Public relations isn’t the least enjoyable part of my job, but it’s the hardest.  You wheedle reporters with phone and email pitches; you send them information; you talk them up whenever you find them.  All in an effort to convince them that spilling ink about your company will win them professional glory, Pulitzer Prizes, and eternal youth.

So I was amazed when I received an email from a reporter who just wanted to drop the office.  And ask some questions.  And talk.  She was new to the business beat, and wanted to get a sense of the territory.

You mean, you’re not working on a story that’s due last week?  (No.)

You mean, you’re not just getting a quote to show your editor you’ve been working?  (No.)

You mean, you’re not investigating a rumor about my CEO and pictures of wild goats?  (No.)

And then it struck me.  This is the PR equivalent of being asked to the prom. I sprang into action:

Rent the limo.  (Reserve a conference room.)

Buy a corsage.  (Gather sales collateral and media kits.)

Get a tux.  (Don’t wear jeans.)

Brag to the friends.  (Inform the executives.)

But at the appointed meeting time, she didn’t appear.  I paced my cube.  Checked my watch.  Drank coffee.  And then the recriminations began.  Did she simply schedule the meeting for the wrong time, or:

Was she seeing someone else?  (Like one of our competitors.)

Did she decide I wasn’t good enough for her?  (And went with one of our competitors.)

Was I just a stepping stone?  (To one of our competitors.)

But here the analogy breaks down.  Because when you’re actually stood up on prom night, you have to carefully think about whether calling will make you look uncool.  In PR, you can simply leave a message: “We seemed to have missed each other this morning.  Feel free to give me a call to reschedule, or if it’s more convenient I can simply tell you a few things about my company over the phone.”

Just be sure you say that.  Rather than: “Hi...look, I don’t want to pressure you, and I know we don’t know each other that well. But I have real feelings for you.  I just want you to know that I think we could have something special--even if you still want to keep seeing other companies.”