Greg owned a small, 8-person advertising agency that needed a new furnace and air conditioner. Until I first walked into his office, it had never occurred to me that somebody got paid to make ads and commercials. I had never given it any thought.
There was a faded-yellow thermostat slightly offset from Greg’s desk that needed replacing. Just as I pulled it off the wall, Greg walked in to witness a tiny amount of dry wall dust make its way over to his desk. In one of the most influential moments of my life, Greg threw a wild tantrum. Yelling, he pointed out my obvious lack of intelligence and repeatedly insisted that I “look at this mess.”
As I stood there taking his barrage of insults, I swore to myself that I would study advertising, set-up an agency across the street, and run Greg Soter out of business.
I took Advertising 100 the next semester and loved it. Soon I realized that I had no interest in living in Provo, Utah after graduation, and that Soter and Associates was a crappy agency that did crappy work and they would eventually run themselves out of business.
So Greg, I owe you one. If you had any reasonable control over your temper, if you had treated me with even the slightest bit of courtesy, or if you weren’t such a megalomaniac, I probably never would have discovered advertising. Thank you, douche bag. Thank you.