ACCOZZAGLIA

the rest are beginning to scowl at me.

what started out promising — a four-day assignment doing what i thought was going to be print buying, which is working with printers and negotiating prices — is spiralling into hell.

turns out the assignment was miscommunicated between my talent agent and the agent’s client HR person. what they were looking for, it turns out, was a dedicated media buyer — buying advert space in magazines and so on — which is something in which i have no experience.

now, were this assignment a three-week thing or whatever, the learning curve wasn’t steep enough to overwhelm me. but in what will be three-to-four days, it really isn’t practical for either myself or the client. i’d make myself and my talent agency look bad (which would screw me in the long run) while really pissing off the client, which would in turn not recommend using that agency ever again.

nevertheless, my point person at the client and the HR executive and i had an impromptu meeting discussing these concerns. earlier, i’d noticed my point person wincing at me when he heard me recant the panoply of my background in the buying arena (not my forte, but i can get the job done) as an art buyer, creative services manager (buying from vendors) and print buyer.

the HR person and the point person were impressed by my candor and concern for their well-being. simply put, i know how much money costs, if you will. they would be dumping about $2K on me for three or four days, where i’d only see about $650 of it (taxes and agency fees dissect that). the HR person wanted to know what else i did and so on. she asked me what i consider to be valuable in a media buyer for print/broadcast/internet. she was very interested in my experience otherwise.

moreover, i told her that making this decision was difficult, cos i really, really do need the money right now, and hiking it back home on bus that time of the day was not going to be pleasant.

in fact, i went on, letting her know that in the nearly four years since i joined that agency, this is the first (and hopefully only) time i’ve had to be up front and cancel the assignment. but to squander their budget like that would be just flat-out wrong.

i phoned my talent agent and let her know the situation, and she was disappointed (more work for her when she’s leaving for summer holiday on Thursday, lucky her) but very glad that i had the professionalism (see? that word again) to make that judgment call, which was arguably a wise and logical one.

so, that was 9:30am when i left Bellevue. at 1:30pm, i walked in the door here in Everett, after taking FIVE BUSES just to get home, plus an additional three miles of walking after that!

i come in sweating, weary, tired, a little annoyed by my talent agenct (who has never sat with me to get to know my background, like the other people in her office have), but i’ll be okay. knock on wood.

so, i called my girlfriend at work to tell her that i would be, after all, free on Friday for her pre-planned day in Anacortes. she’d vowed to find someone else to go with when i found out about the assignment details just yesterday.

as i relayed this very same accounting of my day so far, she gets quiet and then she says she has to go. i asked her if she was upset. she hesitated, then reluctantly said, “sorta.” so, i asked her if it was because of the incident or if it was something i did, and she said, “well, sorta, but i’ve gotta run.”

i replied, “sorta? look, i’m sorry, but i wanted that assignment badly, and turning it down was the hardest thing i’ve had to do while under that agency’s representation.”

she still didn’t say anything. and i was like, “fine. i don’t have time for this shit. i’ve gotta go and look for work. bye.”

and i hung up on her outright. that’s another thing which i never do.

colour me pissed.

post script to add: she just posted about not having the afternoon to herself. well, she’s going to be getting her wish. i’m blowing this taco stand.