I don’t make a secret of the fact I work from home. A client calling in is, for example, quite likely to hear me rattling around and making a cup of tea, or notice the television in the background when I’m walking through the living room on the cordless. However, given that homeworkers are generally perceived as being less professional, I generally try keep as invisible as possible facts like:

• My husband has hauled me out of the shower to take critical calls, leaving me standing naked in my living room, dripping water all over the carpet while getting verbal agreement to sign for a project;
• I occasionally take calls in bed, or go lie on the bed in the dark of the bedroom when really trying to focus on what someone is saying;
• My normal business attire is pajamas.

The dog, however, has no such respect for business clients. She also has no concept of telephone calls, so when I’m pacing up and down the hallway talking to someone, she tends to think I’m talking to her. Delighted, she races up and down behind me, wagging her tail and bouncing off the occasional wall.

On this particular evening, however, the dog stopped her racing around to join me on the bed, where she proceeded to roll around on her back while I talked and listened and talked some more, every now and then giving her a little pat to send her off into another spasm of ecstasy.

And at some point, the following conversation took place:

Client: So what do you think?
Me: Really interesting. The only issue is that it’s going to be… oh my God, Eimear, did you just pee on me?
Client: (pause) What?
Me: Sorry, my dog just… peed on me.
Client: (pause) Well, that’s the height of professionalism.

To be fair, it wasn’t that much pee.