The thing is, much as I’d like to attend your class, I must insist you first sign this NDA. Sorry? Really? Well that stands for Non Disclosure Agreement. I think it’s important that I protect my intellectual property rights before I share my work with you. When I say share, of course, I really mean that I license you to read, comprehend, and mentally store such elements of this work as are necessary for pedagogic or coaching purposes. Share is a tricky word, and I’m not getting caught by that one. Just so we’re clear. When I say work, remember that includes any and all things I may say, write, or emote during our time together. I will be carrying a recording device.
Now, no, hang on. I’m not accusing you of anything. But my years in industrial absorbency have taught me one thing. Well obviously they’ve taught me many things. Most of them related to conference etiquette, if you know what I mean, but let’s stick to this: people steal without realizing it. It’s not your fault. It wouldn’t be your fault, I mean, were it to happen.
I genuinely believe, for example, that Harry Sapwith honestly and sincerely thinks he came up with the idea for Amorous Truck serviette edging. But there’s not a soul at Marauder Design who would agree Harry has either the imagination or the sensitivity to pull off a concept like that. I know this is true because one Sunday I visited every person of executive quality at Marauder, thanks to a spreadsheet Kim from HR accidentally left in the photocopier. That strategy may have got me an official written warning (the badge of the out-of-the-box thinker), but I think I can claim vindication. I can read people.
Anyway, those images of cartoon vehicles caught in poses of bashful courtship on one corner and frantic congress on another display a fine balance of humor and pathos, and demanded no less from their creator.
Sapwith thinks Pathos is an island somewhere off Corfu. His humorous sensibilities extend to mercilessly ridiculing the perceived physical shortcomings of others. Not, I think you’ll accept, the stuff of which Amorous Trucks are made. Besides, I have, in fact, a particularly muscular chest.
So you’ll pardon me if I learn from my lessons, and insist you sign right here on the dotted line. Because let me tell you, I’ve got a ‘truckful’ of ideas, and every one a doozy.
