Okay, check this shit out…
A short time ago a few friends passed along a job listing they came across that they figured was right up my alley. It was for some game company, in the marketing department (I won’t say the name, but I will mention that it is a local firm,). Granted, I have no marketing experience, at least in the strictest sense, but given my vast background with video games, and on so many fronts, I figured I was more than qualified for the job and that it wouldn’t hurt to apply. Plus I’ve been interested in getting involved with video game marketing & PR for a while now, at least ever since friends I’ve made in PR firms at EA and Sega began telling me that I would be perfect in such an environment since I really know my stuff, so this seemed like a great opportunity to finally enter that area.
I passed along my resume and in almost time at all, I got a response, in the form of a phone call from a woman named… let’s call her Bonnie. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take the call, so Bonnie left a message, and aside from what was said, she seemed very eager to talk. But things were so hectic that day that I wasn’t able to respond till around 3 that afternoon (Bonnie had originally called in the morning), and by that time she was out of the office. Which sorta sucked, but I figured it was Friday and many people head home early at the end of the week. So I just left a message. I tried again the following Monday, and again got voicemail, which was rather frustrating. I then asked the operator if Bonnie was in yet and was informed that she was on vacation that week. Great. There was such urgency in her message, so it seemed as if the spot had to be filled ASAP, and now the woman was on vacation. Perhaps they needed someone so bad that they hired the first person they got on the phone, and since I wasn’t available that day, my chance was already gone? Sounds silly to think that way, but hey… the money they were offering was good enough for me to get all aggravated by this. I decided to wait till she returned and called again this past Monday morning, but again, voicemail, but when you’re gone for a week, there’s often a lot to catch up on, hence why I was shocked and I simply left a message. Then earlier today, I finally got a call from Bonnie…
The phone-call began with her asking me, and with a slight tinge of annoyance, “Did you even bother to look at the job listing? You don’t have any of the yada, yada, yada skills we’re looking for!” and then she proceeded to berate me for the next couple of minutes.
Thing is, she was correct; I didn’t look over the (quite long and dense) list of responsibilities that closely, but then again, I guess I’m just used to seeing job listings that ask for a ridiculous and unrealistic number of desired skills and simply dismissing them. I’m certain every single hopeful working professional out there reading this can attest to seeing that Craiglist ad that asks for someone who knows Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver, Director, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, FileMaker AND a dozen other applications that even the employer knows nothing about, but has everything listed anways because “that’s what you’re supposed to do” and then the job turns out to be nothing more than a receptionist job or something. But I also tried explaining that with my thorough knowledge of video games, and from practically every single level and angle you could think of (aside from buying and playing games, I write about them for a variety of outlets and audiences, have studied them countless times, including the games themselves along with those who plays them, and am also well versed with both the creative process and selling process, to name just a bit), I simply assumed it could simply fill in the blanks. And Bonnie pretty much thought that was ridiculous.
Again, even though the job is essentially all about figuring out how to sell video games, having an intimate knowledge of the thing being sold apparently doesn?t mean shit, being able to property draft a J2O form for market research purposes (or whatever the hell they?re called) is what?s really most important.
Fine, if I’m not qualified for the job (and again, not to be all ego-centric, but it’s not like I’m so douchebag who works at a Gamestop and therefore things he knows everything, I’ve been in the business for a solid six years and over that time has learned a few things) that’s totally okay. But why in the hell did she bother to call me in the first place? Who the fuck calls someone just to tell them that they are not what they are looking for, or that they’re not qualified? And she just on and on… I so wanted to just yell “THEN WHY IN THE FUCK DID YOU CALL ME IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!” but I just hung in there, waiting for some point to the call, but it never happened. In fact, I tried ending things by stating “Gee, I’m sorry I’m not what you’re looking for… sorry for wasting your time.” but she just wouldn’t let up.
Maybe its foolish, or even a bit immature to complain about this, but again, my mind is truly boggled by Bonnie and her call. Though I do want to say that I was actually have a really great day and she fucking ruined it, and I’m still pretty pissed about it. Blah.
Anyway… tonight was movie night and we saw Go, which was actually pretty neat. It was pretty much as I had heard described in the past: Pulp Fiction starring cool kids. It also featured Sarah Polley, whom I’m a big fan of (and who I used to have a MAJOR crush on), Timothy Olyphant, whom I’m starting to become a major fan of, and Katie Holmes, in a role in which she actually does a great job in (again, used to find her really cute, but her going nuts with Tom Cruise and Scientology totally killed any interest in her). And afterwards we saw two episodes from the second season of Slings and Arrows, which was pretty awesome.
And earlier today, James, the guy from the UK that hates Sonic fandom with an absolute passion, to the point that its becomes some scary obsession (though I can’t complain since the guy does IM me some truly amazing shit), passed along yet more conclusive proof that psychotic Sonic fans have officially surpassed psychotic Final Fantasy VII fans in terms of ridiculousness and downright sadness. Here’s a totally amazing defense of the incomprehensibly bad story and ending to the latest Sonic game, with the best part being that he actually refers to “Sonic Episode 01″, which was actual origin of Sonic the Hedgehog according to the special 10th Anniversary commemorative booklet which came with the Japanese version of Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast, that basically connects him to… and I’m not making this up… Chuck Yeager. If you’re interesting in details, look no further.
Though folks that mix Pokemon with the Book of Revelations are just as crazy.
Alright, its technically Thursday already, so I’ll just go ahead and wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! I’ll be spending it with the my adoptive family, the Romans, like I have every Thanksgiving for the past ten years now! And aside from just sitting around and chit chatting with Dave and his clan, plus eating like a total pig, I also will attempt to get a piece of that $100 Xbox 360 action.
