Im going to have to call you back

As many of you know, I work in Buenos Aires Argentina at a production company that makes TV commercials. We are working on a new campaign, for which I have been put in charge of buying some stock footage. We are buying stock footage from a company in Santa Monica. The world of advertising is a very interesting one. Stress levels are high. And even in the midst of an earthquake, we were managing a technical crisis. Below is a string of emails that took place today between me and the representative of the image bank in Santa Monica:

Ana,

I really need to speak with you. The post production people are having some technical difficulties with the video you sent us and it is not a problem with the codec. Please email me when you get this or call for me at the office 54 11 4854 90XX.

Thank you

Russ Finkelstein

At that point, Ana called me. We spoke for about 10 seconds, then she said, "Im going to have to call you back, we are having an earthquake-" then we were cut off.

I couldn't believe it. Then the correspondence continued:

Hi Russ -

Sorry about that. We just had what seems to be a 5.8 earthquake. My phone is down for the moment. Can you tell me in detail what seems to be happening, what have you tried? do you hear any sound? or see anything?

~Ana

Ana,

im sorry to hear about the earthquake. I hope everyone is okay.

Im not quite sure what the technical problem is that they are having at the post production house with the video you sent us, but I wanted to put you in direct contact with the person in charge over there. His name is Fabian and his email adress is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Please contact him directly.

Thank You

Russ Finkelstein

Thanks Russ -

Everyone seems to be ok - kind of shaken up, but ok. It was a pretty big one, 5.8 which is causing phone problems in the city.

I will email Fabian right now.

Thanks,

Ana

And from there the technical problem we were having with the video was able to be solved when Ana and Fabian spoke via email. Thank god for that. Its comforting to know that even in the middle of an earthquake, people are on their blackberries troubleshooting technical problems with stock footage of cheetahs. Once I had closed the deal I then called my parents to make sure everything was okay.

In case you are interested, below is a commercial we produced here.