PR kiya toh darna kya

P


Transcript of conversation with anonymous public relations professional on newsroom phone a few days ago. Edited for readability.

(Phone rings)

Sidin: Hello… Sidin (It is a miserable habit of mine, that line. So many people respond by saying: “No.”)

Random PR professional: Hello Sidin! This is <mallu name> from <name of PR company>!

S: Hi. Tell me.

RPRP: I have been reading your work for a long time now. And I am impressed.

S: (Sensing a catch somewhere…) Oh thank you very much.

RPRP: Especially the wonderful work you’ve been doing in the area of Law firms and legal services…

S: (What the…) Oh I see. Which stories in particular?

RPRP: Oh the one… err.. you know the story… this particular one… I mean the one on…

S: (Aha! The plot thickens…) Oh you mean the one I wrote last weekend?

RPRP: EXACTLY! That one. It was so, so, so good…

S: On legal services no?

RPRP: Yes yes.

S: Ah but I have NEVER EVER written a single world in my entire career on legal services and law firms…

RPRP: Never?

S: Not once.

RPRP:

S:

RPRP: Maybe I have my information wrong.

S: Maybe you do.

CLICK!

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62 Comments

  • LOL, it reminds me of the calls I got from recruiters while I was still in grad school. They were apparently impressed by my fantastic (non-existent)work experience…

    • In hindsight I should have.
      But then I was in the office you know. And you know how committed and focused us media types are when we are mired in work and… ok I can’t even type that with a straight face…

      • I am reading one another article saying, best peoples is learn from mistakes. Why not you are also, and revisiting this. Maybe re-editings?

  • LOL!!
    Reminds me of calls I get from Barclays bank every day of the week.

    “Hello Ms Anjol Pildong? ( they actually said that) Since you own a Barclays Card, we are giving you a personal loan worth 1 lakh 50 thousand.”

    “But I don’t have a Barclays Card.”

    So what madam, you can till avail of the loan!

    πŸ˜€

  • One thing i m still wonderin is the significance of in the conversation.(aredey sidin athu .. :P)
    it adds up to the humor though,,.. πŸ˜‰

    keep writing brotha…and you rock as usual!!!

  • You sure the person did not say “I have been *following* your work for a while now, especially in law firms and legal services”? Because that would have thrown the whole thing in a more hilarious direction!

  • Hello Sidin (I guess you will not respond ‘no’ to that address),I tend to agree with Priti. You should have played along a bit longer.
    Good one. Keep them coming.

    • What?! You think we MBAs randomly pick up the phone and call people and ask them random questions?
      Only during our internships I assure you.

      • Sigh!!!I did precisely this(the phone calls) even after my MBA…And believe u me, as a private banker, the questions are far more random than the ones mentioned.

      • Nopes. I imagine Sidin, being himself, has a super exciting super fun life. Some incidents though aren’t fun enough for public consumption.

  • Sidin,That was a quickie. πŸ™
    Guess you wrote the as-in-where-is story and with no contribution from you.
    Reminds me of something like minutes of a meeting.
    Go get a dose of steroids and come back in form!
    -Nikhil

  • OKAY Sid.. I want an honest answer alrite
    WHAT if the PR Person had been a gurl? and sounded veryy *interesting* ahem…

    like that KANDY FOXX female sounded in the Hatke Virgin mobile ad?? πŸ˜€

    would you have written an article pronto on legal stuff and resumed the chat.. or wud u still help her gently put her foot in her mouth? (my fingers actually did not want to type that last bit)

  • LOL, reminds me of the time a job consultant called me after “carefully analyzing my resume and skillset” for a fantabulous position in ABC company in their XYZ department for their DEF implementations project.
    And guess what, I was the team leader for the ABC company’s XYZ’s departments DEF project and was looking at filling up sub-ordinate posts. Some fantabulous move that would have been! πŸ˜€

    • By the way, Sidin writing on Law firms and legal devices…. thats one terrain you have left unexplored for so far. Poor chaps those, have dull lives indeed. You could spread a bit of cheer in there!!!
      Or maybe not, lawsuits and defamation cases are hard for people who are almost always on the brink of selling out their kidneys πŸ˜‰

  • LOL! Reminded of a situation that I faced recently.
    My team was testing a software that would enable resume uploads on our corp website. To test it out, I uploaded mine. Guess what – an HR coordinator called back asking to set up a telephone interview.

    Astounded at her stupidity (since my resume clearly mentioned where I currently worked, it took a couple of minutes to stop laughing out load. And then I too proceeded to “put her foot not so gently in her mouth” (great line btw) πŸ™‚

  • have you ever faced the innumerous calls loaded with personal loans of lakhs, of the free gold credit cards, and of the free sim cards? oh plz..why don’t you blog once on them?

  • Yeah,you had better be sorry! My apologies, Sidin. A jerk friend of mine used my ID to post that comment (Ironically, I’d asked him to read your blog and said that he’d like it.) Keep up the blogging. I’m still waiting for the second edition of your cricketing guide πŸ™‚

  • It is sad that PR professionals in the interest of doing some work, go into it with zero research. Until and unless this breed of PR professional doesnt die away, the fraternity will never be resepected.

    I hope this is read by as many PR professionals as possible, for my part i will definitely put in my effort for the same.

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  • For Evry such PR person exists a equally or worse prepared Journalist. I have had a multinational company global CEo from Holland being interviewed by a ‘Senior” resources from India’s”most respected Pink Paper who after three inane questions had to admit that he had read nothing given to him a month in advance, leave alone do research of any type.And even worse such people happily lie , saying “we never got any briefing”. Both deserve each other barring a few exceptions

By sidin

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