Maybe Environments Do Matter
I've been complaining a lot lately?particularly about how much unnecessary stress I receive at work. I've gone on and on like a broken record, nagged SL non-stop about the indecencies of the work culture in a publishing firm, and how the OT allowance that we require everytime we have to spend the weekend at the office isn't ever enough to cover the dissatisfaction that sprouts out of a severe case of overworking.
Until the past few days, that is.
I'm being shoved outside for almost a week to check some multimedia content. My co doesn't have the resources to produce multimedia material, and hence the arrangement with the multimedia developer. I like the work culture there, there's hardly any stress, the employees get to choose whether they want to be paid OT, or to convert that OT to pay, or to convert that OT to leave (where there are no urgent deadlines). The boss of the company's pretty cool too, she allows workers to go home early or come in late just as long as they finish their work, and there's really a 'creative' feel about the people there. They dress casually, jeans and cargoes, long-sleeved t-shirts (the air-conditioning's really cold) and they have a pantry the size of my boss's room.
Despite all these, during the entire time I was there, I've had a severe block. I've spent hours looking at solid materials, thinking of more creative ways to phrase rubrics and instructional guidelines, and that has come up to zilch. I log into minishorts.net to post my dailies, and the posting space is left blank for hours, until the end of the day when I finally resign and head back home.
One thing for sure, despite the severe stress and unfortunate deadlines and pressure I have to face at my co, it keeps my creative juices flowing. Quite oxymoronic, yah?
Or maybe I'm just plain weird.
July 26th, 2004 at 9:58 am
damn if you do, damn if you don’t…
July 26th, 2004 at 10:24 am
I go to work in shorts and t-shirts =)
listen to Mp3 all day and watch movie previews for lunch ….
Love the environment !!
July 26th, 2004 at 12:03 pm
Sista, I feel yo’ pain.
I work in the ad industry as a copywriter/acting creative director/acting traffic manager/acting IT purchasing officer/acting software troubleshooter (’acting’ herein refers to unpaid and uncredited) and, yes, even though I get to wear bermuda shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops to work, get to listen to MP3s all day (and burn it on my laptop), post on my blog and hang out at the coffeeshop beneath my agency at any time of the day for ‘creative recuperation purposes’… oh, allow me to add that I spend most of my workday ‘researching’ newspapers, magazines and websites… err, I’m not helping, am I?
As I was saying, my work environment still sucks. My boss is psycho (he physically threatened Badrulhisham Bidin, the dude from NST - good way of getting us all listed under ISA), the company’s going downhill (aforementioned boss took all the company profits from this year and instead of paying our suppliers decided to take a month-long trip to Euro-Disneyland), we have one PC with internet connection in the office (and most of my colleagues hog it to download porn, mp3s, make on-line bets or update their friendster accounts), the work atmosphere is downright hostile (the creative department work until 3 in the morning and have to report to work at 9 am sharp - the liquor store down the street practically delivers to our office). I’ve ranted about my work problems on my blog so I’m loath to reproduce it here.
As they say in the 12-step program I attend, ‘Act, don’t react’. I’m putting together my own agency in a couple of months. Proper planning will keep overheads low which is where all the funds leak to anyway. And what you heard about the ad industry is true, we operate on an 80% profit margin. That’s what most of the senior ad people do - they form their own biz. Cut out the middleman.
Hell, if Khairil Jamaluddin can do it…
July 26th, 2004 at 1:56 pm
Weird isn’t the word I would use, but it’ll suffice.
It’ll all work out in the end. But not necessarily for the better. But it will work out.
July 26th, 2004 at 7:58 pm
Jeans and backpack to office .. is the way to go!