Shabnam was keen to meet with Keith, her opposite number from the South region, when he took up post. However, she was very disappointed when she did get to meet with him. This was because he made some very transparent efforts to manipulate her into doing what he wanted (taking on some of his responsibilities, for example). It was quite clear that he was not interested in forming a positive and mutually beneficial working relationship; he simply wanted to pressurize Shabnam into taking more than her fair share of work. Shabnam decided she would now steer well clear of him and have as little to do with him as possible, thus leaving him without the benefit of her extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the area and the job. His crude attempt to manipulate her had cost him dear.