Editor's note:  This is part one of a serios about customer-centric quality management systems.  Read part two here.

That’s probably a silly question, but I don’t feel silly reminding anyone of the answer.

It was just an email invitation to a public relations event in the Mission District of San Francisco, but it started a long string of adjectives like: brief, cryptic, amusing, exciting, breathtaking, scary, and… well, stinky.