The Overly Enthusiastic "Mmhmm"

My office is set in a closet sized room at the end of a hallway where the closest door to the outside has now been drywalled over due to construction. Not only has the construction blocked the small sliver of sunlight that bounces in from the door, to the hallway, to the tiny window into our office, oh and the fire escape (shucks), it has also lead to a series of small earthquakes, vibrating my cup of pencils, coffee, and the computer screen. Sometimes I like to pretend War of the Worlds is occurring outside. I even play that really loud horn noise the machines make in the Tom Cruise movie version and wonder how heroic I'd be staring down a street of mayhem. I'd think back to every movie I've seen on these types of situations. During the panic, I'd most likely only remember Jurassic Park and try standing still, hoping like the "T-Rex – he'll lose you if you don't move". I'd be wrong of course. Alien attacker machines would of course have heat sensors and blow me away to smithereens.

As exciting as that is, daydreaming only takes up about 1% of my work time. The rest of the day is filled with sweating while printing a project someone wanted completed yesterday and realizing Clients From Hell  is the real deal. In the midst of freaking out, I can still answer the phone and talk to walk-ins like a pro. I greet them with a grossly animated "HI! WHAT CAN I HELP YOU WITH?!" and realize I'm shouting with joy. "Oh sure, we can CERTAINLY do that... No you're not ANY TROUBLE at all." After they leave, I feel I've completed a lap around the track. My heart rate slows down and my customer service grin quickly shrinks when I see how much work they actually want in such a short period of time. Everyone else is laughing and mocking my overly enthusiastic "Mmhmm"s.

Now don't get me wrong, I really want to help them out and make them the best design ever. The kind of design people weep over. But surely there is a way I can convey this without turning on the crazy eyes and making the clients ears burst. Maybe I should see about personalizing cookie cakes or naming a star after each client to express my gratitude and reassurance their project is in good hands. For the meantime, I'll try to turn down the volume and hand out cotton balls to future newcomers in hopes to muffle out my psychotic hopes to full fill their ever design need.