Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Five Minutes with our CTYUTBO.

Ad Aged: Good morning. I've been doing these interviews for some time now, and haven't run across a title quite like yours. Tell me, what does it stand for?

CTYUTBO:  You haven't run across my title? I'm going to have to let people know about that. That's not good. There was an email about it. You should have read it and taken the mandatory six-hours of incomprehensible training.

Ad Aged: I must have missed it. Could you elucidate?

CTYUTBO: Oh, you missed it all right. And I'm sorry to say that's not a good thing. There are going to be consequences of missing it.

Ad Aged: I can take my medicine. But what is a CTYUTBO?

CTYUTBO: I'm a Chief Throw You Under the Bus Officer. I throw people under the bus. In fact most of the people I come into contact with have tread marks on their backs.

Ad Aged: How do you do your work?

CTYUTBO: Well, say I'm given something to do. 

Ad Aged: Not an unreasonable assumption in an agency.

CTYUTBO: I wait until just about the last minute, and say that we talked about YOU doing it. YOU didn't get it done. YOU were the right person to do said task. And YOU failed to belly-up to the bar.

Ad Aged: Wow. That's rather nefarious.

CTYUTBO: Well, YOU didn't write the copy, approve the brief, go to the shoot, take notes from the client meeting. YOU didn't push back on the client. YOU didn't question the work. YOU are responsible.

Ad Aged: So, basically, you blame people.

CTYUTBO: That's taking the cynical view. I prefer to think of myself as a proponent of misinformation management. Think how it keeps people on their toes. 

Ad Aged: You see yourself as a force for good in the agency, in other words.


CTYUTBO: Yes, and I hope you do too.

Ad Aged: I must admit, I've never seen it from your point of view before.

CTYUTBO: We'll keep that between us. I don't want to throw you under the bus.


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