So, who calls the shots?

EARLY 1980, a raw and somewhat yokel lad from the backwaters of the East Coast rode his beat-up motorbike to Paramount Gardens in Petaling Jaya in pursuit of a job. Without the faintest clue about what the industry was all about, he knocked on the door of a medium-sized local advertising agency and was elated at the opportunity to meet with the general manager.

As luck would have it, he got the job as an account executive with the proviso that he had to get a car within three months or be fired! Happy, yet troubled by this predicament, the lad turned to his government servant father for a loan of RM3,500. He used it as down payment for a grossly-overpriced Fiat, which eventually spent more time in the workshop than on the road.