Negotiations was an ongoing process at the company. For me, it was my favorite part of the year! I loved the witty banter between myself and the sales-people at my stations, and the feeling I would get at the end of a negotiation when I had gotten better rates than the buyer before me.
While many of the media buyers got ALL of their negotiations for TV and Radio rates out of the way during first quarter, there were a couple of buyers who simply couldn't get it finished. Part of it may have been because there was no spending commitment from the clients, or the stations didn't have the ability to work more than one quarter ahead for rates, or it may have simply been laziness.
My biggest problem with everyone in the office was the sense of fucking entitlement everybody wore on their sleeve every damn day. I think it's either a generational thing or an advertising thing. Many TV & Radio stations will try to entice more business out of you with promises of free vacations and loot (surrender the booty)... but our directive was to make the best decisions for our clients and never promise anything to our stations.
Great plan... but there are exceptions to the rule. One guy in my department thought that for all of his ass-busting (as though he was the only one who worked), he should be able to make empty promises for free stuff. He would give out his home mailing address so when he was receiving gifts they wouldn't come to the office (and under
The Boss' control). Now it wasn't a bad idea because
The Boss had a problem keeping her grubby little paws off anything that came through the door (she opened a couple of personal packages of mine from online purchases that needed to be signed for). However, this guy was receiving travel vouchers and airline mileage packages, tickets to exclusive events like golf tournaments, and FOOD (we're talking about hams, giant fruit baskets, and boxes of cookies).
Everyone else in the department who received "gifts" from stations shared their loot with everyone. At Christmas - things would get a little out-of-control with packages coming in - and we would be surrounded by chocolates and evaporated fruits through February. My point being - - we shared.
So as the rules applied to us - one guy made himself the exception and hasn't gotten into trouble for it to this day. The other person the rules didn't apply to?
The Boss, of course. When food stuffs would come in for her, she definitely shared... but everything else was HERS HERS HERS. If she wanted to go to a concert, she'd badger her stations for free passes. If she wanted to travel, she'd badger her stations for plane tickets. If she wanted new clothes, she would convince her stations to send her gift cards. So much
hypocrisy.
Which leads back to what I started with... ENTITLEMENT. I am sick of people thinking that just showing up to work is reason enough to get paid. I hate that by doing their jobs they think they deserve more than their pay. I get irritated with the overall work ethic that is sweeping across this country. People are expecting everything to be handed to them.
My husband and I are doing VERY GOOD financially. My company has thrived thanks to personal referrals from my existing clients bringing in a TON of new business as people hear that I'm available full-time for faceting. For my husband - he puts every last brain cell to work when he is on the clock - and at the end of the day he is mentally drained. His company recognizes his efforts, and they pay him well for it. Each evening we enjoy the fruits of our labors... by having a nice dinner on our back porch, enjoying a glass of wine, and listening to the breeze through our trees. Not because we deserve it, but because we earned it.
