“I’ve had enough of your stupid behaviour…” - the past week at work

Above: I had InDesign loaded onto my PC.

Monday

Commuting is becoming increasingly tiring. I drive twenty-five minutes to the station, then catch a train to London that takes an hour and twenty minutes (gives me lots of reading time - I can get through a book a week!). People are always astonished when they find out how far I live from London, but I have colleagues who live within the M25 and yet still take nearly two hours to get to work.

And it is worth the effort to work in a great city and live in the deepest countryside.

Monday morning I went with Alan (one of the directors on our floor) to a client meeting at BQW. This was, to me, a new division of BQW, so Alan was there to introduce me to everyone. We talked about their requirements for an exhibition. Traditionally BQW have the biggest pavilion, which is worth a lot of money to the agency (everything is built from scratch, lots of graphic panels, special bespoke sales literature - we even get to hire the “dancing girls” which are teams of young women from a model agency who go around the aisles giving out leaflets).

More BQW work in the afternoon. The company’s Special Projects Division has won a national award, and we have been given the job of publicising this. I wrote the press release last week, and this afternoon Beryl (who I had lunch with last week) came into the agency personally to discuss follow-up activity. This was the first time she had visited the agency’s new offices and it initiated a flurry of interest from the directors. Terry (our MD) came downstairs to meet her (I had no idea she was so important). Before going into the Conference Room she was taken on a brief tour.

While on our floor she asked when the press release had gone out. Ian told her it had gone out Thursday. Angela (his PA) interrupted him and said it hadn’t yet gone, and when Ian tried to extricate himself, insisted that it definitely hadn’t gone and was still on her desk waiting amendments.

When everyone had moved into the Conference Room I said to Angela “You shouldn’t argue in front of a client” - which was a mild rebuke considering how stupid she had made us look (I am, of course, building a case for my defence in view of Angela’s explosion later in the week).

Tuesday

Problems in the Studio. I wanted a simple questionnaire designed (A3 folded to A4, one-colour, no pics). Because of the volume of work going through I was told it couldn’t be done this week. It didn’t seem worth briefing a freelance, so I had InDesign loaded onto my PC and designed it myself (one of my many skills is a rudimentary knowledge of how to use InDesign). Paul and Tony from the Studio came to watch, as if doubting whether I could actually do it - as if seeing an Account Executive design literature was like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs (to paraphrase Dr Johnson). They initiated a discussion on how Quark was superior to InDesign. The time they wasted over this suggested that they weren’t really all that busy.

In the afternoon freelance designer Joey came in to be briefed on a more complex design (a catalogue). He wasn’t wearing a coat, and just had on a T-shirt and jeans despite the cold weather. As usual he talked non-stop about himself in his south London “geezer” style (“I have to do lots of sports otherwise I’d be a little fat blob… I play football three times a week plus two lots of training… I’ve got a fiery temper so I keep getting sent off…”).

Wednesday

I went to see a new client with some campaign visuals. I was there an excessive amount of time - the MD kept bringing people into the meeting until he found someone who agreed with him. When I came out of the meeting I was looking around the crowded car park (this was a big company, outside London) trying to find my car until I realised that I had borrowed Kate’s (I never bring my car into work if I can help it).

I got back to the agency about 5pm. When I got in, I asked Angela to send some things off by courier. It was a late request, but not impossibly late (she doesn’t finish until 5.30).

Her reaction was to shout and throw a tantrum (“You’re always doing this… why can’t you be more organised… I’ve had enough of your stupid behaviour…” etc etc). It was so loud and outrageous that even Ian (yes, even weak vacillating Ian) intervened and told her to be quiet. She still didn’t stop so he took her into the Conference Room and left her there to recover.

Everyone else was sympathetic to me - as if I had joined some kind of club (the People Who Have Upset Angela Club).

Thursday

Going out to my car at 7am I met the farmer (I park my car in one of the farmyard sheds). It was a bitterly cold and windy day. “Winter is an old friend of mine” the farmer said to me.

I sent the wrong quote to a client. Not a huge amount of difference. Do I re-quote or cover it up in some way (I can probably add “extras” to the final invoice)?

In the afternoon I did some European media research, which was quite interesting (German magazines never negotiate on media space - you always pay the ratecard price).

Friday

We have a half-hearted sort of Dress Down Friday at the office so Pete, my assistant, wasn’t wearing a tie. He had a very prominent love-bite on his neck (previously he had bemoaned his luck with girls). It is impossible to make a joke with him as he treats everything I say very seriously.