At Last, a Business Concept I Can Get Behind

So I'm in another of those infamous company meetings yesterday; this one a "brain storming" session to conjure some new marketing gimmicks out of dead air. The meeting took an interesting turn, for me at least, when a manager from our "supplier relations" group -- a gorgeous Spanish girl with a small waist, a big round ass and thick lips -- explained her strategy for getting more leads from our vendors.

"I'm just gonna keep stroking them for leads."

So she says this. And I blink. And I say no way did I just hear that.

But she goes on to say that she "isn't stroking them enough and has to start stroking them a bit more."

And I'm looking around for Ashton Kutcher to come bounding out of the closet. But it never happens. And I look around at the mostly female crowd in the room and they all just sort of keep scribbling in their notebooks, as if they never heard it.

So my question is: When did the concept of "stroking" hit the business vernacular? Also, why the fuck am I working for this company when it's clearly our vendors who are having all the fun?