Things that jerk my chain...

[Samy the owl]

I would...but the problem is that i havent seen the report yet. This was a conversation i 'overheard' while he was speaking with the project manager over the phone. So now if i go and confront him about it, the whole thing may turn around and i may be accused of eavesdropping! which i wasn't really since his cabin is right next to mine and i can hear him getting up from his chair even.

it just sux...i wish i cud do more, im still on probation here.

[budafist]

Well use the fact that he doesn't now that you know :D

Thank him for a great job on the project and just be an awesome worker. Say something along the lines if you glad that he helped on your project. You can guilt trip him into an apology, maybe.

I'd never do that myself, but just a suggestion?

[TooTallVal80]

Val, are you talking about a digital printer? Or do they have you out in the shop mixing ink and firing up the AB Dick?
Yep, on a Xerox digital.

[Kool]

Rosie O Donnel
I really thought we had seen the last of this repugnant cow a few years ago when she self destructed her entire little (Oprah like) empire in a matter of months. But no! Barbara Walters had to go dig her out of whatever trailer park she was living in and bring her back to help prop up the ratings of her morning hen fest. "Just be yourself Rosie" I'm sure she told her. Barbara knows the value of a good trainwreck/freakshow to boost ratings. It worked too, the "look what outrageous, obnoxious thing dribbled out of Rosie's yap today" is a regular feature on the news everyday now. :mad:

[budafist]

People that think art belongs in galleries only.

[budafist]

Co-workers that don't include registration marks even though it's just 2 down from the crop marks option. It's just a tick! Easy! They always draw the marks in instead of using the tick option which is why the hardly ever do it because it's "too hard". Sure, if I had to draw in my crop marks all the time it would be a hassle, but the registration marks options are there to save time.

Now I got printers annoyed because all the plates were outputted without the targets they need. They're going to try to work with them, because making the plates again costs $$.

[SpugNothuson]

I'm all to familiar with that one Budafist, I soon learned the value of regisration marks, an irate printer is not a pretty sight.

Some people really struggle with the basic fundamentals of pre-press.
Crop Marks
Registration Marks
Bleed
Colour Bars
All but the last can be set, very easily in a handy little print menu. You can even make a mistake on the first 2 and our imposition package will add them in for you, if you ask it to along with the colour bars. But still, it's often not done.

Can't they reister to each colour by looking at the edges of the picture boxes?

I'll let you suggest that to the printers, whilst I cover my ears due to the foul language that is about to be thrown our way.

[budafist]

Thing is, our printers are pretty patient considering. They ask once every few days for the designer to add the registration onto EVERYTHING they send through and each time they tell the designer again, the designer acts like it's the first time they've been told..."Oh, I didn't know I had to put registration on. I never put registration on any of my files"

[SpugNothuson]

At our place it's a case of hiding if you make a mistake. The printers here don't have patience, unless they're running a job thats 20,000+, then its amazing how much time they have. They read the Newspaper cover to cover. Walk around pestering each other and the finishers. After an hour or so they'll check their ink ducts and colour continuity through the stack.

They don't check the next set of plates that needs to go on. They wait until they've put the plate on and started printing the make readies. Then they complain like hell that this isn't right, couldn't that be done differently. Making life hard for them. Then go nuts that they have to swap a plate.

Sure in an ideal world everything would be perfect, but its not.

I'd just like to add that mistakes are made by me, but most of the time I'm just the one that has to do the fixing.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

Not to bounce off topic from registration marks but I hate it when fellow designers design whole ads in photoshop with body copy. Then when I pick up the ad for a change on the next run, see that it is done that way and need to go and delete the text from the photoshop file and place the picture into Quark/InDesign and add teh text there and re-align all the copy.
I also hate when designers do not update their fonts to the Opentype variety that we are now supposed to be working with and I need to update the fonts in recent ads (i can understand an ad picked up from a few years back when we didn't use Opentype).

Oh, wow, getting some thing out here. I also don't like when people save the ads, should be 4-color only, with Spot colors in the Quark palatte instead of converting them to process.

whew! done now, will have another drink of tea.

[reuber1]

Acute back pain.

[MD]

Not to bounce off topic from registration marks...
Is that a subtle printing pun?? :D

[BJMRGTIVR6]

Is that a subtle printing pun?? :D

Well, I didn't think of that then but it makes me chuckle now.
hehe:p

[budafist]

I don't get the pun. Mustn't have worked in the industry long enough.

And Spug, I totally know what you mean - your printers sound like mine. Our printers play all sorts of games that include throwing things around the factory and also riding on the trolleys when a large run is on the press. Such children!

[SpugNothuson]

Pressman are some of the biggest kids in the world. :D

If bounce means the same over the river as it does here its a print term, one that the pressman deal with. Generally on thicker stock board 300gsm and above the sheet hits the side lay and will on occasion "bounce" off rather than sliding down it. That sheet is now out of register and when guillotined is usually easily noticed due to the inconsistant pattern. This can happen alot especially if the grippers and guides have not been set correctly.

The, allbeit unintentional pun, was to bounce of the registration marks. :)

[SpugNothuson]

I got a letter today from my Doctors telling me that I had to make an appointment with them sharpish as my Cholesterol level was too high and I'm at risk of a heart attack. (I'm 26 but have hereditary high cholesterol). :(

All is good though as the shock of the letter was completely dumbed down as the thoughtful receptionist had set it all in Comic Sans - Bold, how nice of her. :confused:

[Virgo Nightingale]

Clients who resize a 4-panel brochure (one panel being a tear-out someone can mail in) from 8.5"x14" to 9"x16" three rounds of changes into the thing, then when I finally get an approval and everything is set to go, we find out that the tear out is supposed to fit into a #9 envelope instead of a #10 envelope which we'd originally thought (a 4"x9" tear out won't fit into a 3.875" x 8.875" envelope). You couldn't think of that when you were figuring out what size to make this thing?

[John G]

liberals

and fooking exercise. lawl grats! in an effort to better yourself you now only have an hour for free time per day to do what you want! lolololololol

[Samy the owl]

chronic appendicitis :(

[SpugNothuson]

chronic appendicitis :(

Ouch!

I was lucky enough, if you can call it that, to have mine burst on me. No more apendicitus for me. Did kind of hurt a smidge though. ;)

[Samy the owl]

Well...mine is at a stage that it wont burst, that is come and gone...or so says the doc. But every other week it hurts like HELL! I have the option to get an operation...but that is scary too.

[SpugNothuson]

Obviously any operation has a degree of danger, but even with mine bursting, which entailed the poor Docs to remove my internal organs, wash them and put them all back in again I was out in 3 days.

Hurt like a *insert very painful thing here* when I sneezed for the first time though. :eek:

[budafist]

All is good though as the shock of the letter was completely dumbed down as the thoughtful receptionist had set it all in Comic Sans - Bold, how nice of her. :confused:

Maybe comic sans means that your letter was a joke?

[reuber1]

liberals
You know, I don't go around saying conservatives jerk my chain all the time. I may disagree with them quite a bit, but they don't jerk my chain...at least I don't let them.

[MD]

You know, I don't go around saying conservatives jerk my chain all the time. I may disagree with them quite a bit, but they don't jerk my chain...at least I don't let them.

I'd let conservative Elizabeth Hasselbeck from the View jerk my chain any day of the week.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/041220/041220_hasselbeck_vmed_10a.widec.jpg

[reuber1]

Is that Matt Hasselbeck's, or his brother? Either way, lucky bastards, because the other one is supposed to have a pretty hot wife too.

[budafist]

Got a big job that I've been working on since December. They want sign off end of next week. With what I have so far, I thought it was doable - given that all text and photographs and images have already been provided.

Now client wants 30+ technical illustrations redrawn by next week because they don't like the quality of the drawings supplied by the manufacturer. Did I mention that it is Friday?!?

[Virgo Nightingale]

Depending on the complexity of the drawings, that doesn't sound especially possible to me, buda. I hope you told them as such. I'd say, to meet this particular deadline, nope, not gonna happen - but if you have revisions to this project at a later date and give me enough time before the next deadline, I'd be happy to consider it.

[budafist]

I told them 2 weeks for the new drawings to be done and approved. I've got many many other jobs on the go. My manager/sales guy had a talk with me and he will call on the talents of a previous designer to help on this.

[Crimson]

Having a good paying design job but then being forced to set everything in Power point and the font can't be anything smaller than 12 point - Courier. Goverment job :(- must be for GWB himself- stupid rules. At least I get OT

[Exodus]

I'm here at work... on a Saturday. Not even just any Saturday... St. Patricks Day. I'd rather be drinking.

[Red Kittie Kat]

Cheers Exodus.... me too darlin ... lets have a cyber green beer together!


May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be at your back,
May good friends be there to greet you
And your table never lack.
May your life be filled with laughter,
and your heart be filled with song.
May God shine His light upon you,
As you live your whole life long.


http://photos3.flickr.com/5971068_3d3066947d_m.jpg

[SpugNothuson]

Is that best sung in harmony round the office or bellowed out with a Pint Guiness raised in the air?

I've just finished work. (Wasn't too much of a slog mind you, I'm the network administrator and as such have hooked my home system into works system). I'm sat here with a Pint. :D

[Red Kittie Kat]

Must be sang in harmony with a raised pint :D


Cheers Spug!! :D

[Crimson]

I worked 15 hours on St. Patty's day and I didn't realize I could have come here for my green beer. I am working more OT on Sunday can I get a two pints?

[Red Kittie Kat]

Absolutely!! 2 Pints coming up! :D

[Virgo Nightingale]

I'm actually working from home right now. It's something I'm not used to, so I haven't decided if it's cool or not. But my boyfriend is rehearsing with a couple of his friends in the living room (including an awesome mandolin player), so I get to sneak a listen to the songs they've been working on. That's most certainly a thumbs up...

[budafist]

I take one day vacation and when I come back:

Client has been convinced by the other designer that their newsletter should be set in Arial instead of Gill Sans.

My emails are a mess. Our rule is that when we are away, our emails are checked by the person that is here. She checked some of them, and did some of the work, but I have no way of knowing which ones.

[Virgo Nightingale]

I'm actually working from home right now. It's something I'm not used to, so I haven't decided if it's cool or not. But my boyfriend is rehearsing with a couple of his friends in the living room (including an awesome mandolin player), so I get to sneak a listen to the songs they've been working on. That's most certainly a thumbs up...
Literally minutes after posting this, the restaurant calls and begs me to come in just for a couple hours because the guy who was supposed to cover this one girl's shift forgot about it and made other plans he couldn't back out of.:mad: So not only did I have to abandon what I was doing and come back to it four hours later and only have the time to finish half of what I'd been planning on getting accomplished, but I only got to hear my boyfriend's band rehearse two measly songs. :mad: :mad:

[SpugNothuson]

I take one day vacation and when I come back:

Client has been convinced by the other designer that their newsletter should be set in Arial instead of Gill Sans.

My emails are a mess. Our rule is that when we are away, our emails are checked by the person that is here. She checked some of them, and did some of the work, but I have no way of knowing which ones.

It's amazing how much can get stuffed up just because you hada days break. I look forward to my holidays but I always get a feeling of impending doom just before I go back to work.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

That sucks Buda. Especially since there was no consultation.

There's only two designers in my place of work, another and I. Good thing is we do not alter each others work if there is any covering being done, right down to the fullstop. If I take over, any adjustments by me will be very minor, as a lot of external consultations and approval have been taken into account- and vice versa.

[Virgo Nightingale]

I have a client that wants a cartoon illustration on the back of his postcard/coupon/flyer thing. He gave me a black and white photocopy of an image that had been severely upsampled (it's literally about 32 dpi - I can actually measure the pixels). I thought he was giving this to me as an example or reference. No. He specifically wants this character and doesn't have access to the digital file. I'm actually supposed to scan this stupid looking character off of a black and white photocopy of an image that was upsampled to about 32 dpi. And I have a splitting headache. Someone shoot me. Now.

[urstwile]

I aim to please. :D

http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/fighting/fighting0010.gif

Might be better off pointing this at your client however. :p

[budafist]

That sucks Buda. Especially since there was no consultation.

There's only two designers in my place of work, another and I. Good thing is we do not alter each others work if there is any covering being done, right down to the fullstop. If I take over, any adjustments by me will be very minor, as a lot of external consultations and approval have been taken into account- and vice versa.

Just 2 of us here too. I wouldn't alter someone else's work unless the client asked me to. Which is mostly why I'm mad. It's not that it's Arial, it's that she convince the client to change. As if we don't have enough work to do - that we have to make more work for us!

[budafist]

I have a client that wants a cartoon illustration on the back of his postcard/coupon/flyer thing. He gave me a black and white photocopy of an image that had been severely upsampled (it's literally about 32 dpi - I can actually measure the pixels). I thought he was giving this to me as an example or reference. No. He specifically wants this character and doesn't have access to the digital file. I'm actually supposed to scan this stupid looking character off of a black and white photocopy of an image that was upsampled to about 32 dpi. And I have a splitting headache. Someone shoot me. Now.

Where did they steal the image from? Can you deter them with copyright threats??

[Virgo Nightingale]

Where did they steal the image from? Can you deter them with copyright threats??
The guy probably did purchase it (or hire another designer to purchase it on his behalf) in some way shape or form years ago. Who knows. I'm hoping the sheer horror of how bad it looks pasted into the middle of an otherwise fairly nice full color piece will make them go, "Hmm... perhaps we should go with something else..." I've already scanned and placed it, and I purposely did absolutely NOTHING to make it look any better. It truly looks pancaking awful. Hopefully that will help them decide to not use it.

[SpugNothuson]

I'm often stunned at how blind some customers can be when it comes to poor artwork. You point at it with a huge stick and circle it 14 times with a red pen and they just shrug their shoulders and go "Looks alright to me".

THAT'S WHY YOU'RE NOT A DESIGNER AND ARE PAYING ME TO DO IT!

They seek out our expertise and then they ignore us, do they realise that people will be laughing at their company when they see this tosh?

It makes me so angry sometimes, I'm off to stand outside and swear at the Squirrels for being cute, that'll calm me down.

[budafist]

Spug, you just reminded me of another thing that jerks my chain. When a client brings in "artwork" that's been printed, writes all over it and circles images on it to show you what they want scanned. Then you have to clone/heal out all the pen marks they've just put on.

[captain spanky]

wow this is a long thread.

[SpugNothuson]

A darn sight longer than the things that make me forget I have a chain thread!

Us designery / pre-press / computer types have a lot to get off our chests sometimes.

[reuber1]

wow this is a long thread.
I'm a proud contributor to this. :D

[Kool]

We just passed 80,000 views http://koolsplace.com/images/woohoo.gif

[urstwile]

I don't think I'll ever get tired of that smiley, Kool. :)

[budafist]

We're a whiney bunch...

[Red Kittie Kat]

Nothing like a good Monster thread now and again :D

[reuber1]

The Federal Government screwing me out of $300 of my tax return. Is it normal for my return to say X and the real amount deposited is actually X - $300?

State return was exact.

[budafist]

Call them up Reuber.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

Reuber,
If you had an error and they caught it, they will give you the orrect amount.
I had an error one time (or so they told me and sent back a corrected sheet) that I either had a lesser refund or that I actually OWED them money instead of a refund. Ouch!

[jessicam]

Today I realized that my ex-boss still has my copy of the first Harry Potter book that she borrowed like a freaking year ago. It's third grade level reading, why would she have it for a year? I'm really pissed. Probably I am mostly pissed about the whole losing my job thing when I was the one in at 7 and out at 5:30 with my less than an hour lunches and taking work home while they sauntered in at 8:15 and took hour and half lunches and split at 5 on the dot. But right this minute I want my frigging HP book. So. So. Mad.

[budafist]

uh...it's just Harry Potter Jess.

Sucks about the work time stuff though.

[DesignStudio]

One of my subcontractors (my old go-to guy in fact) is apparently having some sort of breakdown from being overwhelmed. So he actually told me that he could not finish a web project we were almost done with because he was having too hard of a time, and he just left me hanging. Now I have had to look for another programmer and I'm waaaaay over deadline. Luckily that client is being very cool about it.

However, I made the mistake of letting him finish another site we'd already started that he said would be no problem. It was freaking 3 pages, html, so simple. He just blew off the deadline last friday without telling me, and I don't find out until I get a pissed off email and phone call from the client so I'm caught with my pants down. I've used this guy on alot of projects and he never missed a deadline before. I was out of town Fri/Sat so I didn't check up on him that he got it done. Now earlier today he promised he'd call me tonight to get a few details to finish the site. Because of that, I told the client it would be done by tommorrow or he could expect a refund (because he was threatening to just ask for his deposit back and walk anyway). It is now 4 am pst, and 7 am est where my client and subcontractor both are. Apparently I'm not going to hear from my contractor and I'm going to be screwed out all this money. I could not be more angry, at him and myself. I can't believe he screwed me over so bad. I have never had a problem with this contractor until the last week or so. I hate that I have to put my company's reputation in someone else's hands. I feel so not in control of my own business now and it's pissing me off.

[budafist]

I hope you had a contract with your contractor!

[SpugNothuson]

uh...it's just Harry Potter Jess.
Just Harry Potter!?

JUST Harry Potter!?

JUST HARRY POTTER!?

BLASPHEMER!

[BJMRGTIVR6]

Just Harry Potter!?

JUST Harry Potter!?

JUST HARRY POTTER!?

BLASPHEMER!


Who is this Harry Potter you speak of?
:D
sorry, never got into the whole thing...book or movie.

[jessicam]

Just Harry Potter!?

JUST Harry Potter!?

JUST HARRY POTTER!?

BLASPHEMER!

Exactly! And I haven't done my re-read before the last book comes out. :eek:

[Patrick Shannon]

I tell you something that pisses me off. Why is it that on a lot of treats out there...whether it's yogurt, chewing gum, etc, they can't just flat out use a single flavor? Okay, for example, I'm at the grocery store and I'm looking at yogurt. They're always combining one flavor I really want with one flavor I really hate. You look around and see things like "Strawberry Banana." "Raspberry Cherry." "Coconut Banana." (etc.)

This really makes me angry as banana is one of my favorite flavors (such heaven on ice cream pops) and they can NEVER just use a single flavor! Just make "Banana!" Just make "Cherry!" Damn!

[budafist]

Instructions are set business card 8 up on a sheet. The way they do it is set it up 4 up, pdf it, and then set the 4 up pdf 2 up on a sheet.

Why???

[hewligan]

Instructions are set business card 8 up on a sheet. The way they do it is set it up 4 up, pdf it, and then set the 4 up pdf 2 up on a sheet.

Why???

Because if people stopped inventing creative ways to produce these sorts of documents, we wouldn't need people like you to fix them any more.

And then what would you do?

See, they're just trying to be helpful by keeping you in work. At least, that's the only reason I can imagine for it... ;)

[budafist]

It seems that 8 up was too much for them to compute - too many trim marks?

I directed them to the 8up template I've got. Problem averted.

[hewligan]

It seems that 8 up was too much for them to compute - too many trim marks?

I directed them to the 8up template I've got. Problem averted.

Had trouble with 8? Did you suggest they try counting on the fingers of both hands? :D

[budafist]

I'll do that next time.

I'm a patient person. I'd like not to blow up since I have to sit next to this person 8 hours a day. I want to keep the atmosphere friendly, but some things just get on my nerves.

Must remember, not everyone is as smart as us.

[hewligan]

Which is probably the thing that worries me most in life.

I mean, I don't really feel that smart most of the time, and generally just sort of stumble through most of the stuff that needs doing. And yet, it turns out that I'm a long way above average on the smart scale.

I stopped worrying about dumb people a long time ago. Now I just wonder how the average manage to get through the day.

[frankster]

remember Hewligan that the more you know, the more you know how much you don't know! That's probably why you feel dumber than the people who are dumber than you feel.

[hewligan]

Are you saying that some severe head trauma would make my life easier? Because I'm pretty sure I have a hammer around here, and some days...

[Jackimalyn]

crapiddy crap crap crap.

[budafist]

What's wrong Jackimalyn?

[Jackimalyn]

eh usual. "By the way, you know that tight deadline you've got... lets double the work for you. you didnt really want a social life; did you?"

[budafist]

Any chance you can say "no"?

There was a period when I was asked to stay back after work almost every day. I don't have kids, so it's not like I gotta rush home to look after them, and my bosses know this. But every now and then I just say no just because I can. No one gets mad for it.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

eh usual. "By the way, you know that tight deadline you've got... lets double the work for you. you didnt really want a social life; did you?"

Crappers:(

Luckily my boss at my current job says 5pm is 5pm and that means no working. Much better than older jobs when 5pm or 5:30 meant you were just getting that last piece you had to turnaround in a day.

[DesignStudio]

that's right, you have to quit at five or you won't make it home or to the bar by beer-thirty.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Ahh yes, Happy Hour at the local...

There's a joint in town where people park their cars on Friday mornings and take public means to work just so as not to miss a parking spot at Happy Hour!

[budafist]

...but that encourages people to drive home drunk.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

I miss the old days of once a month Happy Hours at the local Brewery. It burned down (well, the bar caught fire and they decided to renovate the entire building). They would have a beer release once a month and give out glasses and/or shirts. And their Happy Hour starts at beer o'clock, not beer thirty. maybe when the weather gets warmer we will head out to wing night too. boy now missing out on Happy Hour and Wings is jerkin' my chain.

[Jackimalyn]

alright, didnt go to the bar or any of the local breweries. just unwound last night with a glass of pinot noir. feelin better knowing i have half a bottle to go home to tonight....

[Typically]

ugh i've been taking pictures of umbrellas all day! taking the pictures isn't the problem its that they give me something to shoot i shoot it and then break everything down. 10 mins later they have something else for me to shoot! this happened 4 times today!!!

[budafist]

Can you leave all your gear on standby?

[Typically]

they don't like me leaving it up for too long because it's in the conference room haha i just wish they would let me know ahead of time so i could just snap them all at the same time. it doesn't happen very often but its still annoying :mad:

[budafist]

Ask for a signup sheet or something. Then maybe they will book you in before they need you - thus you could see what is coming up.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

...but that encourages people to drive home drunk.

In Kenya we say "The car knows the way home".:D

The Traffic Police are planning to introduce a brethalizer which caused havock last year when it was enforced withoit being entrenched into the Traffic Act. One motorist actually took the Police to court and it application had been suspended.

[Typically]

Ask for a signup sheet or something. Then maybe they will book you in before they need you - thus you could see what is coming up.

that's a good idea but i mostly just get stuff handed to me saying i need a picture of this by X:30. i'm over it now yesterday was just a long day =]

[budafist]

Driving drunk has huge money thrown at it it campaign wise. Ask anyone that has watched NZ television. We have horribly graphic commercials on TV here to deter people from drinking and driving and speeding.

My bf failed a breath test over the weekend. I normally take his keys off him when he's been drinking but this one time I let it slide. It's a stupid irresponsible thing to do. It's not just you that could get hurt, it's other people.

He passed the breath test though and the police sent him on his merry way. He'd drunk plenty, but I think he was saved by the pizza he ate before he left the house.

It only takes 1 time to ruin your life y'know?

[frankster]

Arghhh!!!! I'm not a frickin vegetarian!!! I eat dead animals! I like eating dead animals! Yummy! Why does every bugger think I'm veggi? This is the third time I've been invited to someone's house for dinner (three different houses, three different people) and been served a different meal to all the other guests, because the host for some crack addled reason thinks I'm veggi? Do I look like a veggi? What does a veggi look like? I'm quite pale and skinny, but really, does that cause you to assume a person doesn't eat meat?!?! What the hell? Do I need to buy a tshirt that says "I eat meat" or something? Now my husband was brought up vegetarian and only started to eat meat at age 15 and then was veggi again whilst in uni, but no one ever tries to feed him frickin tofu without asking. I hate tofu.

[budafist]

Wow that's weird frankster. I've never assumed someone to be veggie. I normally assume the opposite until told otherwise.

Maybe you should put on some fat?

[DesignStudio]

maybe you should print yourself up a bib to wear when you go to people's houses for dinner. Like a lobster bib, but with a picture of a cow on it instead of a lobster.

On a side note- if you're a big meat eater, have you ever had turducken? it is perhaps the best thing to eat on the face of the earth. It's a deboned duck stuffed inside a deboned chicken, stuffed inside a deboned turkey. then if you want to really top it off, you wrap the whole thing in bacon before you cook it. amazing.

[SpugNothuson]

That'd feed me for a flipping week! This Turducken sounds like a challenge.

I'd advise against the I eat meat T-Shirt though Frankster, you'd get some odd looks in public. ;)

My ever so useful boss tried to help me out yesterday by telling me how to do my job. He'd quite kindly drawn up an imposition that proved that I wasn't using the most amount of space on a sheet, if we did it his way we could get another 4 business cards on there...

Oh pancaking really!! Where's the grip you balding git. Arghhhhh! Sit down, shut up and play with your bloody emails like usual and leave me to do what I'm paid to do!

What I actually said was a lot more sedate. If only he could hear my thoughts. :D

[DesignStudio]

just keep this picture at work to hold up when he starts telling you your business:

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/3862/orlycl2.jpg

[Drorain]

Arghhh!!!! I'm not a frickin vegetarian!!! I eat dead animals! I like eating dead animals! Yummy! Why does every bugger think I'm veggi? This is the third time I've been invited to someone's house for dinner (three different houses, three different people) and been served a different meal to all the other guests, because the host for some crack addled reason thinks I'm veggi? Do I look like a veggi? What does a veggi look like? I'm quite pale and skinny, but really, does that cause you to assume a person doesn't eat meat?!?! What the hell? Do I need to buy a tshirt that says "I eat meat" or something? Now my husband was brought up vegetarian and only started to eat meat at age 15 and then was veggi again whilst in uni, but no one ever tries to feed him frickin tofu without asking. I hate tofu.

A local radio personality, Howie Carr, oftens gives out prizes of shirts, one of the shirts is a "PETA" shirt...

People Eating Tasty Animals

[morea]

^ made me think of another one I've seen around a few times that reads:

"If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?"

[Typically]

kill it n' grill it!

[jessicam]

A local radio personality, Howie Carr, oftens gives out prizes of shirts, one of the shirts is a "PETA" shirt...

People Eating Tasty Animals

My favorite is "Meat is murder... Tasty, tasty murder." :D

[reuber1]

Staying up all night typing a track by track album review for our blog, only to have the damn thing buried on digg almost instantly. I'm tired as hell right now.

[MD]

roober - there are quite a few digg members on the forum - maybe we can all give your story a push.

Also it is probably good to have a couple weeks of material up before you post your blog anywhere.

[reuber1]

roober - there are quite a few digg members on the forum - maybe we can all give your story a push.

Also it is probably good to have a couple weeks of material up before you post your blog anywhere.
True. It's actually a group of us, not just me (blog is my sig, I didn't want to actively spam....my clever handle is Poopface Morty :cool: ).

We've been getting some good traffic considering we haven't been up for more than a few weeks, especially today; I suppose I was being a bit greedy.:D

[Typically]

people leaving a 1/2 gallon of milk in the fridge for 1 over a month and a rank ass salad. making the entire office smell like rotting milk and dead lettuce chickens. at least my part of the office doesn't smell but the first step out the door you get kicked in the face with a gnarly stench. anyone else have this problem at work?

[reuber1]

people leaving a 1/2 gallon of milk in the fridge for 1 over a month and a rank ass salad. making the entire office smell like rotting milk and dead lettuce chickens. at least my part of the office doesn't smell but the first step out the door you get kicked in the face with a gnarly stench. anyone else have this problem at work?
Not quite, but close. The problem we have is someone baking something in the oven for too long, then the entire tech support area that's adjacent to the kitchen warms up by about 30 degrees higher than room temperature, while simultaneously reeking of burnt 'whatever' (though not as bad as the smell of rotted milk). It's so hot in here I can't think.

[Exodus]

We throw stuff out of the fridge on Fridays. If it's your crap and you wanted to keep it but left it in there... too pancaking bad! Some people around here have learned that the hard way.

[MD]

We've been getting some good traffic considering we haven't been up for more than a few weeks, especially today; I suppose I was being a bit greedy.:D
I think it's near impossible to get to the front page of digg without friends help. I have posted a few stories that got no attention but hit the front page a few days later under a different user. Post your digg name and i will add you to my friends list.

[Typically]

ohhhh oven thats fancy talk. we have an army of microwaves in the lunch area nothing that could actually burn the place down. that stuff is all in the imprint room =] you should just turn the oven off whenever someone turns it on. that'll solve the heat problem

[cornfed]

The worst smell I've ever caused in an office is when I caught this girls hair on fire. Oh my gosh, it smelled up both stories of the building! It was terrible!

[reuber1]

Post your digg name and i will add you to my friends list.
Same as my blog handle...Poopface Morty. :D

Thanks MD.

[Typically]

The worst smell I've ever caused in an office is when I caught this girls hair on fire. Oh my gosh, it smelled up both stories of the building! It was terrible!

how did you light a girls hair on fire at work?

[cornfed]

She had real long hair and a ton of it and I had a lit candle. I asked her to come look at something at my desk and it was all downhill from there! The funny thing is I didn't realize it at first, then I completely froze not knowing what to do then I just jumped her to try to get it out! Looking back on it, it was hilarious, but at the time I was pretty freaked out. It went up in flames really quick, too!

[Typically]

hahahahaha oh man that's too funny! bet that was the last time she came by your desk to look at something without her hair pulled back :)

[MD]

Same as my blog handle...Poopface Morty. :D

It's not cool to submit your own work - Thats why you got dugg down.
Maybe we should start a thread here for GDF digg users to give you a push. Maybe one of us can submit the story and over the course of the day give you a couple extra diggs.

[reuber1]

It's not cool to submit your own work - Thats why you got dugg down.
Maybe we should start a thread here for GDF digg users to give you a push. Maybe one of us can submit the story and over the course of the day give you a couple extra diggs.
I figured that was the case. I wasn't much of a Digg guy beforehand, so I didn't know the ropes. That's what they have all us do, is there's a mass IM of "DIGG THIS STORY GUYS" and I'm pretty sure that's not helping our cause.

[DesignStudio]

my wife and i went to see a used washer and dryer tuesday, and agreed on a price, and the woman agreed we could come pick it up friday. we just called today to come and get it early, and she sold them to someone else. jerk.

[budafist]

That's sh*tbags DS.

[DesignStudio]

i know, we were livid. you'd think she'd have at least called us to see if we'd match the offer since she already agreed to sell them to us. some people just have no concept of consideration.

[budafist]

Similar thing happened to my mum. They've had their bedroom suite for 20 years and they agreed to by a newish one from this lady for $1000 which was a good deal, but not cheap by any means for second hand. So they sold their old one for next to nothing. Come pick up day, the lady had sold it to someone else! So they were without bedroom stuff for a few weeks. What a pain!

[urstwile]

It's not cool to submit your own work - Thats why you got dugg down.
Maybe we should start a thread here for GDF digg users to give you a push. Maybe one of us can submit the story and over the course of the day give you a couple extra diggs.
That's a good idea, MD. I don't use digg very much, but I'd be happy to help others here get to the top of the list.

[C.E.]

............ when I set my wedding date for a specific date, tell my family, my friends, etc. and then 2 months later my fiance's mom sets HER date with HER boyfriend (whom she's only been with for 1 year, and me and my boyfriend have been together for 7 years) for the EXACT SAME DATE, and doesn't seem to give a rats ass that we had our date set first. *fuming*

[frankster]

so what happens? She's not going to go to her own son's wedding!?! That just sounds plain odd.

[C.E.]

odd is the nice way to put it. Yeah, tell me about it. Now I have to "fight" for my date, and for all his stupid family to show up. Whats a gal to do? I have family coming in from about 6 different states already.

[frankster]

Make yer bloke do the fighting for the date! It's his mum that's being a twonk. If there's no joy then I'd just go bridezilla on thier asses!

[C.E.]

Boy and I really wanted to stay away from being bridezilla. Gives a gal a reason to huh? Poor hubby to be, he just wants everybody to be happy. I suppose I'm lucky he's not more of a momma's boy. I just can't imagine your own mother dissing you like that.

[frankster]

wow, if you didn't already have the family coming in from all over then I'd recommend eloping. I hope he can sort it out for you hon, cos that sucks. Even if you do a daytime/evening wedding split it's going to ruin the whole "your day" thing. Plus, if you have the evening do then everyone will already be wasted when they show up! Geez. :(

[budafist]

You need to put your mother in law in her place!

[budafist]

Setting up a ticket for a charity event/dinner. Tickets are the same as last year with a few minor changes (sponsors, date etc) I've been given a pdf (not print ready) to use as artwork. All the logos are low res and it's through a broker so I can't contact the client directly to get the proper files.

Just visited the event website to check it out a bit more and tickets for the event is $7000 each. You'd think that for $7000 per head they could afford to provide the correct files?

Cheap seats are $6000 each.

[DesignStudio]

mother in law's suck. mine's just as bad. the only reason she even came to our wedding was because my father in law threatened to divorce her if she didn't show. she came and didn't say two words to my wife, sat in the back row, refused to be in the pictures, sat in the back corner during dinner (not at a table, in a chair in the corner) didn't eat, and left right after dinner without a word to my wife. then she didn't speak to my wife or i for about 18 months. but it didn't ruin our wedding day. the only thing i can recommend is to just make the day about the two of you as much as possible, and let everything else be peripheral, because it is. if all of your family doesn't show, or your mother in law isn't there (if you're lucky), or whatever else happens that you didn't plan on... just try not to let it ruin your day. the day isn't for your family, or your husband's family, or your friends, it's for you.

[Typically]

hey frankster whats a twonk? it's interesting i think i have an inkling but it could be totally off

[cornfed]

Wow! That's pretty low for a future mother in law. If she's that big of a twit, I wouldn't want her there in the first place. Sorry for your fiance, that's gotta hurt him.

Just remember, you'll have her grandchildren one day and it's totally up to you how close that relationship is! I, for one, wouldn't want my children associated with someone like that.

[Virgo Nightingale]

Has she given any reason at all why she has to have the same date? Does your fiance even get along with her in the first place? What an attention whore. I say get your invites in the mail NOW!

[C.E.]

LOL the funny thing is she asked me to do her invites and of course I said yes. (Of course I woulda done them anyway but geez)... but my alt. motive is that i will know when she's sending hers out. LOL!

[budafist]

You could accidently make the wedding date on her invitations the weekend after :D

[DesignStudio]

i was going to say the exact same thing buda did. "oops, I can't believe i got the date wrong on your invite, geez i'm really sorry about that"

[budafist]

..."Since they're already sent out now, there's not much we can do but change the date!"

...Yes, you could even take on mail house responsibilities!

[SpugNothuson]

hey frankster whats a twonk? it's interesting i think i have an inkling but it could be totally off
Twonk is Frankster's British roots still shining bright. :D

The terminology of Twonk depends on where you come from in the UK, it some parts it is on a par with Idiot and means pretty much the same.
Other parts it is an amalgamation of Tw@t (sorry to fool the filter but it's relevant to the explanation) and Plonker, and is a bit more offensive, still not an overly harsh word though.

Twonk needs to go global. :)

[Typically]

i was thinking that it was the second one thanks spug. i will be eagerly waiting to put this awesome word into use =]

[reuber1]

80 degrees two weeks ago; it is now snowing, in mid April. What is even more awesome is there is not a plow in sight, which really is par for the course nowadays.

[Typically]

haha i hear you about the weather man. it's been so random in nj too. it needs to get warm already so i can hit the beach!

[reuber1]

Yeah, and they say it's supposed to be 60 next Tuesday. Next Tuesday can't come soon enough. We're supposed to get 6-8 inches.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

Yeah what ever happened to Spring?
We had a few nice days in the 80's (degrees Fahrenheit, not the 1980s) and then the cold weather came back and it flurried a little on Easter. Christmas weather on Easter and Easter weather back on Christmas.

What ever happened to this global warming?

[bazzle83]

ok, here's things that get on my ****..

People that ask you a question but walk away before you get a chance to answer.

People that are in love with their own voice. You know the ones.

Chav's. The ultimate scourge of our society. They hang around in groups wearing loads of cheap stuff like burberry, fake rings, reebok anything.

Kids that smoke. They come up to you and ask you for a lighter or a fag, mainly cos they want to look grown up, even tho they are only 11.

The new fasion trend of teenage males wearing jeans so loose you can see half the guys arse poking out. It really is disgusting I call for this trend to stop now.

Fat chav women that insist on baring their wobbly blubber to the world by wearing tops that are way too small and show about five inches of midriff.

Really pretty girls who spoil it all by going "emo" and doing something stupid with their hair like having a rediculous straight fringe or something.

People in positions of power that don't listen to suggestions of obvious ways to sort problems out because of having too much pride.

Girls that put on so much perfume that you can still smell it in the air five minutes after she's left the area.

People you are forced to sit behind on a bus that, either smell of rotten cheese that makes you gag or have such greasy and unruly hair that you have to stare at.

The stupid noises those new buses make, that beep everytime they slow down.

People that judge others before they have met them, and base their judgements on other peoples comments.

People that make judgements on you before they have got to know you properly.

People who think they are, what I call the "moral policemen" and regularly stick their noses in other people's personal business and tell them how they should conduct themselves.

Pubs that serve beer that tastes like hairspray cos they haven't cleaned their pumps/pipes.

Hypocrites, really is the worst attribute that someone can have.

Paranoid people, like the health and safety nuts that take away things we enjoy and compromise our businesses because of the slight risk of injury

[Typically]

Fat chav women that insist on baring their wobbly blubber to the world by wearing tops that are way too small and show about five inches of midriff.


hahahahaha man i don't know how many times i've said that. but whats a chav? i love the UK slang we need a glossary of terms haha

[frankster]

hahahahaha man i don't know how many times i've said that. but whats a chav? i love the UK slang we need a glossary of terms haha

http://www.chavscum.co.uk/

[Typically]

so they like real life ali g's?

[budafist]

The new fasion trend of teenage males wearing jeans so loose you can see half the guys arse poking out. It really is disgusting I call for this trend to stop now.


Baggy pants have been around for about 20 years...

Edit* In 1989, MC Hammer brought some baggy pants into mainstream. Hip hop has influenced fashion ever since.

[bazzle83]

so they like real life ali g's?
Yup, only most chav's are white, even tho many of them are convinced they are black, that's why people call them wigga's.

Here is a group of chavs.

http://freespace.virgin.net/chav.scum/images/jan002.jpg

This is my description of a chav.

A typical chav is a kid that goes round town centres with his other chav mates and chavettes (female chav) and harrasses people. Usually all they want is a fag (cigarette) or a light but sometimes they threaten to beat you up. All you've got to do is give them a mean stare and they'll run for it.

Chav's are easily identifiable because they always wear the same stuff. light blue or white heavily branded polo shirts and tracksuits. All cheap stuff they've picked up from high street sports stores. They always wear caps too, but position them on the back of their heads so the peak points upward.

Burberry is the trademark of the chav. If you see anyone in the uk wearing an article of burberry patterned clothing, it's a chav. Also look out for cheap and tacky fake gold jewelry they've picked up from argos or index (cheap mail order shops)

Chav cars are usually clapped out old ford fiesta's or orions. But cos they want to look "cool" they do them up with the cheapest body kits they can find. You can spot a chav car from a mile off.

Chav's usually live in deprived suburbs and council estates and are the offspring to the worst scourge of all time, chav mothers. They usually have five to six kids, all from different fathers. They don't have the kids for the pleasure of being a mother tho, but to scrounge as much benefit from the government as possible, they don't have jobs but live off the tax we pay. That's why chavette's (chav girls) get pregnant at such early ages, so they can quickly get hold of a council house.

Anyway, this is turning into a bit of a rant, better stop now before I really let loose.

[bazzle83]

Baggy pants have been around for about 20 years...

Edit* In 1989, MC Hammer brought some baggy pants into mainstream. Hip hop has influenced fashion ever since.

Well they've re-emerged over here, and kids are wearing them lower than i've ever remembered.

[budafist]

I find this funny. I know guys in their 20's and 30's that wear baggy pants around here. I guess they have just gone from old fashioned to in fashion again!

[budafist]

We had a girl from London staying with us last week. The stories she had about the kids there were horrific. I guess they were chavs. Beating and raping people that mind their own business. And the worse thing is, since they are so young, there's nothing much that can be done.

[bazzle83]

yup, it's weird how things come back into fasion, I often see teenage girls that look like they've come from the 1950's or something..

[bazzle83]

We had a girl from London staying with us last week. The stories she had about the kids there were horrific. I guess they were chavs. Beating and raping people that mind their own business. And the worse thing is, since they are so young, there's nothing much that can be done.

Yeah, a few weeks ago a 12 year old boy got raped by a 15 year old just near my house.

Kind of makes me happy my little sister of 12 has moved to France with my parents.

[bazzle83]

hahahahaha man i don't know how many times i've said that. but whats a chav? i love the UK slang we need a glossary of terms haha

Have a look at www.urbandictionary.com

This website is not too bad for slang, it's got a lot of cockney rhyming slang in it too. www.londonslang.com

[budafist]

yup, it's weird how things come back into fasion, I often see teenage girls that look like they've come from the 1950's or something..

Definately. I hear my mum go on about how she wishes she'd saved her {insert current fashion fad here} since they're back in fashion.

Some things though, should stay in the past.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

I'm into retro prints and fabrics at the moment; recently I picked up this polyester, 2 metre width 60" piece of fabric in a cute yellow-y paisely (sp) print at the local second-hand market. I had a pretty dress that I wore to a wedding and had some of the ladies whipping out their camera phones.

Now I'm on the hunt for more, more...:)

[Typically]

wow that's crazy about the kids over there i never heard about that before. as for the 50's stuff i'm guessing since you guys are from over there you have heard of amy winehouse. i just found out about her she is amazing. her music is just a nice change from everything that is over here now.

[Virgo Nightingale]

I actually heard a song by her earlier this week. Very interesting style. I might have to check out more of her stuff.

[bazzle83]

wow that's crazy about the kids over there i never heard about that before. as for the 50's stuff i'm guessing since you guys are from over there you have heard of amy winehouse. i just found out about her she is amazing. her music is just a nice change from everything that is over here now.


Yeah I love Amy Winehouse, she's got such a great voice. I imagine you've heard of Lilly Allen too. I don't like her as much but she's supposed to have taken America by storm aswell.

[Jackimalyn]

DO I look like I mechanical engineer??

NO! Im just smarter than them!

If i have to constantly correct their mistakes and actually DO their job (yes, I am designing product and giving engineering the specs i come up with and THEY are putting it into CAD or SolidEdge or w/e after I do the legwork) then Id better be paid like an engineer... not a graphic designer!! I got a mouthful for my review next month!

</rant> Screw noodles. Im going to New World Wines for lunch (they're having a red zin tasting today yummm)

[Typically]

Yeah I love Amy Winehouse, she's got such a great voice. I imagine you've heard of Lilly Allen too. I don't like her as much but she's supposed to have taken America by storm aswell.

I've heard of Lilly Allen but haven't heard her music i hear its similar to Amy's stuff though. I agree with you on the voice there is just something that grabs you when you hear her. She is playing in NYC in august i might have to check it out. There should be plenty of cute girls there to check out =]

[frankster]

Holy piss weaseling nut sacks! I've had hiccups now for 45 minutes! I think I'm going to die, or flip out like a ninja and totally attempt sepuku with a frisbee. It's the only thing I've not tried.


hic.



AAARRRGGGGG!!!!

[budafist]

Does your stomach muscles hurt yet Frank? I hate when that happens...

Back in 1922 Charles Osborne of Iowa must have done just that, because he got a case of the hiccups. Actually his hiccups started while he was weighing a hog.

This was no ordinary case, it was a world record hiccup fit, it lasted 68 years up until they mysteriously stopped in 1990, hiccupping an estimated 430 million times. He died 1 year after his hiccups stopped.

[Kool]

Take a glass of water and put a butter knife in it blade up. Then placing the knife alongside your nose (Be careful not to poke your eye out) drink all the water. I have no idea why but this works 99% of the time. :)

[hewligan]

Cures for that spasming diaphragm:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiccup#Home_remedies

[frankster]

Damn it! The hiccups have gone. I was trying things on Hewligan's list randomly. They stopped after I tried wiggling my ear, but I refuse to believe that is what cured them. Luckily I hadn't got as far as this one...

Drinking a glass of water, then spitting it back up and drinking that again, repeat until hiccups stop.

Eeeeewwww!

Kool m'dear, your method failed miserably I'm afraid. One of my mates is convinced that shouting insanely loudly at the person with hiccups "C'mon! Hiccup! Hiccups for me you b1tch!!!" repeatedly, whether you are in public or not cures hiccups.

[urstwile]

I generally just hold my breath on an inhale and concentrate on holding it, that always works for me. Glad yours went away, Frank. It can be annoying when they're persistent. My husband Sam gets really stressed out when he gets hiccups, and that just makes it worse for him. That and the fact that he's convinced his heart stops every time he hiccups, so then he gets all freaked out at his impending doom.

[cornfed]

Drinking water upside down always gets rid of them for me. You just have to be careful that it doesn't go up your nose instead of down you throat!! It's probably just some cruel thing I've been told and all you really have to do is go upside down for a second. I don't know, but it always works for me!

[budafist]

All our CTP plates for some reason or another were coming out at about 97% size on 1 axis only last week. With the production manager away, I called our tech support company.

The guy that came couldn't understand the problem let alone figure out how to fix it. He kept asking me who was in charge and knew about the CTP machine. I told him our production manager was away. Yes, I'm second in charge. No I don't know what's wrong with it - that's why I called you!

I showed him what the job should look like (from previous job), what they look like currently with the machine incorrectly outputting. He just didn't understand the difference. Just got me to repeat and gave me blank looks. I let him take the new plates and the the new prints as well as the previous job sheets back to the company for advice. I get a call later that day from another guy from the company telling me there was nothing wrong with the plates or the job.

Dude, it's pretty simple. See this letterhead here? It's too short. The end.

No one ever came to fix it. Production manager is back today and he fixed it almost straight away. The CTP settings had been set to another default size.

Grrrr....

We've requested that that particular technician never return.

[morea]

I designed a business card for my client. I am supposed to quote printing prices and my printer is taking their sweet time getting back to me. It's been 3 days and I still don't have an answer, which is just ridiculous. This is a VERY simple job.

I have contacted SIX online printers for pricing. I can not register for many of these sites to view the pricing because I am staying with a friend in Canada after being forced to sell my house, and Canadian provinces are not listed among the 'states' in the dropdown list.

I wrote an email to each company explaining my status as an American citizen living as a temporary resident in Canada and asking if (a) they would do business with me and (b) what the pricing would be, since I can not access it myself.

The few companies that have bothered to respond to me have sent a form email back saying "you can view our prices upon registering for our website" - meaning that they can not be bothered to read even the FIRST line of my email.

My client's patience is NOT going to last forever. He has been waiting for pricing on this since Friday night. That's to say nothing of MY patience, which went out the door around lunch time today...

This really makes me mad. I finally responded to the last 'form email' I just received:

"I can not register as a trade customer because your website does not include Canadian provinces in the dropdown list of States. As per the question I asked in my previous email, does this mean that you will not do business with me?"

Give me a break! This is infuriating! :mad:

[skirklan]

I haven't used these people, but at least you can get a price online for both USA and Canada.

http://www.gfxinc.com

Good luck,
SDK

[morea]

thanks, I'll check them out! I've done some deep breathing, so hopefully the impending anneurism has been averted... ;)

[reuber1]

Instructions: ...NO ARTWORK ATTACHED TO MICROSOFT WORD DOCUMENTS PLEASE...

Received E-mail: "Our artwork is attached"

Attachments: artwork.doc

:mad:

[flutterby nut]

just found out my ex blew thru $4000 since january and has NOTHING to show for it!!!...wtf?!...how much booze, weed, and women/men does he need?! :eek:

that money was ear-marked for home repairs...roof leaks, water heater is now questionable, garage needed new roof and doors...etc...

i'm just so pissed!...now he wants to refinance again...we just did it in november!...the prepayment penalty means nothing...makes me seriously wonder if the house payment is current....i hate being dependent on such a lout...grrr!

ok...i'm done

ok...maybe not...:mad:

[cornfed]

Not that it's my business, but why are you and your ex still intermingled like this? You don't have to answer, but maybe think about it! Sorry, that sucks for you.

[flutterby nut]

hehe!...if i had my d'ruthers i wouldn't be...hard to avoid when you have kids tho...they deserve a decent roof over their heads...somehow, that should have some sort of priority over the other...sigh.

[cornfed]

Yeah, I can see how kids could complicate things! Good on you for keeping them the focus! Still sorry, that sucks.

[Jackimalyn]

So Ifinished doing all this pricing for a huge customer (a 3 month project I worked on in every spare second I had) My boss (the VP) looked it over. The head of the finance department looked it over. The head of sales looked it over. So, yesterday, we presented it to the customer and it was fine.

Today, apparently they werent happy with the pricing and our finance guy is going through and changing some stuff in my document. It seems everyone is blaming me for the customer being unhappy... except my boss. He keeps saying "you did a wonderful job. You did everything you were supposed to" blah blah blah. You know what if I f-ed something up I need to know. Tell me! I really think hes trying to protect me because he likes me. wtf? I appreciate that you care and all, but Im a big girl and if you dont tell me, I cant fix it! AGH!

Getting constructive criticism outta these people is like pulling teeth.

[skirklan]

The head of the finance department looked it over. The head of sales looked it over. So, yesterday, we presented it to the customer and it was fine. Today, apparently they werent happy with the pricing and our finance guy is going through and changing some stuff in my document. It seems everyone is blaming me for the customer being unhappy... except my boss. He keeps saying "you did a wonderful job. You did everything you were supposed to" blah blah blah.

First, consider that your boss knows more about what you do than the other guys and he truly DOES know you did a good job. Second, remember that big jobs always push the client's "are we sure they are proposing in good faith" button. As a precaution against complacency, clients will automatically ask you to review your estimate, and ask for changes just to reassure themselves you know they are important. They want to see your enthusiasm for the account; they want to know you want to please them. I know it sounds silly, but it is oh, so true. When I worked inhouse for a major corporation, I preferred using one printer because he was willing to negotiate. When the budget forced me to go back to him and ask for a 10% discount, I knew he would. It just reinforced our good working relationship.

Third, don't be so hard on yourself. You are not responsible for the world. If the rest of your group thought you were solely responsible for keeping all the clients happy, they would insist on looking your estimate over. By saying it looked fine to them, they gave you their support. Don't assume because the client came back unhappy that your group has withdrawn it's support; and if that's the case, don't allow it. Remind them that they reviewed the price prior to giving it to the client therefore they own their portion of responsibility for the client's displeasure.

Never accept a "responsibility without authority" position, either in your head or on the job. You will walk around with a headache all the time.
Good luck and keep the faith, eh, especially in yourself. You can only do the best you can do, so feel good about it. Stop letting those monkeys around you shift the blame when they aren't willing to shift the authority.

[Jackimalyn]

thanks skirklan. I did find out what was wrong with the pricing. Apparently I didnt use the new multipleier that we add onto our customer's orders. The thing is, NO ONE EVER TOLD ME TO CHANGE IT. I am soooooooo angry and frustrated at the lack of communication at this company. Ive tried tons of things to resolve it but nothing works. The departments dont talk. Ive called a meeting monday with the higher ups to talk about this. Hopefully we come to some resolution.

In the meantime, im going out for mexican tonight with friends and Im buyin the first three pitchers of margaritias... for myself.

[urstwile]

Jacki, it definitely sounds like a communication problem that is not your fault. Especially since everyone reviewed the estimate beforehand.

Enjoy your margaritas. ;)

[Virgo Nightingale]

Jacki:

Here, get yourself a fourth pitcher on me, sounds like you need and deserve it! (Just promise me you won't drive! ;))

http://www.click1.net/twenty.jpg

[Jackimalyn]

awwww. thanks virgo. My boyfriend offered to drive since I had such a crappy day... to wait til I sobered up enough to drive... we'd be there all night

[budafist]

That sucks Jack. I'm glad no one ever asks me to price things.

[budafist]

Even though I tell this client to proof read and proof read before sending their text to me, they still came up with this sentence (for a real estate catalogue):

Owners has brought.

2 mistakes in a 3 word sentence. :eek:

[Tsmalldon]

Owners has brought.

LoL

Amusing indeed

[Virgo Nightingale]

Why do clients think it's possible to give me changes for a postcard on Monday and expect to have 20,000 of them (full color, with bleed, plus aqueous coating) in hand by Friday without having to pay a crapload for overnight shipping/rush charges? If you knew about this project last week, why the fudge did you wait until Monday to give me the changes? Oh, you thought 5 days was plenty of time? Will smacking you in the head knock some sense into you or do I have to bash your head into the wall several times before you get it???

[budafist]

Will smacking you in the head knock some sense into you or do I have to bash your head into the wall several times before you get it???

Do let us know how this goes Virgo!

[budafist]

Dear Students,

Please do not leave it to 1 hour before assignment deadline to present your 1-2 GB files to your local printer to be printed.
We will not like you.

Regards,
Buda.

On the up side, as their deadline time slowly came and passed, they weren't pushy or negative towards me. I think they realised at that point it was their own fault. I've had students break down in tears as they are still sitting in my office and it's a half an hour after deadline and the printer is still spitting out their files.

Suprisingly, I was never one of those students. I usually got my things printed 1-5 days before deadline. Because then there is trimming and mounting that you gotta do at home. Does that make me a geek?

[SpugNothuson]

Suprisingly, I was never one of those students. I usually got my things printed 1-5 days before deadline. Because then there is trimming and mounting that you gotta do at home. Does that make me a geek?

That makes you wise. Also more emotionally stable come deadline day.

I'm expecting this problem here in the next few days, the deadline is Friday. I have 2 students coming in today and 1 tomorrow. I'm waiting for the flood of phone calls to start.

[Logo-Mechanix]

If you want something in an unrealistic time frame it will cost you an unrealistic price, period.

[budafist]

No, students come in expecting student prices. We just give them a tax free charge.

Students don't make us any money and their jobs take twice as long to do.

[DesignStudio]

Suprisingly, I was never one of those students. I usually got my things printed 1-5 days before deadline. Because then there is trimming and mounting that you gotta do at home. Does that make me a geek?

I once got a zero on my final project, a poster I had made for my Scientific Illustration class, because I turned it in one hour past deadline. but, at least I was not a geek ;)

[budafist]

Zero is a bit harsh. Around here, you lose a certain % for time past but you can still pass.

What really annoyed me while studying is that if there were lots of people that didn't make a deadline, they would put the deadline back a few hours or even days because they thought that the low numbers that it meant that the deadline was too early for students to handle.

...So here's geeky me handing in assignments 2 days too early because that's what the original deadline was.

[hewligan]

I usually handed in assignments early, too.

And, sure, maybe sometimes those other students got an extension and had more time, but I had less stress. I much prefer my way.

[DesignStudio]

i think deadlines should be deadlines. I was one of the students that almost always found a way to turn things in late and got away with it. it didn't do me any favors preparing me for reality and a business environment. the reality of running a business is that "turning things in late" doesn't mean B+ instead of an A-, it means you can't pay your rent or buy groceries.

[carter the artist]

you know maybe that's my problem... I never turned in homework, maybe my grades would have been a bit better, and that'd explain that look on my bosses face everytime he talks about this deadline thingy.

[frankster]

ho hum. Sent an email to a non profit group that I've done pro bono work for over the last 3 years. They had included me in a mass email basically requesting spec work, so I felt the need to write them a lengthy explanation as to why that is pants. I feel like I've done the right thing, but I also feel kind of like I've been rotten, as though I've told my freind that she's way fat and needs to do something about it.

[budafist]

Is the non profit group asking for spec work (where they pick 1 out of a bunch of designers work and only pay the winner) or are they asking for free/pro bono work?

[frankster]

Is the non profit group asking for spec work (where they pick 1 out of a bunch of designers work and only pay the winner) or are they asking for free/pro bono work?

Where they mail a bunch of designers and ask them to complete spec work and only pay the "winner". I've done free pro bono work for them in the past for specific events because I approve of the cause, but felt the need to let them know how I feel about this current turn of events.

[budafist]

I think it's fine for non profit to ask for pro bono but to ask for spec work is not so good. Reason? When a designer decides to do pro bono, it's for giving back the community. Free work for the exposure is fine for non profit groups.

If they suddenly find they have enough money to pay a designer, then they should pay 1 designer to do the job based on that designers portfolio.

[frankster]

I completely agree, which is why I emailed them back and called them on it. I think they were most likely unaware that it was a bad thing to be doing because they hadn't put enough thought into what they were asking for. I'll be interested to see what thier reaction is now that I have pointed out to them very specifically the many problems with spec work.

[jessicam]

I'm so furious right now. I know I get paid either way but, you know, insane freaking client man, if you "don't like straight lines" and you "think everything should have a border on it to make it look finished" probably you should share that BEFORE I SPEND A WEEK WORKING ON YOUR PACKAGING.

I have half a mind to go out and find the gaudiest pancaking photoshop turorials on the web, spent 8 or 10 hours adding them to his pancaking packaging and give him that. He'd probably love it.

[budafist]

Ewww...that sucks Jess. I'm going through a bit of a anti border phase at the moment. I don't appreciate it when clients want to put borders around everything either.

[reuber1]

Nothing like construction less than a block away at 6 in the morning. I should look into where these folks live and think of starting a personal little construction project of my own nearby...something that involves lots of hammering. That is, when I'm awake enough to do so.

[Typically]

you have to stay up all night drinking and then find where they live. at about 4am you start throwing all the empty bottles of beer at there front door. if you have to wake up early it's never gonna happen and you won't have a case full of empties =]

[reuber1]

Ummmm, OK. My credit card has been declined at any place I tried to use it after work. There have been no purchases on it at all today, and my online balance shows no fraudelent charges. WTF?

[budafist]

Time to cut up the credit card Reuber?

[reuber1]

God I hope not.

I don't see anything on my online banking site purchased from today, but that doesn't mean someone didn't make any purchases today, as I don't think it'll show up until tomorrow.

[budafist]

True...damn.

[Lane61190]

What jerks my chain...

Windows vista...

can I get an amen?

maybe no followers... meh.. I Fing hate it

[budafist]

Vista doesn't jerk my chain because I haven't encountered it. I don't think I ever will. But that could be wishful thinking...

[SpugNothuson]

My chain was well and truly jerked ogg the pancaking wall this morning.

A customer comes to us with a correction to there job, "Just delete this line".

I called up the last artwork for it, entitled Jobname NEW (can you see where this is going already?) the line was then removed and hey presto sent to print. I get into work today and I see the final printed job, a MASSIVE glaring spelling mistake looking me in the face, the one that was corrected last time, before it was printed. Where are these NEW NEW files, that's right on the PCs harddrive, not on the server. Stupid bloody me.

Apparently I should've checked, well heres a revelation for you, I don't have the bloody time to check every single plate that comes out of that machine! I have enough to do already in my day!

Who got to have a "chat" with the boss later? ME! Lucky old me.

What happened to the good old days where you could jump on a boat at the port and become a ship mate and screw everything else, I seriously feel like telling my boss to stuff it if this "chat" is more of a "blamestorming" session.

[reuber1]

OK, no fraudulent charges yesterday. What in the hell...

[jessicam]

Check your expiration date?

[reuber1]

That's June of next year.

[Virgo Nightingale]

Call your credit card company. They've gotta have some sort of explanation for you. I had an instance a couple months ago where someone tried using my cc number (a card I'm trying to pay off and thus haven't used in a year) to purchase $214 in computer hardware from some online store in the UK. They automatically declined that purchase and put a hold on the number until they could get a hold of me. If you don't use a card very often then suddenly charge something, it raises red flags.

[Mynock]

Customers who change the file in the printing process without letting the printers know. I'm just suppose to know they added a line after I asked for an indesign file when you originally sent me a pdf without it.

[reuber1]

Call your credit card company. They've gotta have some sort of explanation for you. I had an instance a couple months ago where someone tried using my cc number (a card I'm trying to pay off and thus haven't used in a year) to purchase $214 in computer hardware from some online store in the UK. They automatically declined that purchase and put a hold on the number until they could get a hold of me. If you don't use a card very often then suddenly charge something, it raises red flags.
Just found out some ****ing ******* in London got a hold of my number and tried a test transaction of $3 on the thing, which didn't work, so now there's a lock on my card and I have to get a new one. I don't get it, I shred EVERYTHING and the only place I only buy stuff is Amazon online; I'm really paranoid about this shit, and it STILL happened.

I would love to meet these ****ing cowards in person. :mad:

[Virgo Nightingale]

At least your cc company is diligent enough to notice these things and stop them before charges go through. They've gotten much better – I had the same thing happen to me years ago and the company let a $1000 charge go through before calling me and asking me if I'd been shopping in Israel and London. I then had to jump through hoops to get the charges removed.

And shredding your documents and never using your cc online won't guarantee you won't have your number lifted. A few weeks ago a ring of cc number thieves was busted in NYC. They were an organized bunch of punks who would go out and get jobs as servers in restaurants and in addition to swiping a customer's card for their bill, they'd swipe it on a hidden reader to steal their information.

[reuber1]

Yeah, it definitely could have been worse. I just am so pissed because I'm still careful about this kind of thing and it STILL happened.

[Riya]

Your not the only one that has to be careful with it. Your bank, your mailman, everywhere you shop has to protect both the physical equipment and the data transmissions. Paranoid yet?

[budafist]

Them: This client wants to print a banner. We don't print banners.
Me: Yes we can order in canvas or banner stock, but they have to pay for it.
Them: They won't want to pay for it. We don't do banners.

Give the client a choice whether or not they want to pay for it for goodness sakes!

[fredrich]

Nothing new, and nothing to be mad about now, but I just have to let it out. If you're going to print a brochure, don't grab the header with the logo from the website and put it through Paint before you send it to the printer. (Yes, I tried to save the image through Paint myself, and it looked pretty damn similar to the printed one). Just ask somebody next time. Like Ben Stiller in Starsky & Hutch would have said it: Do it.

[reuber1]

Your not the only one that has to be careful with it. Your bank, your mailman, everywhere you shop has to protect both the physical equipment and the data transmissions. Paranoid yet?
Hmmm, interesting. Seems that someone else from my last job just had the exact same problem just now.

[budafist]

One of our brokers came in asking where her proof was. The job had been sitting in my intray for an hour but I wasn't told it was urgent. I hadn't received the artwork yet, but yes, I'd received the brief.

I get an email from her later in the day with artwork attached apologising that she forgot to send it this morning.

[fredrich]

One of our brokers came in asking where her proof was. The job had been sitting in my intray for an hour but I wasn't told it was urgent. I hadn't received the artwork yet, but yes, I'd received the brief.

I get an email from her later in the day with artwork attached apologising that she forgot to send it this morning.
Don't you just love emails without the attachment(s) supposed to be there?

And some times, when it takes several days to get a person to send a certain file. Damnit, you're in front of the f**king computer, just look it up and send it to me.

[Logo-Mechanix]

When the secretary/moody biotch comes back looking for a job that was supposed to go out 3 days ago and wants to why it didn't. So I get the paperwork out and realize the ship date is the same date as the day the order was placed so I show this to her and she say well what do you want me to do? thats the day they want it. This is odd even rush jobs always have a day or two so I look further at the order and realize there are items that had to be ordered to go with this and they have not even come in yet. I slowly start to see what has happened, she pancacked up by not putting a date on this and the computer automaticall puts a due date the same as the day the order was put into the systems, the custmer called and bitched her out and since she can do no wrong she trying to pin it on me. Once I realize whats happening here (hey I'm a little slow sometimes) I get pissed and tell her when you develop the time machine that would be necessary to accomplish what you are asking for I would love to try it out, until then don't try to pin your screw up on me. While I have no problem owning up to my mistakes I have a big problem owning up to someone elses. And quite frankly if it came down to it the owner can find someone to answer the phones a hell of alot easier than he can find someone who not only knows GD can illustrate and run 4 different engraving machines. So take that you cranky buck passing SOB!

[Tsmalldon]

So take that you cranky buck passing SOB!

Rock on!

[The_Black_Knight]

WTF is it with low class slobs and the desire to force the entire neighborhood to listen to their crappy music? Why do they think that I want to listen to it, too? Freakin' hicks around here are just one step above trailer trash, all of them. These morons just ruined a nice, quiet evening out on my deck. A-holes. I can still hear the crap they're listening to INSIDE my own house.

I have got to get out of this freakin' dump of a neighborhood. :mad:

[budafist]

When the secretary/moody biotch comes back looking for a job that was supposed to go out 3 days ago and wants to why it didn't. So I get the paperwork out and realize the ship date is the same date as the day the order was placed so I show this to her and she say well what do you want me to do? thats the day they want it. This is odd even rush jobs always have a day or two so I look further at the order and realize there are items that had to be ordered to go with this and they have not even come in yet. I slowly start to see what has happened, she pancacked up by not putting a date on this and the computer automaticall puts a due date the same as the day the order was put into the systems, the custmer called and bitched her out and since she can do no wrong she trying to pin it on me. Once I realize whats happening here (hey I'm a little slow sometimes) I get pissed and tell her when you develop the time machine that would be necessary to accomplish what you are asking for I would love to try it out, until then don't try to pin your screw up on me. While I have no problem owning up to my mistakes I have a big problem owning up to someone elses. And quite frankly if it came down to it the owner can find someone to answer the phones a hell of alot easier than he can find someone who not only knows GD can illustrate and run 4 different engraving machines. So take that you cranky buck passing SOB!

Man that is so cool. You are my hero.

[budafist]

Got this business card that is portrait. Got text on the left and their picture on the right. Looking good.

Now they want their picture centred. Everything else to remain as is. Don't they realise that there will be a weird space on the right now?!

[Yossarian]

Ugh, this could get very long and drawn-out so here is a relatively brief roadmap to my personal Hell:

• Mother-in-law is crazy

• While my wife (a teacher) was pregnant, Mother-in-law (MIL from here on out) offers to babysit him during the 9 weeks between when maternity leave ends and school lets out for the summer.

• We tell her that we've already found a sitter.

• Each and every week that passes MIL calls again, "So when do you need me to come down to watch him? What, a sitter??!!! I thought I was going to be watching him!! That really hurts me! I've been telling everyone how I'm going to come and stay with you." (I'm not kidding, she really did this every week.)

• The WEEKEND BEFORE my wife goes back to work, the babysitter calls us and says that she got a job and needs to take it because she wants the benefits.

• Babysitter declines to list me as a reference should she ever decide to return to babysitting.

• MIL, who obviously knew best all along, is living in my house and is only too happy to offer further guidance.

• Two more weeks.

No officer, I haven't seen her all day.
No officer, I have not seen her all day.
No officer, I haven't seen her all day.
No officer, I haven't seen her all day.
No officer, I haven't seen her all day.

[budafist]

Two weeks until what?

[Riya]

until school is out?

[TooTallVal80]

Our boss really jerked our chain today letting us know by letter that we are now having 5 vacation days a year! And 5 sick days. That's craziness!! I'm told that I'm at least entitled to 2 weeks vacation time. And my 2 co-workers'
who've been there the longest should be entitled to 3 weeks vacation!! OMG!!!
I'm diffently not staying long!!

[reuber1]

I don't know about anyone else, but here today mother nature decided to say "**** it" to convention and we got some nasty temperatures of 90 degrees, and my car's AC simultaneously decided to stop working. Blah...

[budafist]

Our boss really jerked our chain today letting us know by letter that we are now having 5 vacation days a year! And 5 sick days. That's craziness!! I'm told that I'm at least entitled to 2 weeks vacation time. And my 2 co-workers'
who've been there the longest should be entitled to 3 weeks vacation!! OMG!!!
I'm diffently not staying long!!

Aren't workers entitled to a certain amount of vacation by law where you are?

We have minimum 4 weeks paid annual leave per year here for full time employees.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Whoa that's not good TTV.

Here we get 30 days paid leave, and you can accumulate upto 60 days.

[jessicam]

Aren't workers entitled to a certain amount of vacation by law where you are?

We have minimum 4 weeks paid annual leave per year here for full time employees.

I don't think paid time off is required by law anywhere in the USA. :/

[Logo-Mechanix]

I thik Jessicam is right, they don't have to give you anything, of course you will get much more qualified emplyees with better vacation and benefits. Be wary though when companies start doing things like this it's usually the beginning of the end.

[reuber1]

Delta Farce.

I just now heard of this abomination, and am trying to wrap my head around how it was greenlit. :confused:

[Yossarian]

Two weeks until what?

I guess I could have elaborated a bit more. :o Yes, two weeks until school is out and the house is mother-in-law free.

I'm grateful that she's able to help us out, but it also gives here guilt trip material from here to eternity.

[TooTallVal80]

budafist, Samakimoto Graphics: It really started when my boss wanted our office manager to give the late rent check to the property manager. But she wasn't there that Friday. And she written my boss a note the day before the reason why she can't come to work. She had to get her daughter ready for the prom that same evening.

So come Monday I guess all of a sudden my boss changed his "vision" saying that he "has a business to run". And that he didn't have the guts to the check to the guy himself that day!!

Logo-Mechanix: you are too right. The way things are going right now? It's not good at all!

[Drazan]

Why would anyone want to hire someone who's not touched flash in 6 years and expect them to handle 5 digit projects.

huh?

The best thing he had was draging a photo and when it dropped it turned into a space ship.

Why do I have to explain things 6 times for you to understand that you can't change a companies "midwest" territory because you feel like it. And why do you have to mention that "it's not right" to me 5 times?

I'm not getting paid to baby sit you and from here on out if you have aproblem with the simplest of tasks you can fall flat on your face as far as I care.

You found a way to push my buttons, which only gets you ignored from here on out.

I'm not getting paid enough for this pancaking pile of BS.