Mind Your Business: Still Waiting for the Phone to Ring?
A watched phone never rings. Here I am, late at night, staring at the silent phone. Why doesn’t she call? Doesn’t she care? Maybe she doesn’t want me? Did I do or say something wrong?
The knots in my stomach are only secondary to the knots in my checkbook. Time moves slowly when I’m waiting on a client to call me back. Did I get the bid? Was my demo reel good enough? Has production already started? Is the job for real?
The lack of a phone ringing can mean one of two things. One, no news is bad news. Two, no news is good news. The difference is when you are waiting for that phone to ring.
No news is bad news when you are just beginning a courtship. You’ve taken your client to a nice dinner, you’ve sent her flowers and a nice note the next day along with your proposal. Of course you were hoping for an immediate acceptance to your proposal, but she makes you wait. And wait. And wait.
Your mind starts going over all the possibilities. You want to keep calling her to see if she’s made a decision. There are only two answers to that question, yes or no. If the answer is yes, and you haven’t been called that’s bad news. At least for you. Then why didn’t she call to tell you that she thinks you should start seeing other people?
Maybe she just forgot about you when she chose someone else. Clients tend to be fickle and move on quickly with new beau. Ouch.
Maybe she never intended to hire you. Your bid could have just been a fishing trip for her. This way she has ammunition to get some other poor shmuck who wants to date her to lower his bid.
Maybe she was just too busy. It’s not personal. At least it’s not personal to her. It would be polite for her to call all her suitors and let them down gently, but it’s far easier for her to just ignore them all.
Maybe, just maybe, there is no project. There is no answer for anyone. There may be no funding or not nearly enough funding and was wasting everyone’s time. She may have had delusions of grandeur on a dime-store budget. Reality has a tendency to harsh to some wannabe producers.
If the answer is she has not made a decision, there could be many reasons why. She could be waiting for answers herself. Maybe her parental funding units have not told her what she can do yet. Maybe there are other decisions she needs to make before she thinks about you. It’s hard to believe, but you may not be the only person in her life.
In any event, if her answer is yes, she’ll call. She won’t keep her chosen one waiting. Um. Wait a minute that does happen. She may make you wait for half your scheduled time and then still expect you to do the job for the same price with the same original delivery date. Don’t worry. The good news is you’re not alone. The same thing happens to all of us.
Of course it’s not all bad news. No news can be good news when you’re project is done. Once the courtship is over, you’re quickly forgotten. Forgotten? How can that be good news?
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