Mirror

This was 2006. I was working on a website for a client, and we were using a technology called Flash which everyone hates now but you could create great animations in it fairly easily and use them for websites.

I wanted to convince the client that we could do something really inventive with her website, and knock it out of the park, win awards and do something really original. We had settled on a concept where visitors would click onto sections of the website and it would then zoom into the different sections in one smooth animation.

This is where I screwed things up. The key thing was that the company name was just the client's name. Let's say that the company was then called Betty Blake Inc, with Betty Blake being my client's name. And of course, 'Betty' was at the meeting where we were presenting our ideas.

So, as I was presenting the visuals and describing how we would make everything animate, I went to explain. 'So, the key thing is here that we click onto the website sections, and it zooms in.' Betty and her team looked interested but not convinced not be able to see the actual animations at that point, so I really went for the sell. We're talking me standing up, using hand gestures to give them an impression of how it would work.

So I say 'The key thing is, I want to be able to click onto Betty Blake, and know everything about her. I want to be able to get a real understanding of what she does.'

And then with hand motions as if I'm diving forward into something to explain this zooming in, I say:

'The really important thing is, I want to be deep inside Betty Blake.'

Silence.

Everyone looks at me. I realise what I have said. The team I brought with me are looking like they might laugh, but the Betty Blake team, and Betty in particular, are looking at me and not knowing how to process what I said. It's so awkward, I panic. So I say, trying to back out of it:

'The thing is though, it's not just about me, I want everyone to be deep inside Betty Blake.'

Our designer puts his head in his hands. Everyone is silent, but a few of them are smirking. I sit down embarrassed, and say:

'So, what do you think, does that sound appealing?'

Ten years later, I still hear about this from my coworkers. All the time. 'Betty' still works with us though.

TLDR; Accidentally told a client I wanted to go deep inside her. And when that wasn't enough, told her that I wanted everyone to get deep inside her.