Roger Collis

Congratulations! You’ve decided that life is too short to endure the squalor and indignity of ‘cattle class’ and will join the ‘premium classes’ and shop around for the best prices in the front of the cabin. (That’s where you turn left instead of right at the door to the plane.)

But with first class costing around twice the price of business class; which in turn can cost twice the price of a flexible economy ticket and 20 times more than the cheapest ticket in the back of the plane, reconciling comfort, cost and convenience is a dialectical dilemma – it’s easy to pay a lot more for a lot less. Click here

Click here

‘Any idea that the buck stops here is bravado, mythology, total nonsense,’ a senior colleague said as I started my last corporate incarnation.

He nodded towards the appalling pile of paper his secretary had just brought in. ‘That’s stuff waiting for decisions of some kind. What I do is make the quick and obvious ones, delegate some to my staff, and chuck the rest out. You can be sure that anything really important is going to come screaming down the phone sooner or later. But you’ll find most things either resolve themselves or get overtaken by events.’ Click here

‘Hi, I’m Lucille Findlater and I’d like to introduce you to the Mishawaka Focus Group. You know, we’re the folk who produce the ideas for the ads you see on TV. As you may have seen in the South Bend Tribune, we belong to the Michiana chapter of the National League of focus Groups and have just been named winners for the second year running of the Concept Evaluation Cup. Yes, we’re very proud, especially as we were competing against some strong groups from such famous test-market areas as Fort Wayne and Columbus, Ohio. That nice Mr. Guratsky from the Doberman & Pinscher agency sent us a congratulatory telegram and Mrs. Lipchitz baked us one of her special seed-cakes. Click here

Airborne between Paris and Hong Kong on a Global Airlines Boeing 2000ER, John and Jane Harbinger are lingering over lunch in the gourmet restaurant on the top deck (not much point in fast food on a 16-hour flight) figuring how they’re going to spend the rest of the afternoon. Jane decides on a soothing séance in the beauty parlor: John will make a few calls from the business center and polish his presentation.  They’ll meet for drinks at six in the suite before dinner. ‘Would sushi hit the spot? I’ll book a table downstairs.’    John asks a passing ‘skycop’ for directions. ‘Head down the main corridor towards the tail and take the elevator down to the bottom deck.’ Click here