So not only do I have a leaky bathroom ceiling to contend with in this unseasonal downpour, but I got home - rather late - from work yesterday and walked into a power cut. The first clue I got was a kebab shop nearby running on candles.
On the upside, it meant I got a slightly earlier night... although even that didn't stop me oversleeping this morning, when I'd fully intended to get into work early to tackle as much advanced work as possible before having to switch to my current magazine.
Bang goes that idea.
Today actually went incredibly smoothly, despite some early fireworks (an Estate Agent who asked for template changes yesterday, asked to undo them today, and tried to make it sound like our cock-up, despite our record of the two contradictory emails) and last minute cock-ups (a single page interiors feature was set as two pages why? And how many freebie entries were removed to cut it to size?). I was genuinely surprised that we were out shortly after 8pm, but not surprised that that the delays were on the Editorial side.
So, with the Editor conveniently on holiday (while due for a disciplinary meeting), Assistant Editor and Freelancer stepped up and did pretty much everything. Assistant Editor isn't supposed to do full days because of a medical condition, Freelancer doesn't do overtime. Assistant Editor spouted forth about the Design Rules of the magazine, some of which the Group Production Manager knew nothing about. Strange... considering it's her responsibility, not that of the Assistant Editor, the Editor or the Group Editor... And if the Group Production Manager doesn't know it's a rule, it's not adhered to or enforced. All this and, despite an extra week in the schedule, most of the Editorial came through late, and the Contents pages weren't started until after the official end of the day, despite having had a rock-solid flatplan for several days.
I despair, I really do. I cannot imagine how they will possibly cope when Production is moved to head office. It's not even my problem, but having given 11 years to some of these magazines, I am having a little trouble letting go.
The Sales team on this magazine were an absolute joy for the most part - ignoring any and all requests for late setting, naturally... taking those into account, they were probably no better than any of the others... Though they did, at least, attempt to tackle any problems we raised with them as promptly as possible. That is really what makes the difference these days.
The worst glitch this time round was something I've been predicting for months: Editorial specify x pages of Property Editorial for the magazine... Property Sales later specify y pages, having promised some to several clients. Often, the first the Editor knows of this discrepancy is when she sees the flatplan. Only a select few pieces are labelled in any meaningful way, so there's always confusion over which page is which... and neither Editorial nor Property Sales want to take responsibility for it. Neither even care to acknowledge that it might be their responsibility.
Even in the absence of her loathesome manager, equally loathesome Deputy Property Manager didn't see that it might be the responsibility of the Salespeople who have promised this Editorial coverage to inform the Editor of its necessity. This inevitably led to one page not being worked on - no original text or photographs either supplied to the Editors or requested by them - and being replaced, at about 7.30pm, with a filler ad.
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