To: You know who you are,

It’s been a month since you reached out to me for help with your upcoming Company Meeting in September. We spent close to 8 hours on the phone pulling this together. Talked in depth about the many cultural problems in your company and how we could address them. You didn’t even know where to begin. We also covered a lot of personal ground.

Maybe I gave you enough info to shop the project around, common practice for some of the grinders I come in contact with.

We go back a long way and understand the way the world works.You have lofty goals, as do I. After many lengthy conversations, we reached an agreement and the time and date was set. I asked about wiggle room on those dates and you said there wasn’t any.

We are talking about a great deal of time and effort overall and an upfront outlay of cash and resources.

I made travel and equipment arrangements and had to cancel out some gigs and re-arrange others because Aug 10-11 were so tight. We also talked about your concept of “The Faces of US” which I would have gladly included in the package. It was a go on my end. I really wanted to get involved and help your company. That will never happen now.

So all of a sudden the big guy gets camera jitters “changes his mind” and everything comes to a screeching halt. Fair enough, shit happens. A lot. I got an e-mail on Friday night at 5 pm with “HOLD” in the header and not much else information.

But you saying you were blindsided and didn’t know what happened and then…nothing, says a lot about you and your company and it’s top down culture. I’m not gonna pull your dress up too high here, so don’t worry.

I sent you invoices for my up front out of pockets (which were considerable) for which I have never even received confirmation. If I never receive it I won’t go broke and I’m not crossing my fingers. It’s on you.

Pay or don’t pay. Lesson learned.

Am I pissed? You betcha! But not at your company which doesn’t seem to have an ounce of employee empathy in it’s business plan or mission statement, but at you. You!

You could have picked up the phone and explained what happened so I wouldn’t have been caught in the cross hairs and hanging in the breeze. You don’t know how much that impacted my business. It hurt me personally too, even after all the SNAFUs which come with the video production territory.

You Know Better.

I am sorely disappointed at the whole situation and especially in you. I thought we were professional friends but all of a sudden, I must have contracted Ebola.

Not the way to do business these days my friend. Social media is a bitch. I run a very successful organization and could have added a lot to your efforts and I understand they left you swinging. I wouldn’t get too comfy there if I were you.

But to cut our communication so abruptly, and leave me in the dark, to me, is unforgivable. For you, this might be business as usual, for me, the last straw.

I don’t and won’t take abuse from people I am trying to help.

I run my own very successful business and have the good fortune to pick and choose who I do business with.

I earned that privilege, every bit of it.

You should have “manned” up to let me know what was going on and ease my suffering but you chose to move on like nothing happened. I’ve been here before, many times. Got the scars to prove it.

So don’t call me, I’ll call you.

If you have any questions or need advice, please feel free to reach out to me here.

Bob O’Hearn
508-517-6714
bob@doubleocreative.com