Metal Reviews

Well I've started working as a Copywriter since March at a really small advertising agency and things were pretty much downhill for me ever since.

Mismanagement of funds and a selfish employer enslaved me for months without pay, or just a portion of it at most. We started losing jobs and that spelled the end of the agency. Worst, we lost the Pennzoil account because of some silly mistakes and they were our best client. Losing their account was like a knife to the main artery. We didn't have enough to pay our suppliers and day in and day out I'm harassed by the suppliers over the phone regarding the payment.

Of course, common sense drove me to apply for other similar positions at other agencies. But with a short portfolio I didn't go anywhere. I was really upset when giants Ogilvy and Mather turned me down. Then I had a stroke of luck. I applied to a newspaper, the Malay Mail through a friend of mine, got interviewed by the chief editor and days later this friend of mine calls me and tells me I got the job. I was happy of course, but I didn't let the news get to my head cos I heard it from a third party. I waited sometime and the editor never got back to me. Each time I called he'd ask me to call him back a few days later. A cat and mouse game for over two weeks and I told myself this is going nowhere. I called the editor up and told him I was pulling out, and surprise surprise! He screwed me upside down! He started stereotyping me as a usual Indian, lazy and afraid of taking challenges etc. I just told him my reason was because I wanted to stick with advertising and the conversation ended. Then my friend gives me a call and Screw the Indian Kid's Ass part 2 ensued. I gave him the same reasoning and we haven't spoken till today. I decided to just fuck it.

That happened 2 months ago. Again, my applications were rejected even by small and medium sized agencies. I became slightly depressed and started shying away from friends and family, and if you'd realise I haven't been posting much on MR as well for the past two months. I guess I'm just an emo guy at heart and I got very upset, started showing my temper for the slightest provocation. My brother and my girlfriend were the biggest victims of my oral lashing.

But I guess the bad times will pass and I wouldn't say it did for good, but I just got some good news last week. I've been accepted for the position of Copywriter by Arc Worldwide, a subsidiary of Leo Burnett Advertising. Leo fuckin' Burnett!!! I was really shocked. The co-creative director admitted that my portfolio was pretty short thanks to the lack of jobs at my previous agency. But she was nice enough to hand me a test which required me to draft a campaign for a product. I guess my concept pleased them and the co-creative director just gave me a call and said 'Hi Pathma, we'd like to have you on board'.

So now, I'm counting my days at my old agency as I only start at Leo on the 3rd of November. I'm really glad for this, both as an escape route and an enhancement in my career. I was close to quitting advertising and taking up some IT job if things continued to be the same at that old agency.

But of course, being in an agency like Leo Burnett, I'm assured of late nights and mounting pressure, but it's all for the better. In fact, I AM assured of late nights! The co-creative director is starting me off with the Maxis (local Telco giants) and McDonald's account.

So now I guess I can continue growing my not-so-long hair and start getting some tatts!

well done!! i'm happy for you.

this summer i was also feeling like shit, watching people with worse marks than me signing contracts while i struggled to even get a fucking interview, then in september i found out i got into a top master's programme

just goes to show that it's important to keep a stiff upper lip, eh?

Yeah man, I read about your Master's programme. It's at a prestigious university/institution right? Congrats, man!

Yeah, sometimes the wait can be better for some. I won't deny I felt like shit after turning down the journalist job. I thought it was the worst decision I've made in my life! But waiting pays, I gotta admit that.

Wait, you're lazy because you didn't want to wait several weeks to see if you got a job while some motherfucker kept telling you to call him back?

Well when I broke the news to him, I told him I wanted to stick with advertising instead of joining journalism. I reckon he thought I was too afraid of joining the industry, not being able to keep up etc. If you asked me, I don't blame him wholly, I blame my friend for telling me I got the job. That's when I started anticipating their call apart from getting restless from their delay. Apparently this friend of mine and the editor go a long way back to their high school days and they actually come from the same small town I come from. So he claimed that he had passed the word for me and the editor agreed to take me in. But as mentioned, there wasn't any feedback. So yeah, I blame that silly friend of mine for promising too much.

And this friend of mine scooted off with RM 7500 from my previous company after promising them he'd settle the Pennzoil deal/job. He never did it, Pennzoil were fined RM 4000 and cut my agency off for good. That RM 7500 and this friend, are still missing.

So if you'd ask me, I don't feel guilty turning down the paper job which I supposedly 'got' through his recommendation. At least I don't have to feel obliged to a fucking conman. Asshole.

Haha what a tool. Hope the companies involved and/or the police catch him.

Ah well if the company lodges a complaint about him, they'd be in hot soup as well. You see here in Malaysia, there are loads of red tapes involved in passing an application. So this Pennzoil job I was talking about, was about setting up Pennzoil road signages throughout Malaysia. Pennzoil needed the job done ASAP, and the only choice the company had, was to bribe the government officers to pass the applications. That's where this 'friend' of mine came in as a mediator and the sum RM 7500 was the amount supposed to be given to the govt officers. He never passed the sum. So if they would want to catch him, they'd have to do it themselves, going to the police would be suicide. Haha! Stupid Stupid Stupid! Darn politics!

Congrats mate ! My sis used to work in a sister concern or branch or whatever you call it of Leo Burnett. The company was called Chaitra - Leo Burnett after which they became Orchard advertising. Have fun and buy more metal albums. Cheers !

Haha, thanks Thy Serpent! Yeah now with this new job, I'm assured of a steady paycheck and I just got my Standard Chartered/Mastercard Debit Card last week! Now I can start buying without owing anyone money! First up: Ensiferum and Death's disco!

I might as well post this here:

I have a phone interview with Microsoft on Friday. If I pass it, I'll have a summer internship with them. Wish me luck!

Good luck! Just don't mention how bad vista sucks

Now I'm gonna say it out aloud: MAC ROCKS!!! I've been working on a Mac since my first day at the company. Now all the other writers are jealous of me cos I'm the only copywriter in the whole of Leo Burnett Malaysia who uses a Mac.

Microsoft? What's that? Hahahah!

I have Vista 64, and other than having to patch C&C3 and Internet Explorer being a crash-happy piece of shit, haven't had a single problem with it. Much faster and smoother than XP.

You bitches just ain't got 4GB RAM.

I like Vista but it doesn't run smoothly on my laptop even with 3 gigs of ram. It has problems running third party programs like Object Dock smoothly.

Seinfeld, if you get to be in a Microsoft commercial, you have to say the most ridiculous thing you can.

Thanks guys. I'm also anticipating a Talent Conference at Ford Motor Company in two and a half weeks. If I pass it, I will be a full-time employee with their College Graduate program. It's both nice and stressful to have these kinds of options.

Oh man I would definitely choose MS over Ford unless the auto bailout passes. I could imagine Ford being a shitfest to deal with if they declare bankruptcy in the next few years.