and will eat at such establishments and do so on a regular basis, just like the good lunch ambassador that I am. In other words, I like to eat and get out of the office daily. Anyway, we also made lunch arrangements on Thursday. Like I said, NewBoss wanted sushi on that day too. I had a conversation with OMC that went something like this. (OMC:) NewBoss and Colleague want to go to lunch. Are you in? (CI:) Sure. Where are we going? (OMC:) Well, NewBoss wants sushi. What do you want? (CI:) Like that matters. It always about sushi and Chinese and Japanese and seafood and� argh! Uh, I mean, that�s fine. I can cope. If NewBoss wants sushi� that�s a done deal, you know? (OMC:) What�d mean? (CI:) It doesn�t matter what we come up with, we always go where NewBoss wants to go. You haven�t noticed that? Okay. Now, see, I was just joking around. Not incorrect, mind you, but just joking. However, I think someone said something to NewBoss because next thing I know, NewBoss declares that it�s my turn to pick a restaurant. I was incapable of doing such though. Mostly because I was busy trying to figure out what I�d be able to stomach at the sushi restaurant. Then, suddenly, NewBoss suggested a place he and I had discussed previously. One that I�d mentioned I wanted to go to. Which was great. I thought it was considerate of him to remember such a fine detail. It worked for everyone else too. We went, ate, laughed� had a good time. It was all warm and fuzzy. Then, on Friday, I learned that NewBoss had suggested that place because he wanted to do a �quality assurance� check before he invited guests to have dinner with him there, and I verified that he actually had no recollection of my recent conversation with him about wanting to eat at that restaurant. Lunch. It�s so political. Yet, so much fun that I really don�t care about the end result so much as I find all the maneuvering very interesting. Well, and it involves food. Y�all know I love that part. And, if you�re looking for a politician, lobbyist, journalist� well, any kind of salesperson, actually� just, um, go to lunch. So. Back to Friday. Around lunchtime. All four of us gathered in NewBoss� office. Negotiations clearly underway. (OMC:) I want greasy burgers. (NB:) I want sushi. (C:) I don�t want sushi but Japanese sounds good. (CI:) I�m really leaning towards burgers� (OMC:) Oh my god! I want cheese-steak. Serious craving here. I know THE BEST place for cheese-steak. And, it�s not that far away. (NB:) Where is it? (OMC:) WayOverThere. (NB:) Too far. No time for that. Forget cheese-steak. (OMC:) That�s all I want now. (NB:) All I want is sushi. (CI:) Um, I don�t mean to rain on your little parade here but, there�s a really huge chasm between cheese-steak and sushi. (C:) Yeah, I�m not aware of any greasy-burger-cheese-steak-sushi-Japanese restaurants that are nearby. (CI:) Or, in existence. At all. (NB:) What�s the score? (OMC:) Cheese-steak period. (C:) No sushi, but Japanese is fine. (CI:) Japanese okay, burger better. (NB:) Still sushi-ish. Okay. How about this? I brought my car; lets just drive a little. (OMC, CI & C:) Great! Lets roll. We all get in the car, drive straight down the street our building�s on � it�s a very long street � making suggestions along the way. All are struck down by one person or another, for one reason or another, until we�re pretty far down the road. At that point � the point of near starvation � this happens. (OMC:) What about Italian? (OMC, CI & C:) Sure. And, we end up at an Italian restaurant in my old �hood that I really like and forgot about. One that OMC and C haven�t been to, but they no longer care about anything other than eating. You have to order at the counter. NewBoss orders first. Then OMC. Then myself. And, eventually, Colleague. When I tried to order my first choice, I was informed that they were no longer serving that because �a man over there� ordered the last one. I ordered my second choice. Then, while I was getting my drink, I heard C order OMC�s and my first choices, only to be told that they weren�t available. He had to ponder a while and I sat down. Here�s that. (CI:) Hey, NewBoss, what�d you order? (NB:) YourFirstChoice. (Except he didn�t really say that.) (CI:) You bastard. (NB:) What? (CI:) That�s what I wanted, but you took the last one. But, actually, you�re both bastards because C�s first and second choices were what you guys ordered and they�re out of both � thanks to you bastards. See, that�s why he�s still up there. Look, he�s letting people go in front of him because he has to make a third choice. However, I have to say that we all enjoyed our food and lunch. But, if you look carefully, you�ll see that, in the end, NB chose where we ate. He�s crazy like a monkey like a fox. And, did you notice the word �redundant� in the title? Some things don�t change. Even in a lifetime. The Boss is always the boss. Just sayin'. your thoughts? seed flower