Ladies and Gentlemen, Pinto & Flounder

I got an email last week that almost went straight to the junk folder. I didn't recognize the sender's name and assumed it was another spammer trying to sell me solar panels or erectile dysfunction pills.

Neither of which I need, because my house faces the wrong direction and I'm always saying the wrong things to my wife.

As it turned out, the email came from a young man who said he enjoyed reading this blog. Moreover, he mentioned that he worked with my partner and I way back in 1997 at Chiat/Day's old binocular building on Main Street.

This was an amazing time at the agency, when we were winning accounts and winning awards on just about anything we touched. So to get us ready for the big Levi's pitch, Lee Clow called in extra help from the satellite offices.

Including two tenderfoots from the St. Louis hub.

Knowing we would never remember their names, my partner and I started referring to the green team as Pinto and Flounder. Not only were there physical similarities to the two eager college students in Animal House, there were vocational similarities as well.

Think about it. Two Midwest boys transplanted to the big city hoping to gain the respect and admiration of their well-seasoned, big city colleagues. Not to mention the fact that the inside of an ad agency creative department is very much like a university frat house, complete with bad hygiene, bad fashion sense and bad social skills.

Pinto and Flounder weren't on the floor ten minutes before the hazing and the razzing began.

"Lee is hard of hearing in his left ear. If he starts talking to to you, make sure you speak really loudly and aim it to the left side of his head."

"Can you run down to the first floor studio and pick me up some rubylith paper?"

"Thursdays are pants-optional days."

"Can you get in the horseless carriage and bring us back some lattes?"

I'm sure there were other more elaborate schemes. None of which I can remember.

Maybe Pinto (who is now a big time Creative Director and, apparently, a regular reader of this blog) will help refresh my memory. And maybe he'll throw me an assignment, make my life a living hell and exact a little pranking revenge.

That's what I would do if I were in his shoes.