Bread-winning – Daniel 51

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.

There is some back story here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and more recent Daniel episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

“So,” said Gordon. “I’d say this is a little embarrassing, wouldn’t you?”

“No,” said Daniel cautiously. “I’d say we have a professional relationship here and now and that’s what we need to concentrate on. The professional relationship.”

He smiled what he hoped was his winning smile, but then reflected that his winning smile had rarely translated as winning anything across a video channel. When he looked at it on his own screen it just looked gormless.

“Are you surprised I work for this company, then?”

“I’m... well, yes and no. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be working for them of course,” said Daniel. “But there again. It’s a surprise.”

Gordon smiled and it did come across well on the video link. It came across as someone who was feeling very certain of themselves and pretty certain they’d be able to make the most of the current coincidental situation.

“So we’ll put everything behind us, right?” said Gordon. “Concentrate on the job in hand.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Daniel. “My. Thoughts. Too.”

Gordon launched into his ‘introducing you to the company’ speech. He covered the main reasons why his employer, a bread company who specialised in granary baps, wanted to have their name associated with Together... Apart. It boiled down to the idea of having breakfast bought for you even though you may be at some distance from each other. And as lockdown eased, argued Gordon, sales would naturally increase as more people could have breakfast together. Closer than apart.

“Great,” said Daniel.  “So how about we badge up some of the buildings and shops in the VR world for starters and see where we get from there?”

Gordon thought this sounded like a good idea for starters - but only for starters. He also wanted to see some of the user interaction given more of their branding and was trying to work out if some of the AI speech and suggestions within the world could be tailored to reflect their brand too. Daniel speculated briefly on the idea of shoe-horning in some comment about a bagel or chocolate fudge cake being good for conversation but then thought that this might be a bit confusing for their users.

“We could put you onto the audio track,” he offered. “It’s a kind of radio station for anyone visiting. You could record an advert or even a song if you’d like.”

Gordon admitted this sounded promising but wanted to make sure the track wouldn’t repeat too many times. After all there was nothing like repetition to shut off someone’s receptiveness.

“We can programme it using AI which automatically selects the best time and users where you should be positioned,” said Daniel, impressed by his own knowledge and work. “All you have to do is tell me...”

– There was, in reality, no pause here. Daniel was in the flow and he flowed perfectly into the subject he thought he most definitely was not going to flow into...  and yet… he did.

“…tell me why the hell did you have to say anything to Mrs Chistlehurst about us - or rather about me?”

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about this?” said Gordon, quite reasonably.

“Yeah,” said Daniel. “Me too. And yet. There it is.”

If Daniel was taken aback by his own flow into this subject he was more amazed by the way Gordon wasn’t thrown by the twist.

“I didn’t actually say anything,” he said smoothly, “and I wouldn’t have done so either. Alexis said something to her in class. About being upset by what Daisy was saying and that is what Mrs Chistlehurst decided to act on. So don’t you come and criticise me and I’ll need to know the specifications of the sound files and the graphics you need to use in the app if this is going to work.” 

“Sure I can get those details across to you,” said Daniel. “It’s all pretty standard. Nothing out of the ordinary which makes me think she was going for me very hard if it was just something said in class.”

“I can assure you we have a lot of media ready to go,” said Gordon. “Which should make the process very easy and swift and if you say anything that makes Alexis feel bad ever again I’ll have you, is that all good?”

“Yes and likewise,” said Daniel. “All good.”

They finished their meeting in the same uncertain but friendly way. 

Daniel then called Trinny. “I’ve promised certain things to this sponsor,” he began. “And I’m not certain they’re all achievable.”

“What did you do that for?” asked Trinny. Daniel found he didn’t want to talk about it.