Monday, March 2, 2015

The search for Erik Nordby


The best way to explain this is that it was Friday morning, and I had to write something. This presented itself and I shrugged and, to quote Molly Bloom at end of Ulysses, "and I thought well as well him as another."
   Friday morning, shaking off the cold, I shed my parka and stomp into the breakroom — whoops, Starbucks/cereal bar social center, because we’re a tech company now — which has a sign on the door: “Closed 2:30-4 p.m. Lightswitch training.”
     Inside, good old Jeremiah, our engineer, and a man I don’t know. They’re inspecting the room.
     “Lightswitch training?” I begin, catching their attention. “Dare I ask?”
     I extend my left arm, pointing the index finger and lifting it with a flourish.
     “OK everybody, together now: ON!” Then a brisk slice of the finger downward. “And OFF!”
     They laugh.
     “I assume it’s for management,” I continue.
     “No. Sales,” Jeremiah says, and at this, I bite my lip and flee. Do not mock the salesforce. “A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”
     But back at my desk, I can’t shake it off. “Lightswitch training, lightswitch training?” What could that be?
     “Lightswitch will shoot, edit and deliver a professional video customized to your business,” the company’s website promises. “We do it faster, better and cheaper than anyone else.” Turns out they’re right here, on Chicago Avenue.
     “We’re a video production company, based out of Chicago,” says Bryce Anderson, director of sales and operation. “We manage crews all across the United States, a network of thousands of video professionals handle all pre- and post-production. We’re 4 years old, but there have been a lot of changes. This model has been around about two years. We have 4,000, 5,000 people, of whom 150 to 200 are core. We send them as much work as we can, and edit it down.”
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5 comments:

  1. Here's hoping that Nordby tries to make things right. Rahm too.

    john

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  2. Does this Nordby guy realize the ST is a big city paper? It's not like you were phoning from some local suburban paper that headlines the next craft show.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A daily newspaper "like a web site, but folded and thrown at people's houses." Nicely done. A simile for the times...if not for the "Times."

    "Light skirted' is unfamiliar to me and I would agree it has a certain charm, but, given today's fashions, is probably no longer a reliable guide for those bent on a bit of commercial sex.

    Tom Evans

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ok, I get newspapers are a dying breed and most of us can agree that REALLY SUCKS.However, the minute I was done reading this article in the paper, I hopped on my computer to send it to folks. I'm straddlng two worlds.

    ReplyDelete

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