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Getaway

Okay, so that last post had a mild "Itna sannata kyun hai bhai?" feel, which I've been encouraged to eschew in favour of a totally believable, "C'mon Barbie, let's go party!" theme.

So I'll resume normal services and give some updates from the Gulag, also known in the local idiom as the place I work. The greenhorn putting in his papers was basically the signal for opening the doors to the Augean stables. Within a week, his senior on the account put in her papers citing a shattering of her confidence (her actual words). The girl hired to replace greenhorn number one experienced 2 days - Thursday & Friday, before failing to show up on the subsequent Monday, thereby giving the management a well-manicured middle finger.

Meanwhile, another client servicing cretin, who fancied perhaps that he'd signed up for a pleasure cruise, lasted exactly 1 day. I have a vague recollection of him pompously surveying the chaos engulfing this place on the day he joined and telling someone on the phone that there weren't even enough chairs for everyone (there are; just about) and sniffing fussily. The next thing we hear is that he'd allegedly suffered from hemolytic jaundice and had to be hospitalised; an affliction from which he made a Jesus-like recovery 2 days later, to rejoin his old workplace.

There's lots of hoopla on the creative side of the border too, what with 3 art directors quitting, 2 plotting their exits and numerous others gathering in corners to whisper stealthily. This is probably what the scene was like around the time old Julius was expressing his incredulity at the vigour and enthusiasm with which Brutus was letting him have it with a suitable pointy object. Which, if you think about it, could have been a pleasurable activity in those far-off Bacchanalian times. Sadly for Julius however... Anyway, you get the picture.

On top of all this, the clients are collectively behaving in the particularly delightful way that makes one hanker for the times when people could reach for their weapons and solve problems swiftly and definitely. It makes working here rather trying, particularly when people cheerfully remark "So advertising... must be wild and fun, right?" So, I wonder if it's like this in every ad firm, even as I begin to shimmy over to lurk in various corners, keeping my ear to the ground and formulating my plans for the future.       

Song for the moment: INXS - Listen like thieves          

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