‘Bring me someone I can bitch-slap’
Famous last words from yours truly. 🙂
I’ve been working practically nonstop for weeks. Yesterday, after some initial drama from a last-minute advertiser who couldn’t get their ad in on time, much less follow my directions to submit a PDF (fuckers sent a Quark file, so I had to haul ass into the office at the crack-o-dawn to make a PDF to send to the print shop because the Quark file was too big for them to receive via e-mail), the paper went up on press.
This, of course, would be a joyous event, but my paper went on the orange press, which I pitched fits about months ago because the paper looks like SHIT every time it’s on the orange press. The paper gets wrinkled, lines end up going through some of the paid ads because the rollers on the press are old and tired, and the colors get washed out.
So of course, when I was unimpressed with initial copies and I realized that I was on the crappy press, I got bitchy and said, “Bring me someone I can bitch-slap.” So my wonderful customer service reps brought me their supervisor, and I told her, look, we have been on the yellow press for the past two months, and those were the only copies of the paper that looked respectable, and we are running a special issue (which is our No. 1 best-read issue of the year) this month — it’s full of photos and I am not overly pleased with how it’s turning out. I said it’s a shame when I feel like I need to call ahead and say, “Hey, it’s a special issue. Can ya make sure it doesn’t look like hell?” because every issue should look great. What went unsaid is that I spend a quarter-million dollars there each year, and while I really do appreciate how accommodating everyone there is, I can’t really settle for the paper looking bad.
So, I got to decide whether to keep printing and adjusting the machines or to leave and go on the yellow press on Wednesday. I chose the latter, and so it goes that I wasted nine fucking hours of my life, staring at the walls, yesterday. Angie will oversee the press run on Wednesday — I am officially off till Thursday, although I did leave a message for my boss that it hardly seems fair that we worked three weekends and two furloughs this month, only for me to beg for and get two lousy comp days.
I saw a job opening at a political organization I support. It was posted a month ago, but I am so qualified for it, it isn’t even funny. I think I’m going to call and inquire about it — not that I am gung-ho to work for yet another employer, but I think I have given everything and then some to my (dis)organization, and what’s sad is my colleagues are angry on my behalf but I’m too tired to be angry or anything other than grateful to park my ass on the couch and not think about the crises for 48 solid hours.
I haven’t been in my e-mail in almost a week. I only wonder how many ads for “Vi@gra” are awaiting my “delete” button. …