Posted by Kyle Paice on Mon, Nov 17, 2008 @ 10:27 AM
I always used to think that people who ran around the office or had two cell phones on the table during lunch were super important. That they had so much going on in their lives that they had to have two dedicated numbers (and a wireless internet card) to keep up with it all. I thought I was important to have these multiple modes of communication.
As with all of my other expectations about life in Corporate America, I was completely wrong.
You don't have two cell phones because you are important. You have two cell phones so that the important people can find you, and then shovel all of the miscellaneous crap they don't feel like doing into your inbox. That's why you've got to be reachable, because your time isn't your own. You've got the electronic leash to prove it.
That CrackBerry is your all-purpose excuse-remover. You'll get e-mails at three in the morning: A client threw a temper-tantrum in that night's meeting because the PowerPoint presentation wasn't in 12-point Arial font. And guess what? That had better be fixed and sent back out before your 7:30am meeting the next morning. What? You were asleep? Bull. You have a BlackBerry. Keep the ringer on. You're supposed to be on top of these things, that's why we give you the damn thing.
The real-life Ari Gold wouldn't have more than one cell phone - and there's no way in hell anyone other than his assistant and wife would have the number. Being unreachable, that's power.