Name Game

My name is spelled very differently from how I like it pronounced. So, since a young age, I have been subjected to a whole bunch of annoying variations, and sometimes nicknames by people who find it a tad long (which I vehemently contest). Of course, the magic works with varying patterns in the oral to written format as well. Again, equally annoying.

Now imagine your name being tampered to the extent where your entire personality is mislaid. In my recent project, I collared not one, not two, but three such foul-ups, all of them in globally-recognized news groovers.

1. The last-name of the publicist who designed the event was changed. She has a somewhat common first-name. So maybe the journo thought it was her chance to earn favor with a ‘friend’ who shared her first-name with the publicist, and earn some brownie points by randomly contributing credity to the ‘friend’.
2. The fashion-brand evolved into a persona. I somewhat sympathise, since the person’s name has slight resemblance with the brand name (both start with the letter ‘S’), but c’mmon! The brainchild deserves some credit. Don’t make the fashion-brand bigger than the person who created it.
3. Nothing prepared me for this one. An actor walks the red carpet at the world-premiere of his film, and…they get his name WRONG! Completely! Not a spell-o, surname, or anything trivial. The WHOLE name WRONG! He is standing with his co-star & director, and a completely random actor, who looks nothing like him, has been tagged to his face. Imagine! I pointed this out to his publicist, but that newsperson has sure screwed up his/her reputation.

Shakespeare, I never did like your melodramatic plays. So I am pleased to let you know that your adage:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

does not stand true in trials of modern time.

Its all in the name.

Let Go

Just a while back I finished compiling a lengthy email to my client. The contents of the mail was a string of emails we had exchanged with the designer hired on contract for the client’s website revamp. What had been quoted as being a two- week job, has now extended to over two-and-half-months. So client and I jointly decided to pull the plug.

With advance payments already handed out, we had been patiently waiting for the designer to pull up his socks after the constant reminders to deliver at the ever-extending project deadlines. I finally snapped today as I realised that the client has a major conference coming up for which my marketing activities need to be rolled out, which in turn requires the website to be up and running.

With still no sight of the designer providing a closure on the project, we have gotten to point of desperation. So I volunteered to provide the client a comprehensive email with coversation records to prove how this project had turned into a mammoth in its gait, and needed this designers assistance no more. We also plan to not pay him the balance 2/3 as a fine for loss of business due to unnecessary delay. This of course is backed up by the relevant emails exchanged stating unhappiness on the constant delay and non-communico about every week.

Just after, I came across This is your Lifelog, a decade-long experiment which continues to record all the events in the scientist’s life through visual and audio recordings. These have helped him trace patterns and rectify them upon finding the flaws. This collosal volume of information makes it impossible to every forget, or not have a reference point from the past.

All this effort is to build an electronic memory, a digital adjunct to the faulty and often delusional one between our ears.

If it hadn’t been for unlimited mailbox size, I would have found it most difficult to rely on my cerebrum to recollect the exact dates and points for justification in the designer’s committment flaws.

Blogs and diaries are chiefly our point-of-view, after-thoughts. Twitter, Posterous, and other  facimilies may soon be produced as even part of evidence, since they don’t allow you to go back and change published information of the past.

Interesting times lie ahead.

Got Gelt

While only a week ago I was worried about how I would levy self-discipline to work from home, the past week has been anything but relaxing. The client I re-kindled contact with has flooded me with work, day upon day as the virtual assistant for all the upcoming assignments, atleast for the next one month.

Parallely, I am working with my brother, who has recently launched his independent business, to develop his website, devise and implement his online marketing strategy.

With these assignments, I keep most of my wake-hours occupied, whilst having the privilege to watch hear television, chatter with my mother and help dad with chores around the house.

I barely miss the routine of waking up and going to work, since I am honestly doing much more work now that I am at home than I was ever doing while going to office.

In retrospect, I spent 3 hours travelling to enter a slick glass and steel facade, chatter for atleast 2-3 hours on phone or in the pantry over coffee, spend close to an hour in the lunch room, call for committee meetings for filling boring afternoons, and then begin process of wrapping up things, making to-do lists and other humble tasks. Working with such a large organization surely gives the scale and understanding of complex work processes, but it also means that you are a really small insignificant cog-wheel, whether you spin or not, the machinery notices your role infrequently, although the adjoining cog-wheels do holler about it.

During my exit-interview with manager, who also happens to be parting ways with the organization, I realised that I am among the privileged lot who has the choice of breaking free on my own. Being part of the Oil & Gas industry, as engineers, he and his counterparts have little choice but to continue working under the dominion of the top brass. In fact, he was surprised to learn that I already had work lined up, and waiting during the period I served notice.

Again, I am glad I have this option; the cream on the deal of course is I get paid decent much more than I expected to do this work of choice.

Out of the Rat Race

As the day draws to a close, the thought slowly seeps into my mind – what will life be without work?

I know sitting at home doesn’t mean I will merely be twiddling my fingers. But over the past couple of weeks, all the articles I read, self-tests I’ve conducted reveal that I am someone who lacks the discipline and drive to sustain career as a freelancer.

This of course is a quandary from the feedback I have constantly received from my seniors as well as peers who accloaded my expediting and time-bound work completion.

At present, I have re-kindled contact with an old client who has promised to supply me with a constant flow of work. This has already put me in the comfort zone, as I am planning to fill the void of joblessness with social activities like meeting friends, running errands and reading blogs – all of which are complete time-suckers.

Solution to Unhappy Employees

as appropriate as it can get

The gloom which is spread over office since yesterday afternoon is palpable with this cynical image I was sent by a senior at office a few days ago.

The mood is as damp as the weather since the long-awaited Performance Based variable income from the last Financial Year was finally credited, after being hacked down 50%.

Mind you, this said amount in 100% was part of the basic salary package which is doled out at the end of Financial Year after the appraisals are complete. That of course took 5 months for them to complete (Feb to June); so although my offer letter said I was to be earning a fat sum of money, what I get in net is just above 50%. And the waiting has disappointingly far from worth the sweat.

While I’d be a tad happier if I had atleast got 75% of the amount (since I had planned a vacation basis this), I pity the other misfortunates.

Close at hand is the boss I despise. He had joined the company in late 2007, and policy says that Performance Based variable for all joining after Oct, will get it in the next cycle of complete Financial Year. So, ended up that even his 2007 amount was halved!

Another guy, who has put in his papers (is serving notice) has been denied his Performance Based variable altogether. On demanding an explanation, the HR said, “We need to squeeze somewhere.” Totally appauling, considering the guy slogged himself out all of last year.

The least of whom I feel any sympathy is this annoying senior (not in my direct line of work) who was once caught napping in his chair by the company head. Of course, the HR was pulled up for these antics, and the guy rightfully got a below-average rating. Only lamentable part being that he got 6 eggs = Rs. 000,000; meaning nothing at all.

Jinxed

While the day was fabulous, and I managed to pack in a lot of fun, what with a shopping spree followed by a moving film and some Falafel magic, I completely screwed up at my work front in the evening.
I have been soundlessly creating some content to advertise my freelance writing work, and using a free web service to get a feel of the process. While trying to add some gadgets to make the blog on it more user-friendly, I lost my earlier posts! And imbecile that I am, I have been directly typing everything straight onto the website (something which I strongly monish my clients from doing). With the limited functionality of this free service, I cannot even retrieve the posts, nor retype them to get them to have the same dates, let alone the content!
Tumbling further over my folly, I was listing down some ideas for a client of which would be commissioned for detail. I began composing the email, and had nearly 10-12 points on the list but the email page showed an error. So I right-clicked and saved the text, and Refreshed the page so I could put the text in again.
Goldfish memory I have. So just then I got distracted by another page with its shiny HTML code which I promptly copied. And voila! 3 hours of research work gone down the drain. And all of this drama just happens to be unfolding at 2:30 am, when I cannot even call and vent my anger.

Frustration

The fact that no one understands what I am doing in this organization was frustating enough for the first 2 months of my stint here. Now I am beginning to realise that the people who hired me are also have no clue what work they can take from me.
During the recent appraisal with my ‘now’ reporting boss (yes, he is the third I’ve had in the 8 months here) I enlisted my role in marketing and communication. Also told him that I’m not a sales person, and making calls and contacts is something I haven’t done, nor keen on doing. His reponse was startling; “I’m equally clueless as I haven’t done marketing and sales either. So let it be a learning experience for us.”
A long silence followed from my side as I silently cursed my luck for falling into the trap of taking up this ‘marketing’ responsibility with elated enthusiasm 4 months ago.
When asked for feedback, I honestly told him that he had little idea about media and the mechanics of its operation. Case in point, I was preparing a press release on implementation of a new system practise. He said I should send it to some of the pink papers, since they are always hungry for stories.
Uh-huh! A piddle company sneezes, and the honchos roll out the drums touting about it. Dream on! What foresaken neverland does he reside in?
Plainly, when I voiced my growth plans in the company to involve online media and public relations, his eyes glazed over.
Am counting the days when I will be out of here; 159 to go…