Most ad people I know work hard. Very hard. Late nights and occasional weekends seem to be the rule rather than the exception. On the other hand, a few manage to get by doing the 9 to 5 -- mostly account guys. But if I had to pick the best gig in advertising, I'd have to say itıs creatives who get steady freelance work at the big agencies. A freelance writer at a huge agency recently told me how he'd been hired for three weeks to help on a business pitch. His day rate was a healthy four figures and when we spoke he'd been there a week and a half.

      "Hey Larry, How's it goin?' I asked.

      "Ehh, not great." he replied.

      "How come?." I countered.

      "I'm not doing anything." he replied.

      "Not doing anything?" I repeated.

      "Yeah," he replied. "I spent the first four days just waiting to be briefed.
      When they finally spoke with me it was to tell me they changed their
      mind about doing the pitch."

      "Changed their mind?' I asked.

      "I think they decided the account wasn’t profitable enough to pitch. It
      billed something like $20 million and ..."

      "$20 million!" I interrupted.

      "Yeah, and I’ve been there over a week now and I haven’t done a damn
      thing. They told me to just hang out while they try to find something else
      for me to work on." he explained.

      "Wait a second," I repeated, "you're telling me you just made ten grand
      for picken' your nose? I don't get it. Why do they keep paying you
      if they don't have work for you?" I ask.

      "That's the deal we agreed on. They pay me for three weeks. It's
      strange." he added, "The place is just so big, you just get lost.."

Another woman told me a similar big agency story, however, she was on staff. Sort of.

      "So, what’s it like over there? Workin’ long hours?" I asked.

      "Are you kidding?" said the woman who was making a solid six figure
      salary. "I'd say I probably work about 3 hours a day."

      "That's all?" I replied in disbelief.

      "Hey, that’s more than most people work around here." she replied.

Maybe the best story I heard was from a guy who told me he once had two jobs:

      "What's the big deal" I said. "I've had six."

      "No" he clarified, "I've had two at the same time."

      "Huh?" I replied in total disbelief.

      "Yeah. Really." he continued as he described how he once accepted a
      new job and simply never resigned the old one. "All I had to do was
      pop in for an hour or two at each place every now and then. It wasn’t as
      hard as you’d think. Both places were so big they didn’t notice until
      months later," he explained with a crazed laugh.

Although I had my doubts about the story, this guy was just off-center enough to pull it off.