I was well aware that for over a decade my colleague A dismissed my work as completely trivial. It was well-known that he had no respect for me whatsoever.

Then one day we happened to be assigned to the same placement visit in France. I would never have imagined that my aptitude for modern languages would be the one talent powerful enough to win him over. From the moment that the first French words spilled out of my mouth he just couldn’t get enough of me.