Tall tale 1: “I’m terribly sorry, Mr X, is not here yet. You see we normally start work at 9am, and for some reason he booked this meeting for 8am – maybe he mistyped it… let’s hope he turns up soon…”
At 8.45am a very apologetic Mr X arrives blaming the traffic – another classic excuse that journalists and bankers in São Paulo both use with great abundance.
Tall tale 2: “You must be from the magazine? We are very sorry but Mr Y is running a bit late. He has been detained on a call to the CFO – I am sure you understand, but you aren’t as important as the CFO….”
Tall tale 3: “Ah… Mr Z has just popped out to get a sandwich; he’ll be back shortly… I think.”
Five minutes later Euromoney was pleased to be ushered out of the office to a particularly decadent restaurant and asked to join Mr Z for the three-course meal he was just starting.
