I guess I owe my friends a very long update...
The Necessary Weekend VacationI just came from a weekend vacation with my exclusive date. To most people who know me, that's a lot already, pretty much 1 step short of a commitment, which I'm totally not ready for.
Anyway, we started the weekend off with a trip to Enchanted Kingdom... yes, the magical place for kids... A few rides into Enchanted Kingdom, I felt that the magic was somehow lost on me and my date already.
First up, the place looked much smaller than it did a few years ago... the rides felt somehow different. The thrill of experiencing the ride felt different... there's a little bit of fear involved already... some unknown fear of something you know is about to happen... somehow, the feeling that you get where you think your insides are left behind when you freefall is not so much fun, but a bit scary already.
Anyway, it was a kiddie weekend for us: Enchanted Kingdom, popcorn, chocolates, marshmallows, oreos, spaghettie and burgers, kiddies stuff... sleeping and playing the whole weekend. Even our alcoholic drinks were tinged with kiddie-ness: mudshakes.
I enjoyed the weekend because I was able to sleep a lot and catch up on the much needed sleep and rest. It's such a joy to actually leave your phone behind and not worry about anything. Went home last night after the vacation to catch a silly movie, which turned out to be totallt wrong... but had a good night's sleep anyway. Now for the reason behind the much-needed vacation... (the plot thickens :P )
What started it allI accepted a script writing job because a (director) friend offered it to me. I never figured I'd get so much problems writing this script. The pay was barely enough for a half-hour show, yet what I had to write was a three full-day event, inculding speeches, introductions, prayers and special messages.
Now, there were three groups involved: the client (which will now be known as A), the event coordination group (from hence, known as B), and the production group (hereby known as C), which I'm a part of. I've made friends with the special events head of A and she has always stood by my side when it comes to creativity and artistry.
Naturally, keeping with the quality of writing (yeah, right), I had to gather as much data as possible, which means that deadlines had to be followed.
My first encounter with people from B, was the project manager, who I thought represented their company as the president. We made it clear to her that deadlines had to be given to participants and deadlines had to be met on both our sides. Something which she totally disregarded. From that meeting, we agreed on a deadline of Wednesday the week after and a meeting on that same date.
On the wednesday of the agreed date, they moved the meeting to Friday, lunch time... Friday came and they moved the meeting to Friday 5 pm. They arrived at around 6pm. Now, I had to leave the meeting because I had a prior engagement. I left my e-mail address with the project manager from B, giving her specific instructions to e-mail me updates of whatever they discussed so that I could incorporate it in the script I had to submit on Wednesday.
Monday came and no updates were given, so I assumed that no changes were made, so I went on with the script. It took me until 3AM of Thursday to submit the script because it was extremely long and I had other things to attend to. Come Thursday mid-morning, the project manager of B e-mailed updates. In a fit of anger, frustration, and irritation, I sent a very strongly worded e-mail telling them the following things:
- the e-mail would have been more appreciated and helpful had it been sent earlier
- she clearly did not meet the deadlines
- B seems to be lost in their field. They're not really coordinated, when they should be coordinating over-all.
- I requested for a post-event production meeting to discuss how these things could be avoided for better events next time.
They took offense in the letter challenging my experience as their company has been in operation for 11 years already, that they made it clear that you can't give local government groups deadlines, and that i should not use them as a scapegoat if I cannot deliver. That reply irked me even more, but I replied in a very professional manner.
I started by saying I have not and will not use anyone as a scapegoat (I was really tempted to tell them that they were the ones using C as scapegoats). That I've done events for 10 years, which does not put me so far behind in terms of event experience, that what I sent them was not a personal attack but a challenge to make things better, and that what I wrote was totally independent of anyone else's opinions.
Naturally, I had to get the opinions of some people (2 people to be specific), who I sent copies of the correspondences to. They did not find anything wrong with it.
Friday came and we had a meeting which C was supposed to head. B went ahead and took over the meeting without even bothering to inform us (C). We just let it go because A told us to just keep quiet... when the meeting was about to end, the president of B started a ruckus by saying that I was unprofessional, that I was ruining the reputation of their company, so on and so forth. A was mediating and telling us her that I was willing to apologize for writing the letter, but the president of B repeatedly insisted that she didn't want to talk to me.
She kept on grilling my director-friend, when it was clear that he did not know anything about the letter. She accused me of spreading that e-mail, when it was she who printed multiple copies of the correspondences. In the end, she came out as the loser. I was seated outside the meeting room, all smug, eating crispy pata.
One day prior to the event, it was clear that B was sabotaging C because of all the glitches in coordination, but all their sabotage just blew up in their faces because coordination was their task. It basicaly boils down to them not performing and us outshining them. But our (C) outshining B came at a price. I had no sleep from Thursday to Friday because I was revising, reprinting, fixing, and photocopying the script because of last minute additions by B. That's why I needed the vacation.
I guess, the whole story would make more sense if I narrate a prior meeting with the special events head of A, which makes everything clearer.
First and foremost, B is all out for money and is not the least bit creative. The president of B raised her eyebrows when she saw young looking guys presenting in a very professional manner, which impressed the board of A. Apparently, A fired 2 prior directors from B and chose C.
Another thing, when the President (POA) and Special events head (SEA) of A had a meeting with the president of B (POB), they talked about me (W: w for winner-writer ;P). According to SEA, the meeting went something like this:
POA: Hey, SEA, tell W to lower his price for writing my speech. W's charging me 15k.
SEA: I already spoke to W and W agreed to write your speech for you for 5k. If you don't want to pay, tell B to write your speech, it's their job, and it's bound to be free.
POA: But W writes extremely well, i really like how W writes. (to POB) no offense, but I really like W's writing, it's really good.
POB: Well, if you want to pay, then go ahead with him. (in a sarcastic manner).
Oh, yes... I'm a bitch... but i'm a WINNER BITCH... and POB is nothing but a LOSER BITCH.
Life is sweet :)
