In continuing with some of the silly things I’m exposed to, I realize that more than anything, I feel like a native who has switched from tribes and is still trying to adapt to some of the nuances of the new throng. Yes, yes I still have to deal with idiotic moments from Valhalla, but compared to anything I was exposed to in the five agencies I worked for, this is peanuts… seriously (or so it seems).
It took me a career shift to a large company to see how much concentrated idiocy can roam through a small to midsize agency; the thing is that since there are less people, you’re forced to deal with it point blank. I’ve been in my new job since November 17th, that’s four months thirteen days into this run, and yes I’ve found some things to not like, but my blood pressure is normal and I can laugh so many things off it’s scary to anyone who’s ever worked with me. I’ve been told I look like a different person and though the same foulmouthed Joker is still quite here, my anger has been assuaged to the point where I can tell when I’m mad at something worthwhile, and when I’m overreacting. Maybe it’s some new found sense of maturity though I doubt it.
True, I’m afraid that writing about this will pretty much guarantee a self imposed jinx, but if only for once, I want to write how satisfied I am. How appreciated I feel in my new job and how much of a difference that all makes in my demeanor. Yeah, I can still get cannon fodder to firmly establish dislike for incompetent people, I’m clear that won’t ever go away, but I’m content… and I don’t think I recall me ever saying I’ve ever been content with a job… any job for that matter. There have always been multiple problems and things to bicker on about. That’s just the way it is.
As for advertising, I never thought I could enjoy my freelances this much. Not having to deal with the constant nonsense of an AE with a delirious sense of grandeur, watching how most AE’s were getting paid twice what I was, sometimes justified, most times not so much to say the least. It’s great. It’s great not having to swallow down a fellow creative that considers that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, walking with more ego than T.O. and a Nascar racer combined, and bordering on referring to themselves in the third person. I obviously miss my crazy horde of fellow peers, that goes without saying. But instead of wanting to be where they are, I just wish them the same sense of satisfaction I currently possess.
Who knows? Maybe I downed a couple of gallons of the Korporate Kool Aid, but something tells me that I was just in noxious environments for so long, that something normal smells like a rose and that something that most people find intolerable is more than ok with me. There is no advertising zealot, there is no psycho supervisor, there is no spineless creative director, there’s only work, and tons of it and I’m very happy with that.
Does this mean I will die here and run out my professional career in this company? No. I just don’t think I could ever work in advertising again unless the money was ridiculously right, the conditions set and the notice served that I’m never, ever going to stand what I did for five years ever again. Until then, I’ll keep doing my freelances and looking at the bright side of advertising rather than sucking on the cancer ridden teat on its underbelly.
So here’s to the moment, may it last after pushing publish on this post.
Cheers
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