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Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Celebrating my Internet-versary
Today is my Internet-versary. On this day nine years ago I entered the weird, turbulent world of working for web companies. Quite by accident.
My neighbour got me the job. They were hiring a writer; the deal was, she was supposed to get a bonus for bringing me on board. But she never received it.
I started my first day with a desk but no computer. They gave me a pen and paper, and asked me to write some kind of press release.
Next door lived the creative department. There was a graphic designer -- an Auzzie who talked obsessively about how her hair was falling out. One day she broke the door because she slammed it so hard. Also next door was a wild American girl who had worked for Yahoo! She was the only person in the company who understood online advertising.
And there were lots of other people doing things I didn't understand at all. They had a boatload of money and were going to take on the world, working around the clock to bring the marvels of online travel booking to far flung places like Vietnam and Lithuania.
They even made a TV ad. A pretty good one.
But about the time the TV commercial went to air (maybe four months after I started), everything stopped. The office went from a bustling hub of activity (and daily crises), to completely empty in a matter of weeks. Everyone around me quit, or was laid off, one at a time. Except me, and a few bumbling executives.
For a while, I still came to work every day. I sat at my desk (which now had a computer), and tried to look busy. But my boss was gone. And her boss was gone. And his boss was gone.
I finally asked why I was still working. Did they forget about me? The answer: if someone buys the company, they'll need me to write the press release. And they were paying me a lot. More than I was worth. So that was okay with me.
And then one day the phone rang. It was Red Herring, wanting more dirt on what was going on over there and why we were going down. If Red Herring only knew how badly my long gone boss wanted to get their attention when things were good...
After a couple weeks, I stopped coming to work. I went to Scotland and had a little vacation. I had no one to tell that I was going on holiday. And no one ever bought the company.
My neighbour got me the job. They were hiring a writer; the deal was, she was supposed to get a bonus for bringing me on board. But she never received it.
I started my first day with a desk but no computer. They gave me a pen and paper, and asked me to write some kind of press release.
Next door lived the creative department. There was a graphic designer -- an Auzzie who talked obsessively about how her hair was falling out. One day she broke the door because she slammed it so hard. Also next door was a wild American girl who had worked for Yahoo! She was the only person in the company who understood online advertising.
And there were lots of other people doing things I didn't understand at all. They had a boatload of money and were going to take on the world, working around the clock to bring the marvels of online travel booking to far flung places like Vietnam and Lithuania.
They even made a TV ad. A pretty good one.
But about the time the TV commercial went to air (maybe four months after I started), everything stopped. The office went from a bustling hub of activity (and daily crises), to completely empty in a matter of weeks. Everyone around me quit, or was laid off, one at a time. Except me, and a few bumbling executives.
For a while, I still came to work every day. I sat at my desk (which now had a computer), and tried to look busy. But my boss was gone. And her boss was gone. And his boss was gone.
I finally asked why I was still working. Did they forget about me? The answer: if someone buys the company, they'll need me to write the press release. And they were paying me a lot. More than I was worth. So that was okay with me.
And then one day the phone rang. It was Red Herring, wanting more dirt on what was going on over there and why we were going down. If Red Herring only knew how badly my long gone boss wanted to get their attention when things were good...
After a couple weeks, I stopped coming to work. I went to Scotland and had a little vacation. I had no one to tell that I was going on holiday. And no one ever bought the company.
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