Glass Half Full
Former Beautiful Beer public relations manager Ros Shiel reflects on life after redundancy in her first Morning Advertiser blog.
Days since being made redundant: 14 % of redundancy pay-off spent on shoes, Ocado deliveries: scaryNo. of mails/calls received on BlackBerry today: 8% of said mails/calls from mates, not prospective clients: v. high
If I had £1 for everyone who's said in recent weeks, "one day, you'll look back on this as a good thing" or "as one door closes, another opens", my shoe fund would be looking a whole lot healthier than it does. While I'm sure the words are well-intended, if the person uttering them is still drawing a salary, you should be allowed to hit him. Quite hard. Or at least ask if he wants to swap places with you, the smug b*****d.
The other comment I keep hearing is "won't you get distracted, working from home? All that daytime TV." Er, no. Even the toe-curlingly awful prospect of trying to find work in the worst recession in living memory holds more appeal than 10 minutes in front of Lorraine Kelly. Though I'd make a case for catching The Jeremy Kyle Show now and again. Not only because JK is surprisingly hot, but the sheer screwed-up-ness of his guests' lives will throw your own into cheering relief. Unless you actually are expecting triplets by your father-in-law.
But, putting aside the small matter of having no long-term income stream, there are upsides to my redundant status. Spending more time with my children, for example. And, seemingly, with the group of up to eight teenagers who occupy my living room most lunchtimes. Though slightly trying, this does give me a ready-made focus group of 16/17-year-olds who will probably answer anything for another go on the X-Box. All I need now is a client list of RTDs, condoms and Clearasil.
While I'm sure the words are well-intended, if the person uttering them is still drawing a salary, you should be allowed to hit him. Quite hard.Ros Shiel
Where the long-term work is going to come from, I don't yet know. But I do trust one of the pieces of advice I received, which is that the project you thought was 'in the bag' before you left your job will come to nought. Instead, you'll get a call out of the blue from someone who knows someone who used to work with you, wondering if you could help them on a one-off job, not much of a budget... And that, mark my words, will be what keeps you in handbags and mini-breaks for the next five years.
Next week: the grim reality sets in. The chocolate biscuits are thrown out. And the 2008/9 shoe budget is revised downwards.
Risky Business
Like many in our industry, I sat down on Tuesday to the first episode of Neil Morrissey's Risky Business with a glass of beer, a bowl of nuts and more expectations than anyone should load onto one hour of TV.
Did it deliver? I guess it depends on the brief. Ultimately, telly is about entertainment and I thought this entertained for most of its 60 minutes. Sure, they might have made a couple of injudicious remarks, the brewing seemed a little, er, random, and the consumer "testing" was less than robust. But consider the alternative, which is to have not had a programme about beer and pubs. Where many have failed to interest programme makers in covering these subjects in a positive way, Morrissey and Fox have succeeded. And so what if it's because he's a household name? We have beer back on the box - and that, surely is worth raising a glass to. One of those nice stemmed, half-pint glasses, you know, with the Beautiful Beer logo.
Ros Shiel was public relations manager for the industry's beer image initiative Beautiful Beer. She was made redundant by the British Beer and Pub Association after members slashed funding.
• Beautiful Beer PR axed due to major budget cuts.
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