in conference room 2102B

So… Here’s another example of how tiny towns like St. Louis work.

Leah called me the other week with an emergency project that her in-house creative department couldn’t do in time. (apparently they’re short staffed and overwhelmed).

So… I did the project overnight and got it done… Wet it… Wipe it… GOOD NIGHT!

A week later I was contacted by their creative department asking for my resume and portfolio to be considered as a freelancer for their firm.

I threw together a PDF with a bio and some work and sent it in not knowing what to expect…. They called that week and set a meeting which was yesterday.

I spent the morning digging through the back of the closet for quasi-professional clothing only to find a button down polo shirt and a blazer…. It would have to do.

I dolled up within the best of my abilities, (read as: “brush my teeth and trim my beard), and was off to downtown in the parking garage of the huge high-rise before I knew it.

The elevator doors opened on the top floor to a wood-paneled palace the likes of which would grace the pages of Architectural Digest. One wall was covered with clocks telling the local time of their subordinate offices around the globe – and a news ticker reading headlines on the minute.

I approached the head poking up from the sculpture resembling a desk and told the woman who I was there to see… “Oh.. You need to go to the lobby on floor 12″…. (they have more than one floor?)

Once on 12, I got to where I was supposed to be – which was “one” of the conference rooms on that floor…. A space the size of our living room with a big table flanked by custom cabinetry baring what I assume were examples of their work… Gatorade bottles… McDonnald’s brochures…etc… There was a built-in fridge – and despite my overwhelming urge to see what was in it – I sat on my hands, found an ethernet port and proceeded to act busy while waiting for the heads of the creative department to show up.

The department heads, which looked to be my age – arrived within 7 minutes. While I’ve done work for agencies – I haven’t been “in” one since college… I suddenly forgot how to act. I defaulted to frank and casual.

“Look… I figure you all are in the dog and pony show biz already… so I’ll spare you mine… Let’s just review some of my work and chat.”

All of the major technical points and buzzwords like “sensitive to existing corporate identities” and “scalable design” that I rehearsed in the car on the way to the meeting never made it out of my mouth.

They liked the versatility of the work presented: photography, messaging, design… The head of the department asked “Where have you been hiding?” – which I took as a compliment. They also liked the idea that I was mobile and mentioned that a most of the freelancers they’d been interviewing were only interested in working from home.

We parted company and said they’d be contacting me in the next couple of weeks if they needed me. Soooo.. we’ll see if they call.

I may not be mentally wired for a career life in a cube, but I am enough of a whore to accept sporadic work in a corporate environment. It’s a chance to work on some high-profile stuff. And besides… imagine the possible blog fodder from the experience.

*if I had a blog of course.