Workaholism

I recently started a new job. I'm enjoying the pace, the learning, the work...maybe a bit too much, so much so my supervisors are now taking to standing over me demanding that I go home.

Used to be, I would pontificate that workaholism is just a symptom that something is missing from life. I'm starting to re-evaluate my thesis.

I don't feel that anything is missing from my life. I love my life. I mean, c'mon, I have a healthy obsession with being on vacation, preferably somewhere with beautiful beaches to look at, healthy reefs to dive on, and good food.

But this Workaholic Quiz is forcing me to re-evaluate. No, I'm not a certified workaholic...not yet, but it sure seems like a slippery slope I need to avoid like the plague.

How thin is the line between a healthy passion for work that fulfills and an unhealthy fixation?

Through the Looking Glass

What's it really like to work at an ad agency?

A brave soul by the name of Kirsten Chase wrote a tell-all piece (from her personal perspective) called Bullies and Brats published in the Sept 25, 2006 issue of Marketing Magazine. Suffice it to say, Ms Chase was less-than-impressed.

The responses were equally entertaining. Suffice it to say: They were less-than-impressed.

Along the same lines, one of my favourite bloggers posted a similar, albeit more artful piece here.

As for me, I'm going to pretend for now that I'm American and have 5th amendment rights against incriminating myself. :)

PS Ouch...the slamming just doesn't end.

Pole Dancing

Yesterday, I had a very enjoyable meeting with a headhunter, whom I shall not name in order to protect his identity!

We were discussing my interest in a real estate career, at which point he made a face, and instead of "Bah, humbug!", said, "Pole dancing!"

He's certainly not far off the mark: I've been researching this field for the past 3 months, and there are certainly quite a few revoltingly greasy specimens out there. (Surely you don't need me to provide examples.) Then again, there are some others I've met who come across as highly professional.

After I left his office, the headhunter's, that is, I thought a bit more about his pole dancing analogy and couldn't help but come to the realization that in many ways, the marketing agency business is not immune to that sub-species of slathering sycophant. You know what I'm talking about: we've all seen it and likely been sickened by it. And if you protest the analogy, maybe it's the sting of truth hitting home? Fiction, in film and in print, have dramatized this particular creature.

After all, us marketing agency account types are nothing more than sales people. Those who are not in the business or who aren't very successful in it, don't know this, of course. But the truth is, we're not too many f-bombs from Ricky Roma and the gang at Rio Rancho Realty. You're selling ideas, and once those are bought, you're selling the products engendered by those ideas. Sometimes, it feels as if you're selling your soul, or at least your dignity.

I'm not saying that you have to be Ricky Roma to be a successful marketing agency account guy (I'm using "guy" as a synonym for "man" here). I'm just saying it's a sales job; and like any sales job, you can bring a high level of discipline and professionalism to it. Or not.

As for me, the natural born geek, it's simply easier for me to be disciplined and professional. I will never be the proverbial Cool Account Guy who charms her way through the day. That's a persona I have to work hard at; and I do work at it because I think it's important to be charming, at least a little. It's a bummer as it is that we have to work; why shouldn't I do my part to make life a more pleasant journey to be on? However, at the end of the day, behind my mask, I'm still the geek who wants to make sure the i's are dotted, the t's are crossed, and the lights are switched off as I leave the office for the day.