"Diane Needs Your Help !"

"Diane desperately needs your help with the Japanese contract" Jeff announced as he entered Debbi's office. It wasn't the sort of thing Debbi expected to hear; Diane the super salesperson having to admit that she needed help from her rival. Nevertheless Debbi was delighted. "Of course. But I thought she was the company's go to person for closing out deals like these ?" Debbi could not resist a little dig. Jeff did not rise to the bait. "Apparently, the Japanese are going into quite a lot of detail about the technicalities of our offer and Diane is sensible enough to put your differences to one side and ask for your telecoms expertise to be brought to bear on the presentation she has scheduled. I expect you to be just as professional. You know the worth of this contract to the company" he warned her. "Of course, whatever it takes" said Debbi.

"She fell for it then ?" laughed Aditty. "Did you ever doubt she would ?" Diane replied. "I just hope that the Japanese don't look too bemused when she launches into her presentation after we've already been over all the technicalities with them."

Debbi was in her element. Dressed in her stylish charcoal trouser suit, she looked every inch the successful business woman as she stressed the elegance and simplicity of the technical solution she and her team had come up with for the Japanese project. She hoped her explanation had not been too technical when she noticed the slightly glazed look in the eyes of some of the Japanese visitors but her fears were assuaged by a polite round of applause when she ended.

"Thank you Diane san" said the head of the Japanese delegation as Debbi finished and they turned back to the sales team. "And this is the young lady who will take part in the nyotaimori ceremony ?" he asked eagerly, looking at Debbi. "Absolutely" agreed Diane. "Wonderful, wonderful" the Japanese were duly impressed. "Er, what ?" whispered Debbi. "Nyota whatsit ?"

"Oh, they just want a special evening to end the negotiations. It's a traditional Japanese thing. You'll have seen their tea ceremonies and so forth ?" Diane answered. Debbi had some vague recollection of seeing such rituals on TV. "Don't worry, the restaurant staff'll guide you through it all" Diane added. "Oh, er, ok, fine" Debbi agreed, as she went to mingle with the attentive delegates. "You don't think she'll look it up ?" Aditty wondered. "Nah, she'll have forgotten the word already if she ever remembered it in the first place. It's not a exactly a word that trips off the tongue for English speakers" she laughed !