This is admittedly an unusual situation – we have a personal relationship as well as a business one; we’ve been friends far longer than colleagues.

The advantage in that is that when things get really bad I can take him in hand powerfully without jeopardizing the account or the friendship, despite little voices in my mind hopping around and telling me otherwise.

So when he started acting out last week I called him on it, and told him that I was about to get on a plane to go across the country and didn’t have time for drama and manipulation – as per our agreement, I work on my own schedule, and thus no further work would be done until I was finished spending the holiday with loved ones out of town. :)