So, it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Am doing my first piece of work for BAT (British American Tobacco), as I, unlike many people, have no qualms about it's social unacceptability, given my unscrupulous and scurrilous preference for earning holiday wedge over ethics.
Quite bizarre working in an industry I've never touched before – major learning curve from tar levels to tobacco types, and dubious brands to 'dark' markets. Also highly amusing – I thought it might be a good brown-nosing moment to suggest to the main contact that we could nip out for a post-lunch cigarette so I could familiarise myself with their brands, only for her to then dart about asking half the floor – very obviously – for the 'right' kind of fag for me.
Cue me, standing embarrassed like a 13 year old trying to procure her first ciggy in a newsagents – and then even more mortified when I finally clicked that the reason she was having to ask about so frenetically was that, in fact, she actually doesn't smoke…
It's a hell of an office – bacon & freshly poached eggs on offer in the morning, a little shoppy with drinks, snouts and ice cream, an in-house coffee cafe etc etc – all made all the better by the fact they don't take any cash so I have been rolling in Diet Cokes, free lunch and teas all week. Nice! Beats the many clients these days who can't even sign off a jug of water and a stale Cornish Cream for a meeting, without a Board Director's signature..
So, nicotine-gathering fingers crossed for a good first workshop with them next week, and hopefully more stuff to follow. Their business (given the changin' times) is mostly in far flung dodgy countries – right up my roll-your-own alley, so here's hoping it goes well and there's more to come….
Sx