remembering my beef with account management
I left Harrison Communications almost 2 and a half years ago not because I wasn't happy with the Agency. I left because I was no longer happy being in Account Management. And so I left Harrison, for supposedly greener pastures, and supposedly a job description that gave me less stress, less heartache, less pain.
I did find it... For a while. But as fate would have it, my joy at my newfound job description was short-lived.
I think God was telling me then that Account Management is my calling... so I ended up back in the job description I ran away from.
And then I learned to start embracing it, accepting it. I grew up. Stopped complaining all the time. Quit thinking I was the most unfortunate person in the universe. Learned to become more empathetic. Learned to look at the people I work with as human beings with genuine feelings, genuine problems, genuine lives, genuine pressures. I stopped boxing in clients as "clients". I started understanding that sometimes people are the way they are because of their own pressures, stresses and problems. I tempered my fears and anxieties of sabits as being the end of the world.
Then I found that slowly I was starting to love what I was doing all over again.
Even on really bad days, I'd rediscovered the thrill of every ad that comes out that I was a part of. I go home fulfilled, most days. Tired, but feeling that I had a full, productive day.
Best of all, it paid me a salary every month.
--
But days like today remind me so tangibly of why I turned my back on Account Management 3 years ago.
I know Creatives' jobs are very very hard. And I would NEVER trade places with a Creative. I should know how hard it is -- I live with a Creative.
But the one thing that an Accounts person goes through almost on a regular, everyday basis that a Creative doesn't --- is become the sponge of everything and everyone. The sounding board. The face to blame. The ear to shout at. The name to discredit.
Days like today remind me of how futile angry retorts and uncontrolled tears of utter frustration are when the world just feels like exploding on someone. Somehow it seems that the most convenient person in the whole advertising circle and cycle to blame for ANYTHING -- is the Accounts person.
Don't even get me to start enumerating how many times we take the fall for things that aren't even remotely close to being our fault.
One day, I bet you -- even weather disturbances will become the fault of the AE.
--
Thing is, I'm kinda used to being the sponge. It's the nature of the job.
The "sponge" part though that unnerves me and hurts me the most is one that comes from inside your own circle, your own team. The people whom you would trust would stand by you no matter what, because you stand by them too. To the end.
After enduring two straight weeks of taking angry phone calls, receiving angry texts late at night, reprimands in person, reprimands over the phone, temper tantrums, and whatever other list of complaints that the world just never ever runs out of on a daily, hourly basis -- the last straw is getting battered and bruised inside your own camp.
It hurts. And today, I just wanted to turn my back on all of it, and all of them, and see how they will cope and manage without me, without us.
---
I remember my boss and mentor from Harrison before making a joke one night when we were on our way back from a Client meeting. He says "Gen, don't worry. I truly believe all Accounts people are guaranteed a place in heaven."
And I just laughed out loud (with matching snorts).
I did find it... For a while. But as fate would have it, my joy at my newfound job description was short-lived.
I think God was telling me then that Account Management is my calling... so I ended up back in the job description I ran away from.
And then I learned to start embracing it, accepting it. I grew up. Stopped complaining all the time. Quit thinking I was the most unfortunate person in the universe. Learned to become more empathetic. Learned to look at the people I work with as human beings with genuine feelings, genuine problems, genuine lives, genuine pressures. I stopped boxing in clients as "clients". I started understanding that sometimes people are the way they are because of their own pressures, stresses and problems. I tempered my fears and anxieties of sabits as being the end of the world.
Then I found that slowly I was starting to love what I was doing all over again.
Even on really bad days, I'd rediscovered the thrill of every ad that comes out that I was a part of. I go home fulfilled, most days. Tired, but feeling that I had a full, productive day.
Best of all, it paid me a salary every month.
--
But days like today remind me so tangibly of why I turned my back on Account Management 3 years ago.
I know Creatives' jobs are very very hard. And I would NEVER trade places with a Creative. I should know how hard it is -- I live with a Creative.
But the one thing that an Accounts person goes through almost on a regular, everyday basis that a Creative doesn't --- is become the sponge of everything and everyone. The sounding board. The face to blame. The ear to shout at. The name to discredit.
Days like today remind me of how futile angry retorts and uncontrolled tears of utter frustration are when the world just feels like exploding on someone. Somehow it seems that the most convenient person in the whole advertising circle and cycle to blame for ANYTHING -- is the Accounts person.
Don't even get me to start enumerating how many times we take the fall for things that aren't even remotely close to being our fault.
One day, I bet you -- even weather disturbances will become the fault of the AE.
--
Thing is, I'm kinda used to being the sponge. It's the nature of the job.
The "sponge" part though that unnerves me and hurts me the most is one that comes from inside your own circle, your own team. The people whom you would trust would stand by you no matter what, because you stand by them too. To the end.
After enduring two straight weeks of taking angry phone calls, receiving angry texts late at night, reprimands in person, reprimands over the phone, temper tantrums, and whatever other list of complaints that the world just never ever runs out of on a daily, hourly basis -- the last straw is getting battered and bruised inside your own camp.
It hurts. And today, I just wanted to turn my back on all of it, and all of them, and see how they will cope and manage without me, without us.
---
I remember my boss and mentor from Harrison before making a joke one night when we were on our way back from a Client meeting. He says "Gen, don't worry. I truly believe all Accounts people are guaranteed a place in heaven."
And I just laughed out loud (with matching snorts).