"Yeah, but it sucks."

Last night my wife and I went to the Metropolitan Opera to see their production of Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande." It made me think of so much of what happens in the closed system of an agency.

Here's what I mean: The production of "Pelléas et Mélisande" was lavish. The orchestra was in fine fiddle. The performers were technically impressive.

But after two acts I turned to my ever-patient wife and said "Do you want to leave?" It's kind of hard to be critical of an opera. You're somewhat afraid that the fault for not liking it is yours--you're somehow not cultured enough or something. What's more, the tickets were expensive.

My wife looked and me and answered, "Do you want to leave?" Yeah. We both did. So, we walked out.

Very often at work, you are presented work that ticks all the boxes. The creatives relate to you the obstacles they overcame to get the work produced. The hoops that leapt through. And so on.

Yeah. I get it. I understand you worked through four weekends and missed Patricia's baby shower.

But none of that matters.

If it sucks.

Pelléas et Mélisande sucked. It had no power. It was languid, lazy and long. I don't know what demons Debussy was facing when he composed the opera. I don't really care how it was reviewed a century ago when it premiered.

All I know is I was bored silly.

And in the end, that's all that matters.