I can only hold your hand so much!

I have a little saying… “I can only hold your hand so much.” I probably say it too often, but people need to hear it. Almost every person I talk to while I am on the clock needs to hear it; new advertisers, seasoned advertisers, large businesses, small businesses, Production, The GM, etc. It seems like no one can make any type of decision, let alone do their job. If its like this everywhere, I really do not understand how the country continues to run.

I was in a meeting with a client the other day, and I got him to make a decision. I know, this was huge. We had everything figured out; I was taking care of ALL of it. All he needed to do was send me the menu for the ad (he runs a restaurant). I know what you are thinking, “Man, she asks a lot from her clients”. But I had to; I could not just make up what they were serving (actually, I may try that next time).

The menu kept not coming, no matter how much “hand holding” I did. I called, I emailed, I stopped in. Finally, it was too late, the paper actually printed; the ad could not run because the advertiser did not tell us what to say.

The advertiser was SO pissed that his ad did not run. No joke. He was actually upset.

At this point he sent the menu, we were going to try for the next week. I handed the layout to Production, with major detail; I had done everything except build the ad. Of course production was miffed. I have never heard so many questions, or seen someone so confused.

That is when I lost it. “What more do you want? I cannot do your job for you, if I could, I would, because it would be faster. I can only hold your hand so much.”

These sorts of outbursts might be why Production is so gun shy.