Bad Trip

It’s rare for me to get frustrated. As a Piscean I’m quite easy-going. Like the waters I dwell in, a disturbance may create waves, but the ripples smoothen out and the waters turn calm again.

So when I made an uncharacteristic outburst yesterday in our conference room in front of everyone in our creative division, many were quite surprised. A colleague commented, “Wow, tao ka rin pala.”

I vented out my frustration towards my clients. For the longest time they treated the promo group as the ones who will “fix” or “cure” their products when they should be doing their jobs properly in the first place. If the product does not deliver, no amount of advertising and promotions will change that fact. The best way to kill a bad product is to advertise it well. Not only that. They rarely give us proper time to promote! They don’t see us as promo specialists; they see us as miracle workers. Well, I’m sorry but I’m no Joan of Arc. I refuse to be burned at the stake for their sins. They should get themselves another Messiah.

Two things keep me from impulsively jumping ship. First, the division I belong to is a great one. The people are fun to work with, and they’re a very energetic lot. Second, I’ve done this before when I was still in advertising. I got so fed up with work plus I was itching to do other things I wanted to do in my life (like theater and directing). So I spent close to a year and a half of not earning a single peso (okay, okay, so I got paid honoraria in some of the plays I did, but they were a pittance.) When my savings disappeared, I started borrowing from my sister. When it reached an embarrassing point, I swallowed my pride and went back to advertising. Surprisingly, I fell in love with the work all over again. Well, maybe that was my way of convincing me to stay in advertising. Or maybe I found a way to like my job. Either way involved a change in mindset.

Right now I’m still figuring out a way to settle things in my mind, find my equilibrium. To do that, I need time and space to clear my mind.

Bad trip, eh? Puwes, I think I’ll go on a road trip.