Four o’clock arrived, and Adrian still hadn’t come back - the past week at work

Monday

Almost as soon as I got in the office this morning I was called into a Production Meeting. To say this was sprung on me is an understatement - I had no pre-notification that a meeting was being held. The request for my presence also puzzled me since I have never been involved in production meetings before.

Instead of holding the meeting in the conference room on our floor we went upstairs to the main agency boardroom. I was the last to arrive, thinking it would just be a small huddle of people (Alan, TonyW and one of two others). So I was surprised to see Ian (our boss) in the chair, with Alan (director), Tony W (production “manager”), Tony B and Paul from the Studio, plus representatives from the main suppliers we use, including Jason from Camel Print.

It soon became clear why the meeting was being held. Kate and myself had been by-passing Tony W and placing work directly with suppliers. The suppliers were now being told, officially, that all work had to be routed through Tony W and they must not accept orders from anyone else in the agency. It is possibly a mark of Ian’s weakness that he had to assemble this big meeting to say, obliquely, what he could have told us directly himself. And he had chosen a day when Kate was still on holiday (since she is quite capable of turning an argument round and getting what she wants). So Tony W has got what he wanted - complete control of production.

After the meeting I went to BQW, my main client, arriving a little late since the meeting had pushed my schedule back. I had some proofs with me. Mike M (in charge of the BQW move) began changing things on the proofs, then changing them back again, then scrubbing out what he had first written so that the proofs became a mess and I had an almost impossible job later working out what he really meant.

In the afternoon Kate came back from holiday. She was only dropping in to collect her car, but her car wasn’t available (Angela had given the keys to Adrian who works in our tiny TV department - possibly Angela had done this deliberately since she doesn’t get on with Kate). While we waited for Adrian to come back Kate and I went into the conference room to talk (not about anything special, we just talked generally).

Four o’clock arrived, and Adrian still hadn’t come back, and wasn’t answering his mobile. Kate went over to Angela and demanded to know where her car was. Obviously Angela couldn’t tell her, so Kate insisted that a car was hired for her to get home - and Angela meekly hired one.

Tuesday

Some anxiety about a company magazine that I am producing for one of my clients - it is behind schedule and held up in production. I went to remonstrate with Tony W and found him excessively solicitous and helpful (trying to be magnanimous in victory?). He even suggested placing the job with Camel Print and later called in Jason to brief him on the job, making him a coffee and asking how he was (Jason was so unused to this friendly version of Tony W that he went red).

In the afternoon freelance Joey came in to be briefed on a job (he is not a supplier covered by Tony W). All the time we were in the meeting he talked, his leg over the arm of his chair, his left hand emphasising points. He described how his car had broken down in the middle of nowhere, and his mobile had been flat, so he had to seek help from a pig farm. He also talked about how he had first got into design (“I was always drawing things as a kid, especially Star Wars”). He asked about designer Paul and PR Executive Rachel, a coupling I had not previously been aware of (“I see them around at various nightspots”). His mother rang him on his mobile while we were in the meeting and I could hear her talking to him as if he were still a child.

Wednesday

A meeting with STP, my most difficult client. They are incredibly unpleasant and sarcastic (“Yes, I remember you got that wrong before…”). Relations with them are not helped by the fact that everything the agency does for them goes wrong (not my fault, but being the Account Executive I am the one they blame).

Later I had a meeting with Paul (graphics designer in our studio) but he wasn’t really motivated to do any work. I was tempted to ask him about Rachel (works in the PR section upstairs) but thought better of it. He asked me what I thought everyone in the agency earns (money and its lack is one of Paul’s recurring themes).

Thursday

A really tiring day, almost completely spent in Watford on preparations for the BQW move. A presentation was held at a hotel for about thirty senior managers on how the move is going to happen (there have been loads of these meetings - they just say the same thing all the time). I was there to support Mike M when he explained how the move will be publicised (it will need three separate campaigns - to customers, to staff and to shareholders).

As well as Mike M, Terry T, and Beryl, the publicity team included an American from the BQW office in Trenton. The only contribution the American made was to suggest that an aerial photograph was taken of the new site (a task delegated to me to sort out). The presentation went on for hours, and afterwards there was a tour of the new site (I took the American in Kate’s car, which I had borrowed for the day - I took a wrong turning and got lost on the way there and began to panic inwardly until I came out on a road I recognised).

Friday

I have been trying to reserve Fridays for working on PR assignments for the upstairs department. This is not very popular with Ian, but so far he hasn’t stopped me. Eventually I want to move upstairs completely, as I think there will be more opportunities up there.

So most of today I spent upstairs writing press releases. These are not particularly demanding, as the agency doesn’t really rely on press releases to get publicity - the Account Executives usually liase directly with an editor, offering them exclusives. The press releases are mainly written for the client to see something is happening (they expect a press release as part of the process).

While I was upstairs Terry (the agency’s MD) was talking about Ed Balls, describing him as “One of the hard-faced men who have done well out of the war. The Iraq war that is. Along with James Purnell and the Milibands”.