“Something clever,” I whispered to myself.
I was sitting on my desk, next to my chair.
My coworker Lou walked past. “Why aren’t you sitting in your chair?” asked Lou.
“Because chairs are not where brains think of clever things,” I replied.
Lou gave a concerned look and walked away.
Lou was a marketing analyst. I was a marketing copywriter. Analysts know nothing about being clever. I ignored Lou—as much as you can actively ignore a person who says one thing to you and walks away.
“But not a pun,” I muttered to myself. Puns are the crutch of headline journalists and business writers all over the globe.
The phone rang. It was my boss. Why couldn’t he use the chat?
“Where’s that copy, Stewart? The ad team is waiting on you again.”
“Sorry about that. I’m still trying to think of something clever.”
“Stewart. What did I tell you? Copy and paste from last year’s campaign, then edit lightly.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure it’ll help you keep your job, Stewart.”
My boss hung up.
I wasn’t sure why the company was paying my salary for all this copying and pasting.
I copied the copy from last year, didn’t edit it at all, and sent it to the ad team, copying my boss on the email.
“Fantastic.”
“Good stuff.”
“Thanks Stewart!”
The replies didn’t encourage me.
I punched in twitter.com on my browser and composed a tweet:
how to succeed in the corporate world: produce mediocre work & affirm the mediocre work of others #grind #entrepreneur #mindset
Definitely not a clever tweet. But better than a copy/paste job.