Your Font, Your Self

Let me be the first to say - I love fonts.
Ridiculous fonts. Clean fonts. Cursive-y fonts. All of 'em. Choosing my font in my IM window took quite a bit of time. And I hate GChat and Gmail just a bit because they do not give me the plethora of fonts I enjoy. See? Not kidding about loving fonts.

A while back I had myself a little chat with my account director. I love the use of that word - chat. Like a bit of conversation rather than a gentle ass-reaming. In my agency the word "chat" has many different tonal uses. Just assume the "chat" is going to be about something YOU did wrong and you're OK.

I digress...

I hadn't worked with my account director all that much. Fresh from two major account losses, he was ready to kick ass and take names. Frankly, I like him - then and now. Like any old guard there are quirks. But all in all, the job gets done and the client rejoices.

I struggled with getting thrown into the deep end with an anvil on my ankle and not a lick of swimming ability. The learning curve with zero training is much longer than one with some training. He talked to me about getting promoted, what I needed to do and generally was supportive, interested and helpful.
Then the conversation wrapped up as such:
Him (vehement): "I hate the purple"
Me (confused): "Um, what?"
Him (getting more agitated by the word): "The purple font. I HATE IT."
Me (still confused): "Ohhh-kay"
Him (aggresively inquisitive):"How do you feel about it? Obviously you CHOSE it, so you like it. But I have to tell you, I HATE IT."
Me (getting the picture):"Clearly. I can change it you know."
Him (going all account director on me):"I don't want to tell you what to do. I just want you to realize what your font is saying. I mean, when you send an email ALL I SEE is PURPLE. No one will take you seriously with purple font."

Let me interrupt this clearly heartfelt moment to say that I have a client that sends emails in text language. Fun bits such as Thx, u, ur IN BUSINESS EMAILS. But purple words complete with correct spelling and grammar causes shame and humiliation.

Me (annoyed and ready to get this over with): "Erm, OK. I WILL CHANGE IT."
Him (Now too into my Outlook choices): "What about your font? What does that font say in an email?"
Me (see status above): "Are you asking me what Arial Narrow says about me as a person? As an employee? As a representative of the Agency? WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU ASKING ME ABOUT THE FUCKING FONT?!
Him (skeptical and generally hating every email I have ever sent): "Well does it come across how you would like to come across?"
Me (over. it.): "Let's see - it's not in random signs like webdings, people can read it, it's not Arabic." insert pause - "Yeah...no, I'm good."

Really? The font. Not the color (which yes, I changed), THE FONT. So glad we got to the important stuff.