Fly or Die?

fly or die

Friday, April 02, 2004
*A pitch's a btch** Okay. Let's pick up where I left off. The pitch. And Heng walking out on me. The following Monday Heng walks in. He still has the "I'll kill yer" look in his eyes. I inch up to him, cautiously. "Heng, you ok?" He shrugs and checks his emails. Later that day, Big Billy calls him to his room. By the time they finish - the smoke was enough to set off the fire alarm. But Heng seemed calmer. A little smug even. He sits with me and we continue working on the pitch. He doesn't mention a thing - doesn't apologise - as if nothing happened. And I don't ask. For fear that he may walk out again. The campaign strategy remains - so the tweaking is minimal. I may actually go home early. I am happy that Heng is back yet I am baffled. How a temper tantrum works wonders. I need to learn that too. But can I ever pull it off? On Wednesday, we presented our work. The CEO was in the meeting - a poker faced Malay gentlemen. Even if I stripped, I doubt that I would have elicited a flicker of excitement on his face. I couldn't quite present it as fluidly as I did the first round - my confidence was badly beaten. Heng said little. Susan tried her best. But on the whole, I felt that the energy and team chemistry was destroyed. We were clearly not humming. The Brand Manager looked disappointed. I guess he must have sold us highly to his boss - only to be let down. I felt bad about that too. Because I would have liked working with him - a risk-taking type of Brand Manager, reasonable in his demands and all-round nice guy. And I would have liked working on this brand - god! How handsome it would have been in my portfolio. I mean the Brand, not the manager. At the end of the meeting, I was feeling drained, tired and my body was beginning to ache. Stress, I thought. I placed my palm on my forehead - it was heating up. The Brand Manager, whom I shall name Mr Hoe, caught up with us at the lift lobby. "What happened, guys?" he asked. Susan babbled some excuses - stress, overnighter, overloaded. He threw a glance at Heng and I, standing sheepishly and praying for the lift door to open sooner so that it can gulp us down. "The work is still great. But you guys will have to get your act together. Anyway, I'll see what I can do," he said and disappeared back into his office. This client is a dream. Pencil chewed at 1:16:00 am //
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