In the office there was a strange atmosphere - the past week at work

Monday

It was a busy morning. A surprising amount of new work seems to be coming in, considering we are supposed to be experiencing a downturn in the economy. All I seem to be doing is opening job bags.

Mid-morning I got a call from an offshoot branch of BQW telling me that the media campaign I had put together for them had been accepted. This is worth 250k in billings, 25k being pure profit (I had done all the buying myself). I made sure everyone in the office knew about this good news.

Most of the afternoon was taken up by a sales meeting. It really did seem a waste of time as nothing concrete came out of it. Afterwards Kate and I discussed the meeting and we were both perplexed at how gloomy Ian and Alan (two directors) were being, since we have loads of work on at good margins.

Tuesday

In the morning I was summoned to Rocket in Holland Park for another frantic briefing. They waste a lot of money by not planning their work and doing everything at the last minute (with rush charges). This small client probably represents twenty per cent of my work.

The new brochure for my Entertainments client has been printed and I looked at a few copies the printer had sent me. The covers of the brochure had been cracked in the folding stage and looked horrible. I rang the printer and said the job would have to be redone - he didn’t argue.

Joey (freelance graphic designer) turned up looking almost unrecognisable in a suit. He had been asked to appear in a photoshoot for one of our clients (virtually the whole office has appeared in this way at one time or another - Angela’s hands are very popular). Joey could only be photographed from the left as he had a black eye on his right side (yet another boxing injury - he hadn’t worn any headgear).

In the afternoon the heat became unbearable, with no hint of a breeze despite all the windows being open. Kate went off to see a potential new client at Ampthill in Bedfordshire. I mentioned Pilgrim’s Progress and the House Beautiful but she didn’t really know what I was talking about.

Wednesday

In the morning I took some visuals to Rocket. Joey had worked on them overnight and although it had been a rush job they looked excellent. Rocket thought otherwise however, and rejected them (even though they were absolutely on brief).

Ben (Ian’s son and a photographer in our photographic company) has stopped playing football with “the lads” in the little mews at the back. Probably he doesn’t want any contact with Pete (office junior) who is having an affair (or should I say relationship?) with Sarah our Receptionist, who was Ben’s partner. I went down to the photographic studio, which is on the ground floor, to give them some more work (Rocket stuff).

The photographic studio is a big square windowless room, the brick walls painted black. Half the space is taken up by an infinity curve. Ben was on his own. He looked very sad and vulnerable, even though he almost certainly better off without Sarah. In the background he was playing a Sophie Ellis Bexter CD. The song Love is here couldn’t have been more inappropriate.

In the afternoon a meeting with my Entertainments client in west London discussing their marketing strategy. They specially invited me to attend, and will pay for my time at my hourly rate. After the meeting I left work for the day (arranged with Sheila).

Thursday

Another emergency meeting at Rocket. Rosina (my contact there) was becoming distraught at all the changes her boss was making on the eve of their big conference. Leaving their air-conditioned offices, I was almost crushed by the heat of the day on Holland Park Road.

In the office there was a strange atmosphere. Angela (junior Account Exec and also Ian’s PA) was in an extremely sulky mood, sarcastic to everyone who spoke to her. The heat made it difficult to concentrate.

In the afternoon I went back to Rocket with some cartoon illustrations quickly drawn by Paul (graphic designer in our studio, and quite a good illustrator). The cartoons are to be incorporated into one of the conference presentations. I had to show Rosina how to work her scanner.

Friday

In the morning everyone on our floor was split into three groups and taken off into different meeting rooms with one of the directors (Ian, Alan and Sheila). I was in Ian’s group, along with Kate, Ben and Stuart. Ian told us that our division was splitting off from the PR agency upstairs and would become a separate company owned by Ian, Alan and Sheila. This had been the case a few years ago, so the agency was really going back to that structure. Pete, Sarah and Tony W were being made redundant, and had already been told this and had left the company. All the remaining staff would go through a TUPE process.

After the meeting Ian asked me to stay behind. He explained that there wouldn’t be room for me in the new agency, but that there was a vacancy upstairs I could take if I wanted it (Terry had already agreed this). As the alternative was redundancy I took the job upstairs.

Love is here by Sophie Ellis Bexter (I had never heard it before, but immediately I liked it):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=918JzL3GZLs&feature=related or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrFxsZZtMJE