it's been a while

sorry. plenty of things going on... plenty of stories to post. here's the first (of many)

it all has to do with a little thing called agency morale. i suppose in this economic downturn (or credit crunch as they call it in the uk) times are getting more tough for us agency folks. and with that comes things like clients spending less money, agencies doing less work and possibly layoffs.

enter the agency morale team. we've all got 'em. maybe yours is called hr. or maybe the social committee. or something along those lines. my agency has it. and they've been doing a pretty good job this year.

but about a month ago they introduced this idea where every day we'd all be given a sample of cookies to try and compare to each other. "vote for the best" we were told. "enjoy a few moments away from your desk" they said. never mind the hours and hours of overtime that everyone was working. this was just a few minutes out of everyone's lives to eat a little cookie and cast your vote.

but then the few minutes turned into what appeared to be well crafted emails announcing the daily competition and recap of events and before you knew it... morale was even lower. people working 14 hour days couldn't understand how a cookie was going to make them feel better. cookies were only a reminder of the weight they were putting on by not taking advantage of that gym membership. and cookie emails were reminding them that other people actually had time to write an email about the trial of oreos versus who knows what.

enter what i will refer to as "cookie-gate."

now i realize this social committee doesn't get paid to do this stuff just as i don't get paid to work the 14 hour days that i do. oh wait. i do. that's my JOB. i just stopped making overtime 12 years ago. whatever. my point is this: cookies ain't gonna fix anyone's morale and anyone who thinks they are are just bad agencies.

unfortunately i think i got in trouble for saying such things recently and my whole conversation was completely misconstrued. which brings me back to you. my friends. my trusted colleagues who i hope can actually help with my morale right now. 'cuz this cookie-gate thing is really pissing me off.