Conversations repeat themselves.

Inspired by Slide

“Make it great”

If I had a dollar for every time he said that — then I’d have some dollars. Not a lot of dollars, but some, which is more dollars than I currently have. We met at a coffee shop that sold breakfast and started a conversation. We went to many places with the conversation as the conversation went many places with us. At times it was one conversation in more than one place and at other times, it was one place and many conversations. At the end of it, we spoke for 13 hours, all of the day and some of the night. We spoke about many things, some things many times but nothing as much as the first thing. The thing that started the conversation and kept coming back and changing places.

“Make it great.”

He spoke for me when he saw that I was taking too long to answer the waiter. I looked at him when he spoke as did the waiter, both of us a little confused in the face.

“Well, she can’t decide. So just make it great.” He said with a matter of fact tone as if what he meant should have been obvious the first time he said it.

The waiter looked at me with an expression that said: “Can you believe this guy?” I did not believe the guy but I felt more inclined to be on his side than on the waiter’s so I said “Yes. Make it great. Thanks”

I saw the waiter’s face sink, his cheek fell and his eyelids slowly closed. The answer he had hoped for was either “scrambled” or “sunnyside.” What was he supposed to do with “Make it great.” Needless to say that the eggs were not great.

“Are they?” He asked when I had eaten about half of the eggs. I shook my head with my mouth full.

“I thought so.” He said then turned back to his meal. I waited till I was done chewing then asked how one even knew if eggs were made great. He took his plate off his table and moved to mine, taking the seat opposite me. As if I, by asking him a question, had invited him over. ‘The audacity’ I thought but I was more amused than anything else.

“First of all, it should look great. That looks horrible” He said motioning to what was left of the eggs.

“Horrrrrible.” This time he said it as if he was going to vomit then he kept talking.

“When someone says you should make a thing great, you should at the very least make it look the part. If I ask you to make me your best meal, I am expecting something that looks like you did your best right…”

He stopped. It took me a second to realise that he expected me to respond and when I realised I nodded.

“So why does ‘that’ (he said ‘that’ like he couldn’t bring himself to refer directly to the eggs) look like the cook couldn’t have been bothered”

I laughed. I don’t know if it was funny but I laughed. It just came out.

“Food is the representation of the chef, why would anyone want to be represented by that”

I laughed some more then asked if he always asked his chef to make his food great.

“I ask everyone to make everything great.”

“You sound like a snob,” I said and he laughed. A full laugh which made me feel good. Not just because I made him laugh but also because I already knew what I was going to say next.

“See this conversation,” I started as he tried to catch his breath “make it great.”

Then we had the same conversation about making things great over and over again but only because we never finished it. We started then, with brands. Everything is a bran- or no, everything can be a brand. He initially said it, the first thing, that everything was a brand then I asked if I was a brand and he replied that I could be.

“You aren’t yet, now you are just someone who eats bad eggs because she can’t decide how she likes her eggs.”

After that, we talked about what people were and were not and that conversation took us away from the coffee shop and onto the road. As for brands, we came back to that much later, I think when we were at a library. He held my hand as we walked past it and forced me to halt.

“Let’s enter this building,” He said.

“It’s a library,” I said which I suppose was my way of saying no or asking why.

“Do you have anything against libraries?” He asked.

“We can’t talk in a library”

“Why not”

“They will kick us out”

“Let’s find out”

So we stepped into the library and looked at books about architecture and that’s when brands came back. Buildings are brands, representations of the architect.

“Everyone knows buildings are supposed to be great,” He said.

“And they are supposed to look the part” I added.

He nodded and we flipped pages. Minutes passed in silence before he asked me if I thought the conversation was great yet. I shook my head then added that I couldn’t decide yet.

“How long will it take you to decide?” He asked.

“How long does it take to make a great brand?” I asked starting to think that this conversation was a representation of him.

“People say you cannot know how long.” He said.

“But you are not people”

He smiled.

“People say there are seven words to make anyone fall in love with you.”

“I know the words,” he said.

“Tell me” I begged.

“I can’t”

“You don’t want me to fall in love with you?”

“I don’t want to make you. I much rather you did so on your own volition.”

Then we talked a lot about making people fall in love and making love and that got us kicked out of the library.

When it was late and we were at a bar, he asked me if I knew how long we had been talking for.

“Long” I replied.

“Long enough for you to decide?”

“Decide what? If I want to go home with you?” I only thought the second part, I didn’t have the courage to ever say something that bold.

“Decide if this was a great conversation,” He said.

“How long does it take to make a great brand?” I asked.

“Five days” he answered very frankly, like a man who had done his research, like he knew what he was saying.

“I guess that means you have four more days,” I said and took a sip of my drink.

A word from our sponsors haha

A friend of mine just launched a Kickstarter for a handbook that helps you design a global brand in 5 days or less, It’s called Slide. Check out the Kickstarter here or follow the Instagram page.