Marketing

That new ad for Go Daddy software has been bothering me. You know the one--it aired during the Super Bowl, and it was the guy in the suit wandering around at Go Daddy Headquarters, peeking into the Marketing Department and the loud music is going with strippers and whatnot. Of course, the tagline is Everybody wants to work in Marketing...

Well, I'm here to shine the spotlight of Truth on that ad.

First of all, I used to work at Go Daddy--back when there were only about 40 employees and the number one priority was to put Verisign out of the domain registration business. So I can attest that Go Daddy World Headquarters doesn't look like that. It's a cheap office in Scottsdale with dirty carpets and very few windows--all the prime real estate with views of the parking lot is taken by the bosses.

And nobody wears a suit, fer Chrissakes--the company is populated by programmers and techies. Hell, there were many days where I got out of the pool, put on some flip flops and a Jimmy Buffet t-shirt, and went to work in my swim trunks. And I was the most well-groomed person there--you've all seen the I.T. guys at your offices--imagine being locked in a room full of them for eight hours a day. "Dressing up" consisted of wearing socks and their least-faded Grateful Dead t-shirt.

As far as having hot chicks in the Marketing department--not a chance in hell. Working with a bunch of World-of-Warcraft playing Trek nerds who dress up like this guy for Halloween, one can only imagine the disruption that would be caused had any female, especially an attractive one, wandered through the corporate equivalent of the Parent's Basement. The place would've shut down, work would've ground to a halt, and thousands of websites around the world would suddenly cease to function.

Seriously, any tank-top wearing Scottsdale hotties in the area gave the place a wide berth. I went back to the break room one day to get a pop (Jolt Cola or Mountain Dew Code Red were the most popular choices), and two guys were arguing about an episode of Star Trek--not just debating, but getting all up in each other's faces like the Sharks and Jets were getting ready to have a slap-fight. It was a seriously surreal place to work, at least to someone who's not of that particular world.

It was a decent job, though, and I appreciated the nice income after having been unemployed for the previous eleven months. One of my co-workers and I were making so much commission selling hosting that one day they suddenly changed the payouts without warning. After emerging from the meeting where they gave us the news, I immediately tendered my resignation and headed for Tennessee.

The rest, they say, is history.

I would've loved to, however, been working there with hot chicks and loud music providing the ambiance--it would've been great fun. But I guess I've got the next best thing at the casino--cocktail waitresses and drunks.

And I don't need to work in the Marketing Department to participate.

Mikey