A couple of years ago, it was raining like hell (does it rain in hell?) and I was, as usual, late to catch a plane.

I called for a taxi that never came. But, lucky me, there an empty cab just passed next to the agency’s building. I jumped in.

-         To the airport, please.

-         Sure… May I ask if you work in this building?

-         Yes.

-         In the agency?

There were at least 15 different companies in the building.

-         Yes.

Then, the driver started to talk about advertising. He knew everything about my agency, the clients, the campaigns. And he was still curious.

-         What do you do there? Creative?

-         Yeah. But…how do you know that much about this? Oh, I got it. You work next to the building and carry a lot of people from there.

-         No, I was just passing by. What’s your name?

-         Fabio. Fabio Seidl.

-         Oh, I read about you…

-         Come on, I am not famous. How do you know that much?

-         I work…I mean, I worked in advertising. I still read a lot about it.

-         What did you do?

-         Planner. All my life I’ve worked at some international agencies, but three years ago, there was the crisis and…

-         How old are you?

-         55. But…does it matter?

-         No, I guess not.

-         I have been looking for a job in agencies, consultancies and research institutes until three months ago, but I gave up. You know, I have a family. So I bought this taxi to pay my bills.

-         You shouldn’t give up.

-         Three years of fight, my friend…

We stayed in silence for a while, but then he started to talk again with great enthusiasm. He really knew about strategy and we discovered that we had some friends in common. I decided to help.

-         Look, why don’t you give me your contacts? I can try to arrange an interview for you.

-         Oh, I don’t know. Maybe my time has passed. I’ve been in zillions of interviews in the last years and I guess people think I am too old for the job. Sometimes I think I am not prepared anymore.

-         I think you are. Come on, give me your card.

He wrote his contacts on a paper. When I got back to the agency, I told the story to the Planner VP who was very interested to meet the man. So, I called him, emailed him and I’d love to have a happy end to this.

But I don’t. The driver never replied and the phone number was wrong.

Maybe he was disillusioned or ashamed. Or maybe he just appeared to show me that that time passes for everyone and we have to be prepared for this ride that we call career.

- FABIO SEIDL