ABSTRACT
Elizabeth once again smoothed her skirt as she crossed her legs and tried to redirect the gaze of her potential client. She was unsuccessful in making eye contact with her customer, so she then stared at the clock over his shoulder, squirming as the seconds slowly passed. Skip, one of her fi rst sales calls ever and an important customer, was the CEO of the Community Bank Savings Bank (Indiana, US). He was in the process of telling yet another story about “the good old days” when he was president of “Lamda” fraternity at Rutgers University. He kept standing up, supposedly to point out souvenirs on his wall, although more likely to try and look down the front of her dress. He seemed to focus 100 percent of his attention on Elizabeth’s chest or legs instead of on her face or, more important, on the software bid she had put in front of him over an hour ago. After what seemed like an eternity and easily four years’ worth of “frat boy” antics, Skip decided he and Elizabeth should step across the street for a bite of lunch. Elizabeth stood up with relief, thinking that maybe a change of venue would help Skip regain some focus regarding the topic at hand — adding a debit card product and its management software to the First Community Bank line of retail banking products.
