Pains in the Neck!

The dreadful feeling started early yesterday morning. I felt it.. and experience told me that it was the start of a full blown stiff neck. Pain number one. My darling gave me a back rub last night, but helped little in abating the pain in the neck I feel right now. My actions have become robotic again, only 3 to 4 days after recovering from my last back ache! Looks like another visit to my suddenly rich masseuse (Chui and I have already spent RM150 this month alone for relief). Looks like another RM50 gone!

Pain in the Neck Two. My favourite Client, decided late last Thursday evening to run a tribute ad to our out going PM in a local newspaper supplement with the material deadline set at 5pm Monday. Aiks! What? Are they mad? Okay.. no need to panic. We have been down this road before. Just give us a brief, let us know what you want, and we can work over the weekend to meet the deadline. But... no! It is already too late in the evening (this is still thursday), to give you a brief.. we will meet Monday (since Friday is a public holiday and being a long weekend we don't want to work) morning amongst ourselves, and decide a direction to take. WHAT?!

Monday morning comes.. precious time ticks away... and finally at about 11 am, we get the brief. Make us 4 new ads, for us to choose from! Hmm.. what was wrong with the ad that we had already done much earlier for a cancelled supplement in the AWSJ? Nope.. the committee decided that we want another ad. Okay.. So we get our direction, and we go make some ads. Luckily, this was one time where we got a rather clear route from them to take. We had the ads done by 1.30pm, and they were sent to the clients for clearing.

Time ticks away again...

At about 4pm.. they call. "We want the original ad afterall!" "That is the one which we will use". Ok. Cool. Lets get the film makers in. They have less than 1 hour to get the films done and delivered! Those in the know, will tell you that it is quite impossible to do. Afterall, it still takes time for travelling through and fro and so on. Many calls are made to plea for an extension in deadline.

FA is done, film makers have collected the CD containing the masters and they are off at 4.30pm. Hmm.. Phew.. it will be late.. but at least its done. Right?

WRONG!

We got call after call from the clients to make changes.. not big huge changes mind you, but rather small, insipid and idiotic changes that frankly, would have made no difference to the ad! For example. "Make logo bigger!" OK.. fine.. typical request.. So.. how much bigger? 10% bigger? No.. that will be too much.. "make it 2% bigger!" What? 2%? Sheesssh.. What kind of difference is that going to make?

Off course.. all these changes have to be made remotely. My colour separator has to make these changes on the master on his side. There is simply no more time available to make another commute to collect fresh FAs! They must have made at least 3 sets of redundant materials before the stupid need to make changes abated at about 5.30! Jeeez.. What else can possibly go wrong?!

Never ask for you may receive! Pain in the Neck Number Three!

PM leaves office on the 31st. DPM takes over on the 1st. We cannot have a tribute to the outgoing PM without a welcome to the new? Uhuh!!!

"We need another ad guys!" We cannot brief you till tomorrow.. Its already to late this evening to do it, besides.. its ramadan, we need to go break fast! And by the way.. the material deadline is Wednesday at 5pm....

ITS A NIGHTMARE! Actually no.. ITS PAINs IN THE NECK!