I really shouldn't even post in here because some of you have situations that are just beastly. And I don't have those problem. My boss doesn't micromanage. He's a very nice guy who treats me well. The hours are flexible and they've let me go half-time when I'm in school, then return to full-time when I'm on break. It's nearly impossible to get fired. I have great benefits. Coworkers get on my nerves now and then but are overall very nice. I've been here long enough to know the exact amount of snark I can get away with.
So I should really really just STFU, right? Yep. Except that I'm ambitious and motivated and I need to stay that way just to get out of bed in the morning. And this job is a complete dead end. I have worked here for 8 years and am now doing the work of two people, one of whom should be in a pay grade 4 levels higher than mine. I start my own projects because otherwise there's nothing to do but the most menial shit. I tell myself that I do it for the self-education and the self-fulfillment, and that it's not about the money or the title. But the state is broke and the uni is even more broke and there's a hiring/promotion/raise freeze for the next two years. Before the freeze, the chances of getting promoted were pretty slim, but now I know that it's absolutely not going to happen.
I just dislike getting stuck in something because the logical reasons to stay make so much sense, and my emotional investment is pretty far down on the list of what's important. What's worse is that my boyfriend, who's also an ambitious workaholic started a great new job and comes home every day super-excited and full of stories and I have to admit that I just sat at a desk for 8 hours, trying to stay awake.
I've been on the lookout for a new job. I'm at the point of slamming my head into the desk at my current employer. I'm more than half-way finished with college (I wasn't able to start going back until the age of 24 - thanks FAFSA), and I cannot figure out how to market myself. I want so desperately to transition from social services, but I feel like I'm stuck in a big black hole with no way out!At any rate, thanks for letting me bitch! I needed it.
I just sent this email to my boss:
Any news on my raise? The contemplation that new Supers are supposedly starting out at, or near the same rate as myself is more than just a little infuriating. I'm assuredly not a Godsend to that place, but I most assuredly do pull my weight and have trained countless people, but to mention that I have been with the place for over 3 years. I am not feeling my worth. The OT has been great, but that will be coming to an end, and I would like some sort of compensation. It hasn't started with -------'s (future supervisor for 2nd) possible increase, -----(previous supervisor for 2nd) made nearly as much as myself, and, honestly, I just don't see how. Surely I am worth more than the starter rate for a fledgling Supervisor with little to no experience?
I only mention this primarily due to the fact that a raise was talked about for me several months ago. And, although I know you said you have put in a raise for me recently, I've become more than a little accustomed to the possibility that it could all be the same customary brainwashing, or vacant promises. I am not blaming you, rather, am querulous as to how the heck the equilibrium is established by showing those deserving, that they do, indeed, deserve it.
Last edited by Dave; 06-17-2010 at 01:21 PM.
Is there any reason why the designer can't make the changes? I'm not saying he isn't a massive tool (he might be), but I am pretty psycho about people going into my InDesign files to make "simple text changes" because they always FUCK UP MY FILES. They don't use soft returns when appropriate, they don't apply style sheets, they attempt to add 72 dpi images they downloaded from the internet, blah blah blah. It's not that I feel "threatened" by them making changes (because, you know, they SUCK at using InDesign), it's that every single time it ends up taking me MORE time to fix everything they fucked up than it would have taken me to just make the changes in the first place. One day I came in from lunch and my computer was so fucked up that I had to do a hard reboot (pressing the power key until my Mac shut off). Turns out one of my co-workers had "tried to make some quick text changes." I mean, really? You couldn't wait until I got back from lunch? ARGH!!! InDesign isn't a word processor, and a lot of times I have a lot more going on in one little text box than they know about.Originally Posted by Autumn
I finally had to go to my boss and tell her to tell everyone else to stay the fuck away from my computer unless they've got me on the phone, guiding them through it. Even then I've had to password-protect it to make sure.
This might be where he's coming from! Or maybe he is just a whiny baby.
My colleague, who's nearly 40 recently threw all her toys out the pram when the boss wouldn't buy her ice-cream when it was hot. This was couple of weeks ago but she's still banging on about it! I told her today the was she behaved was unprofessional. It's a dismal day when I'm the sensible, grown-up one. I tried to tell her that just because it's hot, doesn't make it "difficult working conditions". Besides, if you want ice-cream, buy it yourself. Don't expect someone to get it for you! She didn't even get one for herself after it was refused. Pathetic.
I love my actual job, but the people can make it hell.
Yesterday, the guy that sits behind me told my other colleague how he and his wife hadn't had sex for over 5 years! Inappropriate much?
My current colleagues talk about their sex lives VERY candidly as well. It makes me so uncomfortable (as I've met and continue to see their partners), and also I don't care, shut up.
I am trying to learn where he's coming from because I honestly don't get it. He's not supposed to make extensive text changes because he's not a word processor (and when he does, he always spells something wrong or misses bullet points or something. It's horrible, honestly). He gets paid to be a graphic designer, not to type. That's what I'm told.
A little info about him: Talking to him is like talking to a cloud. You can see it, you know it's there, but when you get close to it, it disappears and there really isn't any substance. He can't explain anything. Asking him one yes/no question takes five minutes. If it requires an explanation, plan on twenty minutes. He isn't a good communicator, and I'm not the only one who experiences this. He isn't a word processor. It takes him ages. He types with two fingers. He's not fast. My boss will hand write and/or type out himself 30, 40, 50 and more pages that he wants processed and returned to him by the end of the day. GD guy can't do that. I can, but I can't do it in InDesign because he says I'm not capable. I think I could be capable if someone could explain some things to me - WHY can't I use a hard return? SHOW me what it messes up so I understand. EXPLAIN linking and re-linking to me. If the file you are linking to hasn't moved and hasn't changed, can't you just click a button to re-link? He can't explain this to me because, well, talk to a cloud and tell me what you get from it. He's tried to show other people InDesign, but he can't effectively explain what he is doing with his hotkeys and can't effectively explain the functions, so it's pretty impossible. We're all pretty sure he's on LSD or something.
I do understand that there is lots that I DON'T understand about InDesign. I don't want to believe that it's not feasible for two people to work in it, though! The problem is that my boss works fast and expects fast results. GD guy can't deliver fast results, but he's really good at GD. I can deliver fast results, but I'm not a designer! I keep reading/hearing that InDesign isn't a word processor, yet we use it to develop 50-100 page proposals containing paragraphs and paragraphs on nearly every page.
Is there a word processing program where I can process and format, and then he can drop it in to InDesign without much re-formatting? We tried using RTF files, but he still complained about formatting and hard returns AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND how I am supposed to indicate bullets, paragraphs, tabs, etc. if he doesn't want them there at all.
And he is a whiny baby. But so am I.
Last edited by Autumn; 06-17-2010 at 09:03 PM.
I loathe my job.
That is all.
haha, that's what I should have posted!
Yesterday, missy called and was like: 'soooo.. You don't have to come in tomorrow cause it's gonna be quiet anyway. So you can have a nice day at home! Yay!'
I KNEW it! There go my hours.. How am i gonna pay for all my new furniture? Is she gonna finance everything? I need hours, damnit and she knows it. She made it sound like she was doing me a huge favor by letting me stay at home... I was so pissed, but i just grumbled and went 'ok, sure'.
The kicker?!? I still have to drop by at night (like around midnight) to get the wallet for tomorrow's lunch shift. She's such a smart cookie..
I work with spoiled brat college students who whine when they actually have to work at work, instead of stand around and talk.
InDesign will recognize style sheets from Word, but my co-workers are all on PCs and I'm on a Mac, so crossing platforms creates some issues. I honestly don't mind formatting all the copy - I actually like doing it. But yes, if your designer is savvy enough, he could create a Word document with the same style sheet names as his InDesign document. But then you would have to apply those style sheets to every item of text that you type, which could be time-consuming and is technically HIS job.
I know what he's talking about with the hard returns and having to re-format bullets. For example, my co-workers typically insert a tab at the beginning of each paragraph and press return twice at the end of paragraph (to create extra space between paragraphs). But the style sheet that I have set up in InDesign for that particular portion of copy has an indent and a space before each paragraph built in (this allows me more control, so if I decide I want to increase ALL the indents, I only have to adjust the style sheet once). This means that I have to go in and remove all the tabs and extra returns. But it's not a big freakin' deal! I can do a find/replace and have that fixed in less than 60 seconds. I guess I could tell my co-workers not to tab the paragraphs, but they have other things to worry about than trying to save me 60 seconds of work.
Here's how we do it:We tried using RTF files, but he still complained about formatting and hard returns AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND how I am supposed to indicate bullets, paragraphs, tabs, etc. if he doesn't want them there at all.
My co-workers submit all text to me in a Word document without style sheets. There's some auto-formatting in there, like when you have a numbered list and Word auto-formats it for you. If they've bulleted text, I'll have to re-format that stuff. But at least that lets me know, "Hey, this section should be bulleted."
Once I've printed the first proof, it gets circulated for further editorial review. THis process cracks me up because isn't that the point of the FIRST approval process? But whatever, they always manage to find things they didn't catch the first time. I'll make minor changes. If an entire paragraph needs to be re-typed, I can do it...but usually they will do it and email it to me. I'll replace the paragraph and apply the appropriate style sheet (takes like 1 second). If your designer has style sheets set up properly, he should not be complaining about this sort of thing.
If there was a pressing need for my co-workers to be able to go into my files and make changes (like if we worked different shifts/days), I would probably just get everyone together and give them a crash course in my InDesign style sheets and how I format text (when to use soft return, when to use "space before", how to line up baselines, etc.). But we all work the same hours, and I'm always here so I really don't see the need to cross-train everyone on something when I have no problem doing it myself. Plus I am a control freak when it comes to my files, but I think this is typical for designers.
I never thought about love when I thought about home
Your entire post made me cringe in agony! Yes, the PDF should be printed, marked up, and given to the designer for changes.
I'm fortunate that my department is the graphic standards and communications police for the entire hospital, so we're able to address things like this. If we see a squished logo on a flyer, we have the authority to pull them down. We have over 3,000 employees and our hospital is 500+ beds (read: HUGE). When swine flu hit, you cannot imagine how many nurse managers decided to make their own flu germs flyers and post them everywhere. It was a fucking disaster, and I'm not even talking about how they were designed (the real disaster was from the communications standpoint - no consistency to the message).
Sometimes it seems like every other employee with access to Word or Publisher (the horror) thinks they're a designer and can make pretty posters and flyers to stick all over the walls of our hospital. It's so frustrating because we work so hard to maintain a cohesive image and brand, only to have a patient walk into the hospital and see 10 different cliparty flu posters (with conflicting messages) everywhere.
Yesterday, I got called into a meeting with the owners of the business I manage. They are very lovely people and I've worked with them forever.
They told me that over the past few months, they could tell that I didn't like coming to work any more. They commended me for sticking with it and trying to make it work, but they said it made them sad to see how hard I was "trying to be happy."
So, they let me go. . with 3 months full salary, no-contest to unemployment, benefits for 6 months, and they let me keep the laptop they just got for me. It was so weird because they were both crying and hugging me and telling me to stay in contact with them. I've never had such an emotional dismissal.
They said they would help me in any way they could with finding a position, but they urged me to take some time and figure out what it is I really want to do.
So, I'm upset but not really angry with them. They couldn't have been sweeter. . . and truth be told, I hated that job lately.
I think I'm going to try to get an office/government job. I need a 9-5 so I can do theatre at nights and on weekends. I've been ignoring that part of my life for too long, and I really miss it.
I dunno, I'm nervous and excited. I'm sure it's going to hit me some time this week, and I'm going to hyperventilate and self-medicate with a bottle of Cuervo. . but ya know . . part for the course.
-Jacob.
That sucks, but it also sounds like this will ultimately be a good thing for you. Having 3-months severance will probably help keep the anxiety at bay for, well, three months (), but I'd start getting resumes out asap.
Good luck!
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
