And so it begins ...

This is the kind of post that gets you fired. Of course, someone would have to know me well enough to know that I have a blog and that I'm the infamous Mrs. Dub ... and since I lunch alone most days, I don't think that's going to happen. Not to mention the fact that I think my own boss would find humor in the following, which I've shared with some already:

Above is a slide from a PowerPoint presentation that my boss gave recently to a group of "investors" in our company. As part of the presentation, he was trying to show them the best way to recruit students, which in our industry is similar to selling a car. In short, he wanted to convey the importance of speaking to a prospective student on the phone. To do so, he came up with these clever 5 E's, for which I applaud him.

As he shared them with me a few weeks back, however, I became a little perplexed. Not only are energetic, excited and enthusiastic near-synonyms, but eccentric? (He claimed acting kooky makes you more memorable.)

And English accent? Since he's originally from a country in Europe that doesn't speak-a-English, I asked if he meant it's important to have proper English diction to make sure that the student can understand what you're saying. But no, he said that he thought using a British accent would be a good way for a student to remember you -- to set you apart from your compatriot competitors. To which I replied, "You want me to pretend to be from England?"

"Exactly," he said.

I'm sad to say I've failed to live up to his challenge. There's just something about pretending to have an accent that seems ... well, dishonest, unprofessional and crazy come to mind.

But, hey, you might want to try it.

G'day!