There's lots of things that can go wrong in any agency. Of course, the biggest problem is: "Who the FUCK approved THIS piece of shit that the client is hating?" Cuz, apart from small agency crimes like you had a thing with that girl, or you ate someone's take-out food one night "by mistake', or never attend company offsites, the only real problem you got as a creative is "the client is not happy with your work". If they're happy, you can send porn to the HR director and she'll overlook it--but clients dropping out? You are F-ED, pal. But there's a better solution. And for those whiners worried that the $60 bucks to belong to Adholes was potentially egregious, you are about to receive the ROI you've been looking for. Because you would pay far more to just get rid of that horrifying "tingling sensation" that people are treating you like you are funeral waiting to happen when you go to work--and here's how we get around it:

The Senior Scapegoat.

Think about it. There's a guy who goes to every meeting. He's announced as a member of whatever team the client meets. And he's present at every onsite you attend with the most hostile clients. He's the Senior Whatever.

And his value occurs in the moment you realize the client isn't real happy with your work: when they essentially say-"what the fuck is this"? which is always done in that nice way that sounds like "hmm, this is interesting. I'll have to run this by our brand manager to see if it really, um...adheres to our...look and feel...", you can direct the attention of the table and your client to your Senior Scapegoat, and ask him flat out "hey Jimbo, what the hell was going on with THIS one, huh? That was YOUR team. How do you justify this??!?" He hems. He haws. he brings up classic excuses. The brief. Not enough time. Trouble with freelancers. Yadda yadda.

And now he's the problem. And you just got your ass saved.

It works. Becasue it's classic group dynamics. The client senses the official human sacrifice occurring before their eyes and they understand the bloodlust behind the work. The Senior Scapegoat will hem and haw and you will ask to "see him after the meeting" to discuss. The client will nod approvingly. And the next day when you talk to your client, your Senior Scapegoat will no longer be part of the team. "I'm afraid we had to let him go--he just wasn't towing the line" you say. The client will approve of the quick action taken on their behalf. You dumped a whole person just to appease their whims. All you need to do now is run toward this slice of light and make sure that the next time you present the client gets what they want or the whole sham is blown.

So i say: forget interns. Forget getting more people in your studio, or upgrading your infrastructure or some other low ROI crap. The best spend you'll make this year will be on a Senior Scapegoat.