Twenty Something Sense

Our second guest blog comes from an enthusiastic, well-educated and hard-working friend I met while in Bangalore, India. She currently works for McCann Erickson India in Bangalore and has found herself in some interesting client facing situations. Anyone with a client facing position will surely relate to these stories from the other side of the globe. Thanks Meeta!

Life on the moon, Client Meetings and Other Pointless Things…
by Meeta Bharvani

I work in advertising - a pure-bred service sector industry where the consumer is a moron, the Client is king and the boss is always right. You live in the office and your desk is your bedroom and the computer is your window. Your colleagues know you’ve been wearing the same underwear for the past one week that you have been chained to your desk, working on a pitch. Your boyfriend / girlfriend can’t remember the last time they saw you and your dog rather lick the pesky kid next door than even look in your direction.

Safe to conjecture that I hate many things about my job but one of the things that really gets my goat is Client meetings which are:

1. Pointless, we could have had a phone conversation that lasted all of 5 mins instead
2. Too far away, I once traveled 90 mins to meet with my Client for all of 10 mins
3. Boring…needs no explanation.
4. Convened because the Client can’t make a decision and he wants others to this thinking for him
5. Pointless, or did I mention that already?!
   

The worst is when the Client calls my boss to complain that I don’t meet him often enough. And my boss in turn, promises, on my behalf, that will make the pilgrimage a minimum of 3 times a week! What a colossal waste of precious man-hours!

Appalling?! Here’s something worse…once, I travelled 60 mins to my Clients office for a job status review meeting. For a change, I got there with 5 mins to spare. My Client kept me waiting 30 mins at his reception and then cancelled the meeting to do a ‘champagne lunch’ with his colleagues from overseas!! All this with a flick of the wrist and “Just take care of it, please!”

So how do I take care of it? Head to the spa, get a massage then treat myself to a tall hazelnut cappuccino (on Company account, but of course!). Traipse into my office in the evening, send my Client an email thanking him for his time and also attach a job status review sheet manipulating all the deadlines in my favor!

But it’s not as if this episode is just all fun and games, devoid of any learning. What I learnt is this - when life throws eggs on your face, u just catch ‘em and make yourself an omelet!

As for my Client, I could hazard a guess with respect to his learning; “Value people’s time! If u don’t, you’ll pay for it! Literally.” Or, “Beware of advertising folk. They bite. Hard!”