Work Text:
November 12th, 2006
Chandler looked at his agenda for the day and sighed. As much as the agency loved that he’d brought in a publishing house account, he knew full well that he was playing with fire having his mother connected to his work in any way. And she had been very insistent that she liked the original ad campaign, so they were bringing someone out of retirement to help “modernize” it, and, to be fair, the original campaign was from the summer before he was born, which was, well, longer ago than he wanted to think about now. He stretched his arms and heard his joints pop. He really needed to find some time to hit the gym again.
There was a buzz from the reception desk.
“Mr. Bing?” the voice asked.
“Yes,” Chandler replied, doing his best not to sound annoyed this early in the morning. He had his coffee, after all.
“Your nine o’clock is here.”
“Thanks, send him in.”
Chandler straightened out his desk a bit. Monica had come in one weekend right after he’d gotten this office and set up a good system, and he had to admit it worked well.
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in!” he called out.
An older man walked in, well dressed, with every hair in place.
“Welcome,” Chandler stuck out his hand, hiding the panic of blanking on the man’s name.
“Don Draper,” the man replied as he shook his hand, almost as if he were reading his mind.
“Chandler Bing.”
Chandler motioned to the chair across the desk, and the man sat down.
“Should I offer you a drink?” Chandler asked, not sure what to say.
“No thanks, I quit years ago.”
“Good,” Chandler laughed, “because I don’t have anything besides coffee in here.”
They sat silently for a moment.
“So,” Mr. Draper began, “any relation to Nora Tyler Bing?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, she’s my mother,” Chandler replied, trying his best to hide his usual embarrassment over this.
“Interesting woman,” Draper commented. “So, I understand she wants to update the ‘67 ad campaign?”
“Something like that,” Chandler nodded.
“To be honest, I’m not sure if that would work. Erotica had barely been legal in most places for even ten years back then. The campaign involved a lot of innuendo and jokes that don’t really translate to the present day, if you want my honest opinion. Things that are just passing jokes on prime time sitcoms were really pushing the envelope back then.”
“Right,” Chandler agreed. “I’ve seen the campaigns, and it really looks like middle school humor now, no offense, of course!”
“None taken. The world has moved on. That being said, what kind of tone does your mother want with this? Does she want the same reaction? Or does she want the aesthetic?”
“Really, I try not to discuss my mom’s work with her if I can help it,” Chandler admitted. “If it were up to me, I’d go for the ironic angle.”
“Irony? You know, I think we could work with that.”
“Great! Now for irony, I’m officially in charge of this project, and I’ve never read any of the books.”
“I’ve read a few,” Draper replied. “I always like to do my research.”