Things that jerk my chain...

[reuber1]

Alicia Keyes
John Mayer
James Blunt
Christ Douchery
Sarah Barrailles
Buck Cherry
And finally whoever is responsible for that "GIRL CAN'T HELP IT" song...I mean abortion of a song

All day ****ing long with that crap.

[MD]

And now its gonna be all night.
No One, No One, Noooo Onnnneeeeeeee!
Can get this stupid little song out of your head.

[flutterby nut]

^thanks for that! :(

[reuber1]

MD, you guys feel that earthquake this morning?

[garricks]

MD, you guys feel that earthquake this morning?
I dunno about MD, but we felt it in St. Louis...scared the CRAP outta me...I thought someone was in the house. Anybody else feel it?

[reuber1]

I dunno about MD, but we felt it in St. Louis...scared the CRAP outta me...I thought someone was in the house. Anybody else feel it?

I woke up around then, but I usually wake up around 5:00 in the morning anyway. I thought I just had to take a leak. :D

[Yossarian]

Evidently people felt it around Kansas City. I woke up about 4:45 a.m., which is not like me, but I can't say I felt anything.

[CkretAjint]

*sigh*

Crazy boss is in one of her moods again today. She even brought one of the project managers to tears earlier in the day, and not even for a good reason!

[garricks]

Evidently people felt it around Kansas City. I woke up about 4:45 a.m., which is not like me, but I can't say I felt anything. We had an aftershock about an hour ago.

(The people on the West Coast must be LOL at us for discussing it)

CA, can you just hide under your desk? (In 30 years, I've had exactly ONE boss like that, and we all did the happy chair dance when he left!)

[MD]

I woke up around then, but I usually wake up around 5:00 in the morning anyway. I thought I just had to take a leak. :D

You will have to ask Jackie or LBA. Thursdays I play basketball and then close out the bars - nothing is waking me up before 11am.

[Optimusdinkus]

*sigh*

Crazy boss is in one of her moods again today. She even brought one of the project managers to tears earlier in the day, and not even for a good reason!
How the hell did she do that? That's terrible.

[WannaBrie]

Dag, sorry to hear about the earthquakes guys, that would freak me out! Hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires I can handle, earthquakes theres no advance warning and no where to go! Yikes!

Ckret, that sounds like my old boss, she definitely never should have been allowed to be anyone's superior. But, luckily, she's now in jail. Just go to show ya...karma's a bitch!

[DesignVHL]

Thanks :) i'm in northern IL (chicago), and I guess a lot of people here DID feel the quake...I did not, I was out cold...but my boyfriend was up walking the dog at 4:30am this morning (upset tummy for the pup), and he didn't feel anything either....weird. Anyways, kinda neat, first time I've heard of a rumble out in the midwest like this.

FYI no one was hurt and damage wasn't as bad as what you would probably see in Cali....

[purplemonkey369]

Ok, maybe 'drudgery' is an extreme term since probably most of us do actually enjoy our work. :p

But I am pretty sure, no matter if you are a freelance designer or a start-up design outfit which is planning to engage workers, that you come across clients and customers who make you want to jump out the window.

So, let's discuss the various recurring incidents and hopefully share how we can overcome these problems and help bring back our blood pressures to normal.

These are my personal accounts -

1) The brief was a brochure for an exhibition booth design company. Client wanted a picture of some people working on a computer, giving a feeling of their potential clients having a peace of mind knowing that their exhibition booths are going to be designed on time and handled professionally by well-qualified people. This was after he said that my design proposal of the cover, in which I made a stylized image of an exhibition booth, was horrible. So, I said umm...ok, see what if I can find the suitable picture or pictures.

So after scouring websites like istockphoto.com, where I can purchase professional high res images and not finding what I think would be appropriate and nice, I selected some from a royalty-free CD-ROM and thus made my design and showed him. Know what he said? He said the images are not suitable as anyone can have it from the internet and it's too common. He said he will give me somethings to scan. What the ...?! :confused:

So, I told him that the images I used were royalty-free images from a image stock library CD-ROM that I bought. I explained to him the nature of royalty-free images and advised him not to used scanned images from other publication because they were copyrighted and you cannot use them without permission. I explained to him that I have chosen the images carefully - they are not distracting, are general-looking enough to fit the different people/audience imagination and environment, their expressions are neutral enough, their clothes are not outdated, the computers don't look very old, they don't take the attention away from the logo or texts, etc. And they definitely can look like they are working on an exhibition booth design on the computer, only that they look good and the pictures are well taken and the setting looks like a professionally-taken set-up.

Know how he replied to me? He told me not to tell him he is wrong because the pictures I used have been used by many other people including himself, three years ago, and he does not want to use borrowed images from free sources.

?!!!! :eek:

Did he really read my email with my explanation or did he just see the words "I think you've got it wrong" and just went berserk?

What do you think?

2) The brief was for programme fold for a school play and the instructions were that the cover was a 4 colour and the centrefold 1 colour. So, I prepared the artwork and submitted the final in CMYK to the printer and the client and then the printer called me and said the school could only afford to pay for a single colour for the centrefold and asked me to change the colour mode for the centrefold.

I scratched my head and asked her what colour mode should I change to and she couldn't answer. So I left it at that and switched off my phone and went to sleep, knowing they would call again and KPKB.

When the event was over, I asked her how the programme fold turned out, she said it was great.

Tell me - what did I do wrong here?

3) Was supposed to do a short 8 minute video production because this client/acquaintance of mine thinks that another videographer is quoting him quite expensively and the brief was for two videocameras, directing, editing and final production - all for like less than S$500, which is a miserable sum to say the least. I agreed to do it because his partner is a friend of mine.

From the start, I realized their planning was vague and they did not actually know what to do with the video, as in how to position it, and use it. But they said they had a timeline, so we had some short discussions and agreed on what to be filmed and how it should be filmed.

So, bla bla bla, filming was done, a few nights spent to edit to my satisfaction, showed the first cut to one of his workers who was involved, and he said it was very nicely done and seemed pleased with it. Second worker said something seems to be missing, lacks a little bit of focus but overall the flow of the video is good and the angles well-taken. So, I explained that the lack of focus or proper positioning lies with the fact that they did not really exactly know what to do with the video in the first place, and my final video - I had all the deliverables satisfied, the angles they wanted captured and I edited it nicely and everything flows smoothly according to the footage available and the sequence was proper.

Asked them for payment two weeks ago (filming was done a month ago), and till now they said they are unsure of how they want to position the video and the boss says he will only pay when the thing is done to his satisfaction. Explained to him and showed them all of the footage we took and was hoping that they would understand that the only way for it to be changed is to take some more footage but .... sigh. They don't seem to understand. All this for a measly sum.

What did I do wrong here?

Man...

[teniworks]

My upstairs neighbor's kid. I know when they come home at night b/c the kid runs- no, tears though the place and makes it sound like a herd of cattle are running on my ceiling. It probably doesn't help that the floors are hardwood in every unit. Also, must you vacuum at 1:00 in the f***ing morning!?!?!?!

Oh, and being told that the purchase price of a place that you wanted to buy is one (agreed upon) price but, when you see the actual contract the price has increased $20,000 and the seller never told you about the increase. Glad I didn't sign that crap. Greedy bastard!

[desktop]

Living in a rental unit. I would give anything to have my own place, far far away from civilization. Case in point: currently I live in a house with two other rental units. The guy upstairs (in the front of the house) has been here for over twenty years. The front apartment is currently occupied by a couple young punkers. Me I live in the back, by the garage. The punkers have basically turned our home into a flop house. I work third shift so I have to sleep during the day. The punkers have consistently woke me up at around 2pm almost every day. They've done it enough so now I will wake up at this time even if no one makes any noise. I'm beginning to look like a member of the Adams Family.

The Cable Company. When a company gets so large that you have to make multiple calls to various people who have no knowledge of what you just told the previous sixty people they should all be shot. I have spent days on the phone trying to wrangle out bill and service issues only to have the next person tell me they have no idea what I'm talking about. I now take down each person's name and employee ID number. It helps. Believe me.

[PrintDriver]

I scratched my head and asked her what colour mode should I change to and she couldn't answer. So I left it at that and switched off my phone and went to sleep, knowing they would call again and KPKB.

When the event was over, I asked her how the programme fold turned out, she said it was great.

Tell me - what did I do wrong here?


Well since you asked...

Answer1: So I left it at that and switched off my phone and went to sleep, knowing they would call again and KPKB."
You were lucky the problem fixed itself. A printer left to his own devices to fix a file will (a) put it on hold until the designer contacts him back with the requested item or (b) fix it himself with unexpected consequences. Most choose (a) rather than risk a reprint. You are lucky they printed it at all. Your job is not complete until the end product is delivered. Did you per chance use a single Spot color in the centerfold and convert it to CMYK making it 4-color in the process?

Answer 2: Did you check with your client BEFORE the event to see if they even got the programs?

[Drazan]

Staying in for a nice relaxing lunch.....and being interupted every 2 minutes with questions.

Can't be helped today....but....!

[garricks]

^^ gah! Same thing happened to me and my poor little cheese sandwich. It's like there's dumb juice in the air conditioning vent today!

[Typically]

just lock the door =] everyone here takes lunch pretty serious so if you disturb them it better be a good reason or you are getting one of those death stares. luckily i don't get bothered much because i eat lunch with my bosses and sending out a photo can usually wait 30 mins =]

[CkretAjint]

Being told to steal directional copy from other peoples sites and being told "It's ok, it's only directions."

Granted they are ONLY directions, but YOU didn't write them!!!! :mad:

[garricks]

just lock the door =] everyone here takes lunch pretty serious so if you disturb them it better be a good reason or you are getting one of those death stares. luckily i don't get bothered much because i eat lunch with my bosses and sending out a photo can usually wait 30 mins =]If there were a door on my cubicle I would. :(

And :rolleyes: at "only directions." Like I said before, stupid juice!

[budafist]

Why does my coworker insist she is vegetarian? She eats fish, chicken, and sometimes pork and lamb if they are fresh. WTF?

We were talking about my friend who is vegan and how hard it is to go to restaurants and such and then she chimes in. Fish, chicken, pork and lamb eating is not considered vegetarian in my book.

[PanToshi]

Fish, chicken, pork and lamb eating....
Wow, I'm a vegetarian! Who knew!! :D

[garricks]

vegan, vegetarian, lacto-ovo... and the other day I heard Piscetarian...vegetarian + fish.

<--carnivore. But whatever you eat, as long as you're true to yourself, why the labels?

[budafist]

vegan, vegetarian, lacto-ovo... and the other day I heard Piscetarian...vegetarian + fish.

<--carnivore. But whatever you eat, as long as you're true to yourself, why the labels?


I eat food. I have never heard of the term Piscetarian, but have a friend that calls it Aqauritarian. :) That that was cute.

Labelling should be about making it easier for people to understand your needs. Like when you go into a restaurant and tell them you are vegetarian, they can help you decide on something to eat. But if you go in saying you are vegetarian but eat fish, chicken plus lamb and pork if they are fresh, you are just taking the piss.

[garricks]

OK, that makes sense, buda. I have some food allergies (as I've posted about), so I just plainly ask the server about the food ingredients. I also have an office mate who talks a good game about not eating anything with a face, but she sure loves her some fish and chicken. And that i don't get.

(Aquatarian is cute, but wouldn't that mean you only eat water? LOL)

[budafist]

I guess it's more like you eat stuff that lives in aquariums :)

[frankster]

I'd call her abeefist Buda ;)

[reuber1]

Getting in my PS3 from eBay...

The composite cables don't work (at least, the supplied ones give no video, and my PS2 ones don't do anything). The HDMI cable that was supplied in the listing is a cable for a monitor with a giant serial port looking end, not a basic connector for an LCD TV, so now I have to buy an HDMI cable (and I don't even know if this works yet).

Either way, the only way I can use it is with a TV with HDMI ports. While at home, I have access to one, but when I move out, I'll need to buy one of those. At least my first eBay purchase wasn't a total failure...the thing at least turns on and makes noise.

[MD]

why don't you just return it and ask for a refund?

[reuber1]

why don't you just return it and ask for a refund?
I might. I e-mailed the seller why I was unhappy about this last night, haven't seen a response yet. He stated no refunds, but I think his description section was deceptive enough to warrant one if I need to file a dispute if it doesn't work.

Thing is, it's a 60 GB, so if the HDMI actually works, I'll stick with it. I'll be getting an LCD eventually anyway, at least before I move out. But man, I'll be putting it through it's paces this weekend, just to make sure it doesn't crap out immediately.

[Mynock]

Don't by HDMI cables in store, they are a rip off. If need one under 10 feet or so you're not going to notice a difference. Here is where you want to buy one. http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp

[reuber1]

Don't by HDMI cables in store, they are a rip off. If need one under 10 feet or so you're not going to notice a difference. Here is where you want to buy one. http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp
That's what I plan on doing, ordering from there, but I'm buying some in store today just to check it out. If in fact the cables work, I'll order those and then return the ones I bought once they come in. I know the return policy. :D

[DesignVHL]

I coulda told ya that one. :P All i gotta do is go into the back of my company warehouse for an HDMI cable since my company makes them! He He lucky for me! May need one soon too for our new plasma and xbox360...

You can go crazy w/ cables as a consumer....stay away from MONSTER - they are the MOST overpriced for any type of cable.

[MD]

But man, I'll be putting it through it's paces this weekend, just to make sure it doesn't crap out immediately.

Ya mean up until Sunday morning when you pick up your copy of Mario Kart :D

[reuber1]

Ya mean up until Sunday morning when you pick up your copy of Mario Kart :D
Almost forgot about that. I'll be playing that to death for sure.

[John G]

Things that jerk my chain...
Birds chirping.

It's 5am, time for sleep, STFU.

[MD]

2 words John G.

pellet gun.

[Jackimalyn]

having my boss get upset with me:

1) Because I told him we cannot give away an iPhone PER APPLE'S TM! It strictly prohibits the use of an iPhone for third party promotions. And

2) When I finally convinced him to give away in iPod instead (legally) he asked me to take off the brochure, the phrase "Apple is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion."

ok. get fined. I dont care anymore.

[Virgo Nightingale]

People who think this place is the same thing as a homework service.

Go do your own damn research.

[reuber1]

UGH, I forgot my iPod at home. This is going to be a long day...maybe the thunderstorms will knock out the radio stations. Hopefully. Maybe.

Also, snow is forecast for Sunday. W. T. F?

[Typically]

last night was gorgeous so i had the windows open and fan on. as i'm laying in bed i start to smell that funky skunk smell. a few mins later the smell is overwhelming and at this point there is nothing i can do about it it's already in the house. thankfully it didn't still smell this morning. i was plenty tired last night from taking my bike out for the first time so it wasn't terribly hard to get to sleep at least.

[Virgo Nightingale]

Having a splitting hangover headache at work. I'm bummin'.

[MD]

muhahahahaha.
I was trashed last night ... and I woke up feeling fantastic!
granted I woke up at 11:00 ... sleep and water are the key!

[Bladez]

UGH, I forgot my iPod at home. This is going to be a long day...maybe the thunderstorms will knock out the radio stations. Hopefully. Maybe.

Also, snow is forecast for Sunday. W. T. F?

It's snowed at least once a day here for the past week. it SUX! Can't wait for spring to arrive!

[Virgo Nightingale]

I also got sick about 2 hours ago. :( I guess I'm more of a next-day puker. Just had lunch (a nice greasy half chicken parm) so I feel better, headache almost gone, but I'm falling asleep at my desk now.

[WannaBrie]

muhahahahaha.
I was trashed last night ... and I woke up feeling fantastic!
granted I woke up at 11:00 ... sleep and water are the key!


Actually, water and sugar are the key. If you drink an 8oz glass of water and swallow a teaspoon or 2 of sugar before you go to bed, no hangover! I swear this works, I haven't had a hangover in about 15 years. The sugar absorbs the alchohol and the water rehydrates you.

[Virgo Nightingale]

^Yes, the sugar can work wonders. My problem is that when I'm that trashed I either forget to take the sugar or simply pass out before I get to take some.

Last night was sorta a combination: I was passed out cold in the living room, and my lovely fiancé decided to pour a capful of cold water on me. I just got pissed and stormed off to bed.

[Bladez]

Drink *****ly Pear juice a couple hours before you booze it up, and cranberry juice the morning after.....it's a god-send!

[Bladez]

apparently p r i c k l y is a bad word...or I'm just spelling it wrong

[Typically]

oh man next day puking is the worst! that happens to me most the times too. unless i puke from just drinking to much to fast. like last weekend we were playing flip cup after playing beer pong for about 3 hours. we play survivor flip cup so someone gets voted off every after every round till there is no one left on the opposite team. well i was on the winning team but everyone on the other team decide to choose me to face off against at the end of each round. i won every time but after i beat the second to last person i puked immediately after finishing my last cup. but i puked and rallied to beat the last person =]

[Virgo Nightingale]

Funny. You can say ass, you can say bitch, you can say shit. But you can't say *****. :rolleyes:

[Virgo Nightingale]

Puking any time is the worst. The worst is when you do it in the ladies restroom of a bar/restaurant you used to work at (so everyone knows you) and half of it lands on the floor and one of your favorite co-workers who still works there has to mop up after you. :(

[Typically]

ooooo thats rough

[DesignStudio]

UGH, I forgot my iPod at home. This is going to be a long day...maybe the thunderstorms will knock out the radio stations. Hopefully. Maybe.

Also, snow is forecast for Sunday. W. T. F?

I hate to change the subject away from puke for a minute, but when i used to work in-house for a bit, I kept an extra set of headphones in my desk drawer. That way if i forgot my ipod i could still at least listen to pandora or something.

[DesignVHL]

I keep a pair of headphones at work....and have a different pair for home/travel...

I would go crazy if I had to listen to all the annoying people in my office all day. Since upper mgmt didn't know what to do with me after restructuring management, and my old boss quit because he got fed up w/ bs (and told me to get out while i can lol), they threw me into the reception area and took me out of my own office so my new boss - the so called marketing manager - could have it - so if i don't have headphones on, I hear people on the phone all day, and paper noises...very, very annoying. I should have taken my old bosses advice, though I suppose it isn't too late, there ARE plenty of opportunities out there...

sorry i vented a little...having a day.

have a great weekend peeps!

[garricks]

I use noise-canceling headphones every day in my cube farm. I'd lose my mind without them. I just plug my iPod into the charger and use iTunes to access the stuff on it. My office is loud.

[CkretAjint]

I would die without my iPod. I used to listen to my ipod through speakers, then my boss got annoying so now I use noise cancelling headphones to drown her and everyone else out. They work quite well! I also live off my iPod in my car. i HATE radio stations around here.... *shudders*

[reuber1]

I hate to change the subject away from puke for a minute, but when i used to work in-house for a bit, I kept an extra set of headphones in my desk drawer. That way if i forgot my ipod i could still at least listen to pandora or something.
Good point. I actually had them today, too.

[teniworks]

Can we say tranquilizer gun? Do parents discipline their kids anymore? My upstairs neighbors are letting their kid stomp around upstairs and run freely in the common hallway, screaming all the way. Note: the kid is about 3 and their place is right next to a flight of open stairs. WTF!?!? I mean kids are cool (in small doses) but, as a parent do you even care that your toddler is running around unsupervised? By the way, I'm trying to sleep with all of this crap going on. There is only one family in this entire complex and they have to live above me. GEEEEZ!

[budafist]

I puked in the early hours Saturday morning. I guess the upside is that my hangover would have been way worse had I not puked.

I don't puke often - I think that last time I did was after my fiance's christmas party.

[reuber1]

Goddammit, I wished I lived in LA.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/med/656166931.html

[The_Black_Knight]

Actually, that looks like a terrible job.

The description includes a grab bag of every kind of software imaginable, from layout to web to video production. And for all of that, the pay is only $40-50k in the LA area, where the cost of living is freaking astronomical.

No thanks. I don't care how cool anyone thinks NIN is, that job just simply wouldn't be worth it.

[reuber1]

Actually, that looks like a terrible job.

The description includes a grab bag of every kind of software imaginable, from layout to web to video production. And for all of that, the pay is only $40-50k in the LA area, where the cost of living is freaking astronomical.

No thanks. I don't care how cool anyone thinks NIN is, that job just simply wouldn't be worth it.
Well, maybe they wouldn't mind someone who isn't necessarily local but has the ability to travel whenever needed...but, how often would travel be required?

For software, it seems like the Creative Suite Design Premium would cover a lot of it, and maybe a lite version of Final Cut or something? Hardware would be the big deal, but I imagine they're looking for freelancers who already have this stuff.

I know they've already got one designer, this would be an underling to him I'd imagine. And FWIW, they're not with a label anymore so I'm sure money is a little tighter for them to spend. Not saying that's worth the money they are willing to spend. All I know is if I could be raking in that kind of money working from here, only having to travel to LA every once in a great while, I think it's a pretty good deal. I'm currently at slightly over $20,000 a year, bringing in much less after taxes.

[PanToshi]

the pay is only $40-50k...
I agree. They want a lot of varied skills and software for 40-50K. 90K might cut it. But not including COST of travel, IMO.

I would assume having to travel back and forth at the very least once every two weeks. Catching a discounted/booked in advance flight for business travel is seldom a possibility in reality.

[reuber1]

Nevermind then. I thought it was cool.

[CkretAjint]

How can you tell you work with a bunch of rocks?

"I need 50 DVDs of this burned. Put labels on each and put them in sleeves once burned. When your done let me know how many of each you used."

Ummmm... *scratches his head* 50?

:confused:

[Typically]

tell them you used 75-25 just to make them think a little bit about it =]

[Virgo Nightingale]

How can you tell you work with a bunch of rocks?

"I need 50 DVDs of this burned. Put labels on each and put them in sleeves once burned. When your done let me know how many of each you used."

Ummmm... *scratches his head* 50?

:confused:
Unless they want you to include the ones you screwed up in the process of making the 50 complete packages? :confused:

[CkretAjint]

I think in 3 years I have goofed up on 3 labels out of billions... *shrugs* It just really confused me by this request. heh... :D

[garricks]

Tell them you made fifty, used fifty labels, fifty sleeves and 42 discs.

[budafist]

Tell them you made fifty, used fifty labels, fifty sleeves and 42 discs.

And ask for a raise for being so resourceful :)

[urstwile]

LOL Buda! :D

[budafist]

I squished my mouse clicking finger in a door last night. No cut or open wound but it pissed blood from underneath the nail. It's all swollen today and I can't bend it. Feel like a tard typing and mouse clicking without it.

I feel like such a baby complaining but finger tips are sensitive and I haven't hurt myself in ages.

I guess we all have to hurt ourselves every now and then so that we know why we should be more careful!

That must have been karma paying me back for laughing at someone walking into the door frame that time.

[Red Kittie Kat]

yeeeouch :(


Hope you didn't crack the tip of the bone on those tiny little fingers darlin ((((hugs)))) I know how bad that hurts.

[CkretAjint]

One time I squished my finger between a HEAVY box and the corner of the counter. It hurt so badly that I dropped the HEAVY box on my foot and then passed out from the pain. Man, I was a hobbling around, mis-typing, mis-mouse clicking fool for the next month till I healed up!

Sorry to hear about your owwie Buda! :(

[Virgo Nightingale]

Ouch!! :eek: Hope you heal up good and soon!! :)

[Bladez]

Ouch...not good Buda. I declare minimal death and no more hand injuries damnit! Take it easy.

[budafist]

I just remembered I have a bruise because I fell over in the weekend. But I was drunk so it doesn't really count because it didn't hurt.

[Bladez]

LOL @ Buda.....you really are the pinnacle of class ain't ya? ;)

[budafist]

Only lately ;)

I am writing funny since I can't bend my index finger. So instead I have it sticking up. Someone just complimented me on how I have a very dainty grip on my pen. Um....yeah, it's because I slammed my fingers in a door. How dainty is that?

[Bladez]

LMAO

I know what that's like. Should hear the comments I get when I'm drinking a cup of coffee and because of the cast have my pinkie and ring finger stickin' out.

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmao buda .. that's quite a visual :D

[Virgo Nightingale]

Eating my cup of yogurt with a plastic fork because my boss hasn't bought any more spoons.

[Red Kittie Kat]

Uh oh .. that means having to use your finger to get the last bits lol :D

you can't scrap up yogurt with a fork :p

[Virgo Nightingale]

I'm almost at the bottom. And it's getting harder to eat.

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmao Virgo :D

[CkretAjint]

cut the container in half and use your finger! Just be careful not to cut yourself on the sharp edge. :)

[doctorfoz]

I'm almost at the bottom. And it's getting harder to eat.

is it just me, or did that sound rude?


(no? it's just me then!)

[Virgo Nightingale]

Ooo! We have those mini straws for stirring coffee!! That might work!! BRB...

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmaooo you are gonna have to suck hard :D

[Virgo Nightingale]

I decided not to try it. Sucking so hard would have made a lot of annoying noises and there really wasn't enough left to bother with.

Feel free to twist my words! :D

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmaoooo .... oh I just can't say anything ... that visual of your co workers hearing that gurgling sucking noise is more than enough to think about :D


I think you made a wise choice :D

[CkretAjint]

LOL! There just so many wrong things to say about the last few posts. I don't know where to start!

[Virgo Nightingale]

;)

Where's tuliptree? She should be here taking notes...

[CkretAjint]

What? On sucking??

*makes vacuum noises*

[Red Kittie Kat]

well virgo is the Dirty Girl ... so I guess we will have to call Tulip our lil dirt devil :D

[Virgo Nightingale]

Ha ha!! Tulip's a Dirt Devil. She sucks. :D

[Red Kittie Kat]

:D lol

[garricks]

ROFLMAO. Tulip the Dirt Devil. At least you didn't go after that last bit with your... nah, not gonna go there.

[CkretAjint]

What about Trees tulip? :p

[John G]

pancake actionscript

button.onRollOver = function(){}
does not mean onEnterFrame;

pancake actionscript
pancake pancake pancake pancake

















pancake



and screw your load functions too. No I did not want you to try and load something before you've been told to load something, and therefore making your stay on stage useless. pancake them too.

why do I feel better now?

[doctorfoz]

good venting there John. I have no idea what you're on about - but you seem to be passionate about whatever it was that didn't work!

[reuber1]

pancake actionscript

button.onRollOver = function(){}
does not mean onEnterFrame;

pancake actionscript
pancake pancake pancake pancake

















pancake



and screw your load functions too. No I did not want you to try and load something before you've been told to load something, and therefore making your stay on stage useless. pancake them too.

why do I feel better now?

I'm sick of Flash's constantly updating Actionscript code. Once CS4 or whatever Adobe has planned next rolls out, there'll probably be Actionscript 4, and then we'll have to learn a bunch of new crap.

[garricks]

Grrrr. Seeing that there's a new post in the CNSFW forum...while at work. It's SOOO hard to not click on the link. :(

[WannaBrie]

go ahead, Garricks, do it! cmon, you know you want to...do it, do it do it!

[CkretAjint]

It's pants-less Friday... GO FOR IT!!! :D

[Red Kittie Kat]

I better go check it out :D

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmao well Garricks it doesn't show anything bad ... but there are a bunch of sound bytes ... so if you don't have headphones .. best not to listen to it at work :D

[garricks]

Whew! Thanks for looking, Kittie!

It's awfully quiet here, so I'll just wait till I get home. :D

[budafist]

New canvases here come wrapped in plastic and have a piece of card attached with company logo and size etc. Normally, this piece of card is stapled to the back of the canvas frame and can be torn off with no affect on the canvas surface. Except for the canvas I have at the moment. The card is actually glued to the surface of the canvas so leaves glue residue when you peel off the card. Morons.

[DesignStudio]

I would call up the company and demand a replacement on that. That's ridiculous.

[budafist]

Well, I can't do that. We found all these brand new canvases in our garage when we were clearing it out.

[frankster]

You need some Zoff! It's supposed to be for removing elastoplast gunge from skin, but it works on other stuff too.

http://www.allsportmedical.co.uk/images/catalogue/product/D5000-L.jpg

[budafist]

Zoff is an excellent product name.

[frankster]

Good innit! My nan used to use the stuff. She was a district nurse. It came as liquid in a little bottle back then though. My mum still has a bottle of nan's Zoff back home in the medicine cabinet, because you don't use much of it and a whole bottle will presumably last a bazillion years. Nan died in 1979!

[budafist]

I bet Zoff could do a bunch of other things too if you gave it a chance. Will you inherit the Zoff one day down the track?

Back to topic (jerk my chain)...
St Inky has been sick for the last few days but keeps coming in to work only to be sent home. It's Monday today and I came in to our tiny shared office and the room stinks. There's his normal stink plus sick people stink. We have absolutely no work to do (well I have 1 job for the day) so I told him to go home. No, he wants to finish what he is doing - which is printing out lists of our archived files so that we can search the archives easily. A total unnecessary rainy day job that we can live without. I just want him and his sick and stink out of my office. I told him sternly not to come in tomorrow unless he was 100% well. He has to catch 2 buses and a ferry to get to and from work. That's 4 buses and 2 ferries for his 1 hour of work today.

Gawd, just while I have been typing he asked me what time should he come in tomorrow. I said don't come in if you are sick or I will send you home. Don't come in the next day either or I will send you home. There is nothing on the board that needs to be done this week. He looked really embarrassed about it for some odd reason.

I'm sure that if I have to sit in this extreme smell all day I'm going to spew.

Phew, he's just left for the day.

Air freshener bomb time!!!

[garricks]

I plopped down to watch America's Funniest Home Videos just now, and they announced it's the 400th episode. Guess what font they used? TFTSNBN.

Oh, oops. I just got another look at it...it's Tekton.

[budafist]

Hehe. False alarm!!! You don't want to be known as the badger who cried wolf do you?

[MD]

I plopped down to watch America's Funniest Home Videos just now, and they announced it's the 400th episode. Guess what font they used? TFTSNBN.

Oh, oops. I just got another look at it...it's Tekton.

What's worse than a professional designer using Comic Sans?
Plopping down to watch America's Funniest Home Videos :p

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmao MD :D

nothing wrong AFHV :D I get a kick out of it too :p

[budafist]

AFHV is good quality when you need something to fill a gap.

[MD]

OMFG ... They have infected the world with that garbage???!!!???

Buda I apologize on behalf of this great country for AFHV. Maybe its just me but I chuckle maybe once or twice during an entire episode, and those videos never get chosen. Here is the end of every show.

Video #1
Pet doing something stupid

Video #2
Little kid says something cute

Video #3
Man get hit in the balls

And the winner is ...
Man gets hit in the balls!!!

[budafist]

AFHV has spread far and wide. It's nothing to be ashamed about MD.

[artistsdad]

Buda--

You're much too kind. That show is a disgrace to the human race. So many of the videos are obviously staged, and nobody seems to notice.

MD is right, and has bestowed upon us some of his Prodound Wisdom(Hmm, I don't have a little circly c thingy on my keyboard...). His wisdom should be heeded.

[budafist]

lol. You lot are unpatriotic! :D

[DesignStudio]

I have to agree with Buda on this one. I'm not saying it's going to win an Emmy, but I won't pretend I don't laugh sometimes when I watch the show. Perhaps I'm simply not as sophisticated as some of my American Brethren, but to me when an old man tries to dance with his wife at a family picnic and falls into a kiddie pool, that's funny.

[budafist]

Hmmm...I can't argue with that. I am unsophisticated. :)

[The_Black_Knight]

Some of the videos on AFHV are amusing enough. What drives me nuts is the poor quality of writing for the person hosting the show. If they just ditched the host and played the videos, or found better writers for the host, it would be a much better show.

[garricks]

AFV is part of my transition to a new week. I won't apologize for watching it. I love Wagner's operas, too.

I think they should use AFV to teach physics to high schoolers. After all, every mook on that show tries to defy the laws of physics, with the same results every time.

And a guy getting smacked in the nuts always makes me laugh. So sue me.

:D

[reuber1]

Been here 6 minutes, Quark has crashed twice on startup. :mad:

[budafist]

Some of the videos on AFHV are amusing enough. What drives me nuts is the poor quality of writing for the person hosting the show. If they just ditched the host and played the videos, or found better writers for the host, it would be a much better show.

Why pay more writers for a better show if people are already watching? Videos they get for free too! For the ratings they get, they really don't spend much money do they? That is smart business!

Do they also sell tickets to the show?

[garricks]

Finally found it on the ABC Web site. They have tickets for two shows in NYC and five in LA (including AFV). All tickets are free, but you have to get them through an agency. BTW, the AFV message boards are hilarious...at one time or another it seems every video has offended someone. I just laugh at the funny videos.

[frankster]

We have something similar in the UK called "you've been framed". It's been going since about 1990. There was a bit kerfuffle way back when I was a teenager because someone at the post office was stealing the parcels addressed to the show and sending the videos in themselves to win the money.

Edit: that little scandal has beven been documented on wiki it seems... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You've_Been_Framed Oooh, and it says your show was based on ours!

[budafist]

Well it wouldn't be hard to catch that guy now would it?! Nice one Mr Smartypants.

[Bladez]

The show is similar in format to a number of shows worldwide, including America's Funniest Home Videos (the show which You've Been Framed was based on)

actually, yours was based on the one in the states ;)

[frankster]

Gawd, today is just a blur of spaz for me. I suppose this is the right thread for it. I was wondering if I was having keyboard problems earlier, but it seems more likely that I'm just being a numpty.

It's safe to put a fork in a toaster right?

[budafist]

Gawd, today is just a blur of spaz for me. I suppose this is the right thread for it. I was wondering if I was having keyboard problems earlier, but it seems more likely that I'm just being a numpty.

It's safe to put a fork in a toaster right?

I think it is better to use a knife...or was that electrical sockets?

[Bladez]

Electrical sockets require paper clips and loose dangley jewlery. My mom taught me that at an early age :)

[Typically]

numpty that's an awesome word!

[reuber1]

This is probably an exaggeration, but I've bet I've heard that Alicia Keyes song every day for the past six months. I know I have heard it every day for the past two.

[Typically]

no one no one no oonnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeee that one? :D

[Virgo Nightingale]

Electrical sockets require paper clips and loose dangley jewlery. My mom taught me that at an early age :)
Paper clips are wonderful additions to electrical sockets. So are house keys. My mom didn't teach me that. I learned that all by myself. :)

[reuber1]

no one no one no oonnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeee that one? :D
You betcha. What is up with the whole moaning/yelling/whatever "Ohhhing" at the end? Stupid.

[Typically]

thats what makes the song soulful =] i'm glad my office doesn't have a radio station playing through out it. i'd go insane if i had to here that pop music all day everyday.

[CkretAjint]

Headphones are proof that God doesn't want designers in jail! :D

[reuber1]

thats what makes the song soulful =] i'm glad my office doesn't have a radio station playing through out it. i'd go insane if i had to here that pop music all day everyday.
Yup, that's unfortunately the station (hits of today AND yesterday! so I get to hear crap that was overplayed years ago too!) that is played constantly on the radios on the desks in front AND behind me. Not even the local classic rock stations get any love. I've been bringing in my iPod regularly, but can only go one headphone since I'm usually called a lot, so I still hear the radios a little.

[Bladez]

AHHHH! I've got a massive cold sore today and it hurts like hell. How am I supposed to face customers now? SO LAME! Where's that electrical socket.....

[Jackimalyn]

pandora is my friend since my office streams that kind of music.
I swear I hear more maroon 5 in a week than most people do in a lifetime.

[Yossarian]

A cake? Seriously? I've got real university work to do and random people are allowed to wander in without introducing themselves and ask me to design the words and images for a cake?

You know everything you just told me??? Call up the grocery store bakery and tell them the same thing!

[frankster]

I found at my old job that if you didn't like the radio station then all you had to do was sing along really loudly and badly to the songs until someone switched it to a "no lyrics" station like classical FM. ;) Galaxy was banned because our secretary kept singing along to Natalie Umbruglia's torn in a broad Bolton accent. I got Radio1 banned for singing the black eyed peas, where is the love in a fake yorkshire accent.

[JgS]

I could care less if gas goes up to $10 a gallon and everyone has to sell their cars. At least then it won't take me 2 hours to find a parking spot just to deliver brochures.

[garricks]

The full-page ad with 600 names (Yeah. I know.) came back again today with more corrections and deletions. Unfortunatly we only have plastic utensils at work, and they aren't effective in electrical outlets.

[Typically]

get them wet first =]

[Bladez]

use them to unscrew the cover plate, then stick your tongue in

[garricks]

ROFL...it would actually be easier for me to just eat a shrimp cocktail... :p I'd be dead by the fourth shrimp.

[budafist]

I think I would prefer death by shrimp cocktail over death by electrical socket.

[Red Kittie Kat]

well a good shock can be fun too :D

[frankster]

Maybe if you stuck the shrimp in the socket with your teeth?

[budafist]

Maybe if you stuck the shrimp in the socket with your teeth?

Your creativity knows no bounds.

[doctorfoz]

'stick the shrimp in the socket'

another great euphamism! Thanks frankster, I shall endeavour to use that sometime today

[garricks]

*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*

:D
You guys are brilliant! I am in awe.
Thanks for starting my morning off with a giggle and a snork.

[Typically]

i used to love the snorks!
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/ea/250px-Snork_01.jpg

[CkretAjint]

Is that thing farting out of the top of his head?!?! :eek:

[WannaBrie]

I think he's snorking.

[reuber1]

This sore on my tongue is conveniently the one that hits my one goofy tooth that has been crowded backward. Man, I need to get these fixed = -$x,xxx = :rolleyes:

[CkretAjint]

Having your boss pass all the petty requests she gets onto you just cause you work under her. If you work on a project and the client wants a PDF of it to view on screen, make it yourself! I HATE having to stop what I am working on to make a PDF for you cause your to lazy to do it. :mad:

*Makes 4th PDF file for the day for her*

[Typically]

it being hot in the marketing department all the time and having the worst ventilation ever in this place!

[CkretAjint]

*farts in Typicallys direction*

So, the ventilation sucks over there, eh? ;)

[Typically]

great now it smells like microwaved fish and farts

[garricks]

great now it smells like microwaved fish and fartsIs that anything like microwaved fish & chips?

[morea]

rotten kids/teenagers who don't respect anyone or anything, and the parents who are responsible for them.

My parents dog is 16 years old and in very bad health. He's arthritic and he's in pain a lot of the time, and it has reached the point where my parents have started talking about whether it's more merciful at this point to have him put to sleep.

When my folks let him out so he can go to the bathroom, he sometimes prefers to wander around the yard for a few moments before returning to the porch to be let back in. He never ventures off my parents property, so my folks have taken to letting him out and giving him 5 minutes or so to wander and sniff around the yard, then returning to let him back in to the house.

The kids who live down the street watch for him to come out, and then they start to taunt the poor dog, throwing things at him, swerving their bikes at him, and being generally malicious little bastards. My dad sits out on the porch now when the dog goes out so that the poor thing can have a few moments of peace to himself.

People make me really sad sometimes. :(

Well, more than sometimes.

[Virgo Nightingale]

The spiteful side of my personality would make those kids wish they'd never been born. :mad:

[WannaBrie]

Morea, if that was me, I would go have a talk with the parents, Some children need to be taught empathy. And if that doesn't work, well, some children need to have thier butts kicked! Or your Dad could sit on the porch with a shotgun...

[Bladez]

Little bastard kids...just tell your dad to hide in the bushes with a pellet gun and shoot the little brats everytime they start harassing the dog

[CkretAjint]

Toss a stick in front of their bikes... Problem solved. Haven't you ever watched Big Daddy?!?! :p

[Virgo Nightingale]

Instructions on lid of individual-sized cup of caramel dipping sauce for apples:

"SHAKE WELL"

Um... yeah, 'cause caramel is really thin enough to shake and have it serve some sort of purpose. :rolleyes:

[Bladez]

^ lmao

[MD]

Instructions on lid of individual-sized cup of caramel dipping sauce for apples:

"SHAKE WELL"

Um... yeah, 'cause caramel is really thin enough to shake and have it serve some sort of purpose. :rolleyes:

Maybe after it has been sitting for awhile it separates like peanut butter. Here is a question ... when your peanut butter separates, Do you stir that shit back up or do you pitch it and buy a new jar?

[John G]

what's wrong with using it as is?

[WannaBrie]

Stir it up, little darlin', stir it up...

[Virgo Nightingale]

If that was the case, I don't think shaking it will re-mix everything. The lower-density stuff would just slosh around on top of the thicker stuff.

And I don't buy peanut butter, so I'd probably just chuck the jar and not bother with a new one. :D

This cups of caramel are packed with sliced apples, so they (theoretically) should be relatively fresh. That's not to say they don't stockpile the caramel cups and just pack 'em with the apples as they get sliced. :rolleyes:

[Virgo Nightingale]

So for my wedding ceremony, I've been planning on getting programs printed and affixing them to dyed, dark brown palm fans so my guests could keep cool during the August outdoor ceremony. Nothing else but dark brown will do. <insert Bridezilla jokes here :D>

About 2 months ago, I found the one and only site that sells dyed palm fans. I opted not to go ahead and buy them right away since there was 5 months to go until August, and what if I change my mind? :rolleyes: Well...

About a month ago, I decided to revisit the site just to visualize things a bit more. In bold red type beneath the description: "Please note that lime green, red, light pink, hot pink, and brown fans are out of stock until the end of May (after Memorial Day). NO PRE-ORDERS." Gulp. Oh well, I'll still have time from the beginning of June to order what I need and put everything together.

So last night, I decide that I've put off designing the programs long enough since I have to get them printed in the next couple weeks at the same time as my RSVP cards. I go to the site again to finalize the size of the fans and under the description in bold red type: "Please note that lime green, red, light pink and hot pink fans are out of stock until the end of May (after Memorial Day). NO PRE-ORDERS." Whoa! They miraculously got the brown fans back in stock! Let me whip out my credit card and buy them NOW!! :D :D :D

Just as I'm about to orgasm from bridezilla excitement, I read a little further down: "Brown fans out of stock until AUGUST." :mad: :mad: :mad:



Now I have to learn how to dye natural palm fans myself, and hopefully the dye won't rub off onto my guests' clothing.

[frankster]

Now I have to learn how to dye natural palm fans myself, and hopefully the dye won't rub off onto my guests' clothing.

Hm, that's going to be an experiment for sure! Can you spray them with fixative after dying to try and prevent anything rubbing off? I think it's really great that you have to worry about keeping your guests cool at an outdoor ceremony, because in the UK you'd be looking at printing the service details on the inside of umbrellas ;) How many extras are you going to get to allow for mad scientist dying experiments? :D

[budafist]

Having your boss pass all the petty requests she gets onto you just cause you work under her. If you work on a project and the client wants a PDF of it to view on screen, make it yourself! I HATE having to stop what I am working on to make a PDF for you cause your to lazy to do it. :mad:

*Makes 4th PDF file for the day for her*

You know it's because you are good don't you. She wouldn't ask you if you were crap. Trust me, I know.

[budafist]

Maybe after it has been sitting for awhile it separates like peanut butter. Here is a question ... when your peanut butter separates, Do you stir that shit back up or do you pitch it and buy a new jar?

WTF? I eat peanut butter and I've never seen it separate. What 2 components does it separate into?

I ate peanut butter twice yesterday. With toast for breakfast and then for dinner mixed with sesame oil, garlic, cream and soy sauce to make a satay sauce.

[Virgo Nightingale]

Hm, that's going to be an experiment for sure! Can you spray them with fixative after dying to try and prevent anything rubbing off? I think it's really great that you have to worry about keeping your guests cool at an outdoor ceremony, because in the UK you'd be looking at printing the service details on the inside of umbrellas ;) How many extras are you going to get to allow for mad scientist dying experiments? :D
I really don't know how I'm going to test this out. Fixative might work, but...???? Doing separate testing dye sessions might be an issue too, since the pigments in a dye bath are only viable for a few days. After that you have to make a whole new bath. (As you can see, I've done some research into the subject already, but I'm still scared shitless by this project.) I'll probably order 150, hope that I only ruin 10, and if I ruin more than that? Oh well, first come first served. Share a program with a neighbor. :D

[budafist]

Now I have to learn how to dye natural palm fans myself, and hopefully the dye won't rub off onto my guests' clothing.

Surely there is more than 1 company that sells these things?

[budafist]

I really don't know how I'm going to test this out. Fixative might work, but...???? Doing separate testing dye sessions might be an issue too, since the pigments in a dye bath are only viable for a few days. After that you have to make a whole new bath. (As you can see, I've done some research into the subject already, but I'm still scared shitless by this project.) I'll probably order 150, hope that I only ruin 10, and if I ruin more than that? Oh well, first come first served. Share a program with a neighbor. :D

Well good luck, but keep in mind that many people share a programmes between 2 so worse comes to worse, you should still be fine.

[CkretAjint]

You know it's because you are good don't you. She wouldn't ask you if you were crap. Trust me, I know.

Ummm.... I think it's just cause she is lazy! Seriously, is it THAT hard to make PDFs? I wanna do other work besides you little projects you don't like to do! :mad:

[Virgo Nightingale]

Surely there is more than 1 company that sells these things?
You would think, right? Doesn't seem like an item that would be so odd, that only one person has thought of making/selling them. I've only seen this one site, and any other site that says they sell them just redirects you to the same original site.

[Virgo Nightingale]

HA! And now that I'm visiting the site again, I noticed another little note:

Dye will bleed onto your hands if handled directly. Please hold by the fan's [undyed] handle.
So maybe even dying them will be a bad idea? It would be nearly impossible to dye these myself and not immerse the handle too, I think.

[frankster]

I just had a peak Virgo and the site you're talking about says "Dye will bleed onto your hands if handled directly. Please hold by the fan's handle." So I guess if you're just dipping in the dye and not the handle, then you can't do much worse than thier product claims to be for colour fastness anyway.

[frankster]

lol, noticed at the same time eh!

[frankster]

I'd suggest painting on some kind of wood stain if you could guarantee it wasn't going to smell. That would be cheap too and you could pick the colour of brown from a huge variety.

[MD]

WTF? I eat peanut butter and I've never seen it separate. What 2 components does it separate into?

I ate peanut butter twice yesterday. With toast for breakfast and then for dinner mixed with sesame oil, garlic, cream and soy sauce to make a satay sauce.

It usually happens to me near the end of the jar when I haven't eaten it for quite a while ... the oil kind of separates from the peanut butter.

[Virgo Nightingale]

I was wondering if that would work too. I think my only qualm would be how well the stain would get into the crevices. I want to make sure it will be even. Funny thing is I did buy a can of oil-based stain for my centerpieces, I wonder if it will work for the fans, or should I go for water-based?

[garricks]

Virgo, if you're going to stain them, why not varnish them too? A coat or two of varnish would help as long as the temperature isn't hot enough to make it tacky... hmm.

[Bladez]

ARG! It's friggin MAY and there's a heavy snowfall warning for tonight and tomorrow! Global warming my ass!

[BJMRGTIVR6]

ok, i see my story may be in small comparisono to say dyeing palm fronds and the streesful activities that include preparing for a wedding, but here it goes anyway....

Today I was to start a Variable Print job with 30k names. I had teh file set up in InDesign and ready to go for a few days now. Come to find out the IGEN cannot print too fine and we need to update one of our graphics. Done. I start batching PDFs (which is slow and tedious as it requires each Zip Code area to be done separately and the program overwrites with each PDF, so you have to do one set, rename the PDF and start again. I got up to 11k names completed and noticed that when INDD crashed yesterday the Save I made yesterday did not save, the graphic file needed to be updated. So, back to square one. I left today slightly over the count I found the goof.

Good news...The Office and LOST are on tonight!!

[Virgo Nightingale]

Surely there is more than 1 company that sells these things?
You would think, right? Doesn't seem like an item that would be so odd, that only one person has thought of making/selling them. I've only seen this one site, and any other site that says they sell them just redirects you to the same original site.
I stand corrected, there are other sites that sell colored palm fans. But they don't carry them in brown.

[budafist]

Aww that sucks BJM.

[budafist]

I stand corrected, there are other sites that sell colored palm fans. But they don't carry them in brown.

Can you email them and ask if they can get brown ones in for later in the year?

Some people don't stock things because no one asks for them.

[Virgo Nightingale]

I stand corrected AGAIN. It's all good. I found a place that had brown palm fans in stock. I think I'd been there before, but I don't think had brown back then. The color is a little lighter and redder than what I really wanted (at least on the monitor), but these have the handles dyed too where the other ones had natural colored handles. WHEW!!! Crisis averted!

http://www.favorsandflowers.com/images/brown-palm-leaf-hand-fan-1.jpg

See? Ranting in this thread can get ya what you want! :D

[budafist]

Sweet as! Crisis averted. Next crisis!

[garricks]

Virgo, ORDER NOW! :D And then test the handles for color-fastness before handing them out!

[Virgo Nightingale]

Oh don't you worry, I whipped out that Discover card and bought them right then and there. Not taking any more chances!

[DesignStudio]

I let a client talk me into issuing a flat rate contract in place of my normal hourly rate contract. The contract stated a flat-rate price, and also specified the number of revisions and concepts. I provided several concepts beyond what was agreed upon, and the client liked none of them and requested more. I agreed to provide one more concept, but warned him that these extra concept requests could jeopardize our budget. After the last concept, he wanted to see yet another, and I told him I would of course provide it but if it caused us to go over budget he would cover the costs at my normal hourly rate. Apparently this upset him to the point where he no longer wanted to work together, saying he refused to rush the design process in order to meet the budget. He then proceeded to dictate to me how much he would pay me to cover the cost of what we had done so far.

Now my mama didn't raise no fool and I've been stung before, so of course my contract protects me completely in this situation. It states that the client will pay me for all my time so far, and that I retain all copyright and ownership of all materials and concepts. However, it seems like if it comes to it, it's going to be an ugly situation for me to collect my payment as stipulated in the contract. I'm not sure what I should have done differently in this situation, it seems like my options were to either fulfil all the requests for extra work and eat the loss, or to give him fair warning like I did that extra concepts mean extra money. Apparently though this warning was enough to send him packing. It's hardly worth going to court to collect a few hours wages, not to mention that although it would be entirely unjustified, I run the risk of bad word of mouth. What good is a contract when the costs to enforce it are so high? It's so frustrating to do everything right and still end up in a lose-lose situation.

[MikeHun]

Been there and been frustrated as you have, seems that as a creative you are between the proverbial rock and hard place. I would sue in small claims to recover any little thing amount. I'm to the point of having been burned enough in the same situation sooo many times, that I'll never let bad events like yours slide. He knows what he's doing and thats being a predatory F@#ker, so bloody his nose a bit. Money is money and don't let the bad mouthing fears sway your drive, small claims isn't that bad and remember to bill for costs and expenses.
Give them an inch and they take a mile.

[Optimusdinkus]

Been there and been frustrated as you have, seems that as a creative you are between the proverbial rock and hard place. I would sue in small claims to recover any little thing amount. I'm to the point of having been burned enough in the same situation sooo many times, that I'll never let bad events like yours slide. He knows what he's doing and thats being a predatory F@#ker, so bloody his nose a bit. Money is money and don't let the bad mouthing fears sway your drive, small claims isn't that bad and remember to bill for costs and expenses.
Give them an inch and they take a mile.
Seriously, what kind of bad mouthing can he do? sue him for that too, being slander to your name. Especially if he is millitant about it leading to malice.

PS I have no form of a law degree or specialty in dealing with law.

[reuber1]

My headphones picked a fantastic time to die...

Alicia Keyes, John Mayer, and Buck Cherry in the first ten minutes this morning. I already have a headache. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[CkretAjint]

Reub, go get some new ones on your lunch break. Don't forget to take an early lunch... say around 10:00! :p

[reuber1]

Reub, go get some new ones on your lunch break. Don't forget to take an early lunch... say around 10:00! :p
These puppies were $100 when I bought them, still are probably. I got them last year and they're still in a 2 year warranty, so I'm getting them fixed for the time being. I'll probably go insane for this week though. *cue the smiley that is circling around in a psychotic craze*

ARGHGHGH, and now that new obnoxious Sheryl Crow song.

[CkretAjint]

Dude, just buy some $10 ones to hold you over! When the others come back just put the cheapys in your draw just-in-case.

[reuber1]

Dude, just buy some $10 ones to hold you over! When the others come back just put the cheapys in your draw just-in-case.
Yeah, that's actually probably a good idea; I didn't realize I'd be this annoyed by the radio this early in the week.

I wish the radio was like the radio stations in GTA.

[budafist]

I wish the radio was like the radio stations in GTA.

Don't you start talking like that! The other day we were driving into the city and my fiance exclaimed that everything looked like vice city. The annoying thing was, he was right. We had just stopped at some lights and looking into a brightly lit room in building where people were walking around slowly like 3d people.

[CkretAjint]

GRRRrrrrr....

Something that jerks my chain:

Having your boss approve the new site plan standard, only the start creating them and having her say "lets head a different direction with these."

Okay. *deep breath* What would you like to change about them?

I'm not sure, but I dont like what I see.

Okay. *deeper breath* More pastely? lighter? more contrast? more gradients?

I don't know, just make it better. I know what I don't like, but I don't know what I want with it.

:mad:

[Virgo Nightingale]

^^That's the worst.

[budafist]

^^ I agree.

[MD]

I agree with the agreement of the assessment of that being the worst.

[garricks]

Blech. Sorry, Ckret. That sux.

[CkretAjint]

Its all good. I dumpd the project back on her desk and told her that until I get more direction for it I am considering the project to be in her hands. She was quite stunned when I said that... But I dont read minds and I am not wasitng my time guessing!!! :mad:

[Optimusdinkus]

word. I have plenty of things to add in both threads (this one and the one without a chain), but they are in the works of being typed, stay tuned lawl.

[budafist]

I dont read minds and I am not wasitng my time guessing!!!:

I've never heard it put that way before. I'm going to steal it.

[Tea]

What really jerks my chain? When some kid thinks he's funny by using some inappropriate words in his video that forced me to destroy 20 already burned DVDs and start all over. I worked 14 hours yesterday, I'm going on 12 today because of their stunt. I am not a happy camper.

[budafist]

This really jerks my chain. Gross. Just because the client approved it, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/4986/picture1rm9.png

[urstwile]

Negative leading and super loose letterspacing? WTF?

[budafist]

Yes it looks horrible. At least they picked a nice font....I guess.

[CkretAjint]

*headdesk*

Boss came in this morning...

*headdesk*

Walked over to me and said. "I reviewed the siteplan yesterday, perhaps I am just not explaining myself clear enough on it. We will talk later once I come up with a detailed list of edits on it."

*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*

[Typically]

i cut the lawn and did all the fun things that go along with it yesterday after work so i didn't have to do it this weekend. as i'm blowing the clippings and debris out to the street a car comes down the road so i stop blowing the stuff into the street to not piss the person in the car off. the guy in the lexus suv slows down to a crawl goes into the other lane and stares me down like i just kicked his dog. now i thought i was doing the nice by not blowing this shit at his car but i guess that wasn't good enough for him. just because you don't mow your own lawn doesn't mean the people you pay to do it don't do the same damn thing.

[reuber1]

QUARK.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[CkretAjint]

*pets Quark* I like Quark. Of course my work is making the switch to InDesign soon, so i will learn that one soon enough! :p

[Virgo Nightingale]

Funny. I like Quark, probably because I learned it first and got used to it first. when I do work with InDesign I get pissy because it doesn't do things the same way I'm used to. :D

[reuber1]

It's not differences between InDesign and what have you (though we are supposedly switching to InDy soon), just the fact that the ****ing program has shut down on me almost FIVE times today.

[CkretAjint]

okay, that would piss me off to! :p

Just remember to save often... ;)

[reuber1]

okay, that would piss me off to! :p

Just remember to save often... ;)
My left hand is always primed and ready for some Open Apple + S action.

My right hand?....well, no need to go into detail.

[Virgo Nightingale]

Microsoft Word pisses me off for that same reason. At least it doesn't inexplicably force quit every other open application upon opening like it used to. :rolleyes:

[budafist]

We learned Freehand and Quark in first year of GD school and after that it was Illy and Indy all the way. They must've done it in that order so we would leave with Illy and Indy fresh in our minds?

[Virgo Nightingale]

We never learned Freehand in school. In fact, I don't think I've ever even seen Freehand. Then again, my school didn't teach InDesign, so go figure. Maybe that's why I'm so warped.

[MD]

what version are you working in roobs?

[reuber1]

Quark 6.5.

I have CS3 installed on my machine, we just can't use InDesign yet unfortunately.

[DesignVHL]

WOOOO what a day! Ya know what jerks my chain? Clients who don't read their contract, clients who are flakey, and clients who try to suck as much out of you as they can...where do you draw the line on being nice and making slight revisions that are already outside the scope of the project, to being a hard ass on compensation for additions?

*start rant*
IS it SO wrong for me to charge minimal, yet additional amount for site pages and navigation buttons NOT in my client's current website, sitemap planner and contract? I'm having a day here and need to vent vent vent! I think I've decided to unload the site and let his friend take it over....and good luck to her because I doubt she knows how to use CSS and HTML properly. :P I just have that feelin'...

This guy is already getting more than I've charged him and he wants even MORE that was NEVER discussed before....am I being a pain, or is he? One second I know and feel like I am right...and then another second, I feel like he's trying to make me feel like this 'small update/change' is no big deal, as his web design friend said she would do it for him to save him on the cost....i'm at the point where I am going to just give him the damn psd file (which would be a first for me for no compensation) and let him buy the fonts needed on his own so he can get those updates for free! I just am ready to unload from this guy totally he has been quite a pain. Some people just don't get it I guess...and it never helps when his web design friend is buzzin in his ear...why didn't SHE just design his site then in the first place?! *end rant*

ps i feel bad because he really is a super nice guy, even if he is going through a mid-life crisis and wants to perform music again -which is the point of his site, to promote his music, which imho isn't all that fantastic...which i also feel bad saying about a client. oye vey!

[MD]

uark 6.5 was pretty solid for me ... I wonder if it is a corrupt font that is screwing things up

[budafist]

Clients from another country that I have never met or heard of that refuse to pay a deposit.

[garricks]

DesignVHL, I feel your pain. I don't even deal with real money...the client just has to enter a work order into our database. Five times today I had people call/e-mail, and when I asked if they'd filled out a work request, all five responded, "for this?!? It's just a..."

Yes. Yes you do. Those are the rulez. I didn't make them up. I'm not touching your frigging rush job until you do it.


I'm also cranky because one of the firewall servers died last night and we had almost no internet access all day. Our internal e-mail went down twice, too.

[MikeHun]

yes yes and yes .. no you can' have it then, no it won't be ready then.
Why because you didn't arrainge for that dvd to come in from stuttgart
and you don't know what FTP is ya knob

Scum sucking dirt bag clients, boss's and ner' do wells all nicey nice...
up to a point and in yur face... Arrrgh I say gut em cut their gizzards out
and feed em to the gulls. I need me some rum and rrrrrrr and rrrrrrrrr.

[DesignStudio]

Happy 500 pages of complaining GDF!

[The_Black_Knight]

Happy 500 pages of complaining GDF!I only have 125 pages of complaining. :D

[The_Black_Knight]

I just noticed that this post will be the 5000th complaint, though.

What should I complain about...

Okay, how about people in marketing? Guys, there's something called planning ahead, and I mean planning beyond tomorrow, and even the day after tomorrow. Why do you think we can turn around any project you idiots can come up with in less than a day?