Terry Prone: Corporate communication axe falls on Coldplay kiss-cam couple

Originally published in the Irish Examiner.

At a meeting, the minute you saw this particular colleague covering his eyes with his hand, you knew the next thing would be him asleep.

It followed as day follows night, at least if you’d been around him a lot.

He was a great man for drifting off.

On the other hand, people at the meeting who were not familiar with him would have assumed the hand over the eyes signified he was concentrating fiercely on the issue being discussed.

As the discussion progressed, and if someone called out his name, seeking his opinion, he would slowly wipe his face with his hand and think for a moment.

Then he would say something like: “It’s what’s behind your question that’s significant.”

Other people would row in and by the time the conversational thread looped him in again, he would have worked out where he was on the matter.

It was hellish unnerving for those of us who knew he’d been sleeping, but he took some pride in having the whole waking up thing down pat.

That was thanks, he said, to boarding school, which had taught him and other sleepers that when their names were called aloud, the key thing was not to move suddenly or look guilty.

If you responded calmly and slowly, the teacher would believe that you were thoughtful and considered, rather than concluding that you had been unconscious.

Click here for Terry's full article.