Having said that, I also must listen to the war drums beating in the distance if you'll pardon the metaphor.

It totally sucks that you had to be the tractor to come and uproot her (ok, now I'm torturing the metaphor).  

But "snaking her pipes" and "use leverage" are some of the funniest metaphors I've read in a long, long time.  

To continue the metaphor, a train wreck, of course, stops everything and there's lots of cleanup before you can start over.Dunno if that helps.

I've bought property nationwide, made my bosses and partners a LOT of money, but it was a long hard road to get there, and sure, I can freely admit that when some window-licking muppet gets in the pool (we're back to the metaphor part now, just FYI) and overbids on some god-awful deal based on his "Zestimate" and then tries to re-sell it to our office, it costs everyone time, money and hair off the back of my head. 

:) I've heard similar things (though, not with such great metaphors) about Pittsburgh, which is why I'm looking into the area.

Show that you understand the consequences, and steps to ensure it won't happen again.If you need to present on stage with Charisma: Each point should open with stories, metaphors, analogies, numbers, and statistics that your audience can relate to.

I read one of Warren Buffets biographies,and the central metaphorical theme was that of a snowball rolling down hill.

@James Wise and @Paul Weller - One way that I think the metaphor crosses over is in the space of banning vs. taxing.When marijuana was banned, a broad and uncontrollable underground operation emerged to skirt around the laws. 

(Yes, I love metaphors.)