48C Days

It’s bean freaking hot the last few days. Even my air con doesn’t feel like it’s working. In the basement of the BSC was the hottest ever. According to Paul’s truck, Tookie, it was 48C! That’s even hotter than it was when I was in the dessert in the Middle East!

Saatchi Is Killing My Soul

It’s really hard to do work when the brief changes every 10 minutes.

We’re given TV scripts to translate to Chinese and Korean. We proceed to do so when the bosses change the English scripts. Translations start all over again. We then proceed to recording (and it’s really hard to find male Korean V/O talents in KL!) and they change the script again! The revised scripts will not be ready till midnight and it’s being done in Singapore. And we’re expected to do the translation, re-record, strip in into animatics and courier the materials off to Korea by 4pm tomorrow. Freaking insane.

Worst thing is that they only create the problems but they won’t lift a finger to help when it’s really their ass on the line.

Yes it’s all those white men again. Only now, it’s 6 white men instead of one.

One even asked me if he’s torturing me. I told him yes and that he should stay away from KL in the future cos he’s making my life hell.

Sometimes I wonder why I’m so responsible and passionate about work. I almost kill myself getting a job done at times.

But without passion, a job is just a job. And to me, a job should be more than that. I’m losing my passion. Saatchi is killing my soul. It’s time to go.

Tagged

We’re officially tagged like dogs. We used to come and go to & fro the office as we like but I guess we’ve got to be more careful now.

It all started with a few thefts in the office. A pen or a stapler would go missing. Then it was perfume bottles and ipod adaptors. The management then thought the best way was to monitor all our comings and going and they changed the pin code door system to a tag / swap card / swipe card / access. I don’t know what it’s called but we all hate it. We now have the hang the damn thing around our necks ‘cos we do move from one office to another quite a bit within one day and have to beep in and out all the time. Leaving it on our desks means we’ll walk to the door only to find we can’t exit, walk back to our desk to retrieve the card and back to the door. Sometimes we’re carrying files and other items so it’s really bothersome.

And it’s really ugly too! We weren’t given a nice sleek black lanyard which has the stylish Saatchi logo on it. Management says they are cutting costs. Instead it was just a hard piece of generic dark blue lanyard. So most of us went out and got some fun, funky and fresh lanyards. And even some cutesy item, added on to make the tag look less like a dog tag. It’s nice to look down and see something cute looking back at you rather than an ugly flat white card on ugly dark blue lanyard.

We occupy one floor but there are 2 offices separated by a lift lobby. One is where the Creative and IT sits. And the other is for Account Management and Finance. So when you come out of the lift, you can choose to either turn left or right (depending on which lift u come out at) into the Creative or Account Management office. But if u are going from one office to another, you have to beep out of Account Management, close the door behind you, walk across the lift lobby then beep into the Creative office.

I once did that as I needed to send some job requisitions over to Traffic in the Creative but when I was beeping into the system at the Creative office door, the damn card won’t work! I ran back to the Account Management door and beeped in there but rather than the high pitched ‘Biiiiiiiiiiip’, I just got a low sounding ‘pooooooth’. I then ran back to Creative and I got another ‘pooooooth’. Then back to Account Management again. Yet another ‘pooooooth’. I didn’t have my mobile with me ‘cos I was carrying the damn job requisitions. I didn’t even have cigarettes with me or I could have smoked and waited for someone to either come in or out so that I could get in to Creative.

Finally someone came out and I ran in.

It’s a disaster waiting to happen. Just imagine being locked out of both offices when you’re the only one left in the entire floor. No mobile, no car keys. I just hope that that’s not going to be me.

Reasons To Leave A High Flying Job In Saatchi To Be A Barista At Starbucks

- I'll be working part time so I'll have a lot more flexibility

- I can not show up for work if I want to as long as I give them 4 hours notice

- I'll learn a new skill, making coffee professionally

- I've always liked Starbucks as a company

- I get to learn more about the company and the brand first hand

- I can have all the coffee I want to drink for free

- I get 30% off the merchandises

- I really want the apron

- Stress is minimal

- If there is stress, I can leave it behind as soon as I finish work

- I can walk to work and save on parking and petrol!

- The people there are really nice .... I've gone to talk to them about the job several times since I hang out there for coffee a lot

- I'll have time to rest up and relaxed and put back what Saatchi has taken out of me

- I'll have time to go to the spas, something I've not done in ages because I don't have time

- I"ll have time to go for facials so that I'll look nice and radiant for the wedding

- I'll have time to plan the wedding

- I'll have enough sleep

- I won't have pimples on my face

- I'll stop crying in the office due to anger and frustration.

Sounds good to me!

Saatchi Is Making Me Ill

Saatchi is making me ill. Literally. There’s been a lot of work since work on the pitch started. And a lot of Xploring (a proprietary Saatchi research tool) are ongoing for various jobs. The latest one involved going from one coffee shop to another looking for random 35 – 45 year old Chinese men who drink Guinness and showing them some creative work to get their feedback.

The last time I did that, I finished work at 12.30am after roaming the streets for 5 hours. We didn’t have time to eat and we had to endure men who were drunk, sarcastic and / or stupid.

And I end up with a massive headache and cold sweat the next day. Paul’s mum was so sweet to make me pork and dried scallop porridge which Paul delivered to my place last night. I went to bed at 9pm and after 12 hours of sleep, I feel much better today.

Sometimes I feel so stressed in my job that I just wanna say ‘fuck it’ and throw my letter in. Maybe I’ll just quit and go work in Starbucks. I spend a lot of my time there anyway and I’ve always wanted to be a barista. That’s also the only way I can get the Starbucks apron ‘cos you can’t buy it with money. Plus, I’ll get 30% off the products.

Sure it’s not a lot of money. Full time staff get RM1,100. And part time staff get about RM800+. That’s before tax & EPF deduction. But I get those perks as mentioned above and if I work part time, I’ll have more flexible hours. The small money I earn plus my savings will just tie me over if I wanna quick Saatchi and work in Starbucks for a few months. Maybe I should do it just before the wedding so that I won’t be so stressed out and I’ll have time to go for many spa sessions too.

Hmmmm …. I was about to post this when my boss came up to me and gave me a long hug. I asked him if he was drunk (we just had a Creative Review which involves 30 mins of looking at the latest ads followed by 3 hours of drinking). To which he replied “No-No. You’re on FIRE!”

Okay. Either he really was drunk or he knows how much stress I’m in over the past few weeks.

Anyway, there’s more Xploring tonight (different from the one we did at the coffee shops) and it takes place at Somo. It’s about men and masculinity. I’ve got my strategic planners from Singapore, some bosses, colleagues and friends attending. There will be a few questions asked and dozens and dozens of Guinness pints downed.

I hope I survive the night tonight.

The only consolation is that tomorrow’s Xploring involves Ashley going for a Brazilian wax due to a bet he lost to Paul. I thought that it would be an interesting idea to get my strategic planners to meet with Ashley and talk to him about his experience. Ashley is still trying to wrangle his way out of it.

Will definitely blog about it! Read more here. Till then, have a great weekend everyone!

Saatchi & Saatchi is Agency of the Year!

Saatchi & Saatchi wins Agency of the Year at the Kancil Awards! By then, we were onto our 20th bottle of Moet and trying not to fall off stage though I heard that 2 people actually did that. Yes you do know who you are. I just can't find anyone who took a pic of it. I'll check the Adoi website since the photographers were lined up facing the stage.

And these are some of the pics from before the walk up onto stage and before the alcohol madness.


Cyn was bored in the car. We were stuck in a jam on the way to the Kancils which were held in Sunway Resort Hotel this year. No one likes this venue for the Kancils but i suspect that Shangri-La has banned us after the amount of damage done to cutlery, crockery, furniture, furnishings and people in the past few years.
We finally arrived! Cyn, Shell and I decided to take a shot before we got smashed. This is in the car park lobby.
The pre-party at Cafe Flam with Cindy & Adrian.
Cyn & I with the planners - Salt Boy who's left Saatchi (do u regret it now??!) and May Leen who's leaving soon.
The alcohol has begun to flow. Darren, Bubs, Kenny, Boobster & Dawn. Saatchi had 7 tables and each one had a few bottles of Moet. No wonder those from other agencies were hanging out with us!
Marsupial, Shell & I. Marsupial is bored. Your first Kancil is boring cos you don't know many people especially if you're in a smaller agency or one which isn't picking up a lot of metal. By the time u hit your 5th Kancil, you're jaded and bored. That's why the alcohol must flow! Then everything becomes fun again and everyone is your friend.
Cheryl the Smallie likes girls when under the influence. I'm not posting pics of her doing other stuff to girls cos I'm nice. Hehe!
Pic with Tina, my ex AD. Do u see Smallie the monster behind?
Sin Cyn & I with the bosses. They are not only important cos they are our bosses but cos they pay for the very many bottles of Moet, vodka & wine.
Darren the intern is the first casualty. Totally passed out.
Aaron is doing something strange to Passed Out Darren while Sin Cyn and Sin How eggs him on.
If only Passed Out Darren wasn't passed out. He'd have enjoy that. Okay maybe not the cheek pinching but the lap dance...?
Apparently Boobster and I always take a shot like this every Kancils.
Wow .... i look sober and this was at the after-party in Wabisabi.
This is a drunk Andrea. When we have pics like this, it always means we had a great night.


This is the first time I'm in an agency which won Agency of the Year. I'm so proud of Saatchi & the Guinness team! Go Saatchi!