...is the property of an object to remain constant in velocity unless acted upon by an outside force."
Lately, I feel as though inertia is the only thing getting my through a day at work: I arrive in the office, sit down to work, and I don't stop working till it's done. That's my day. Every day.
It's rather depressing to think that I used to enjoy my work, but now it's just a way of filling eight hours of my day.
So much of it now is just fire control, because the salespeople somehow manage to sell to clients who have been blacklisted by Accounts (as in, they didn't pay their bill, we took them to court, they won, we lost money). I didn't sign up to be an accountant, but head office does not see the need to employ sufficient Accounting staff when Production can be pushed into monitoring debt, and when the salespeople can be forced to collect on those debts.
The top dogs in this company must believe Production staff are sorely underutilised, if we can double as accountants and run a vast website made up of multiple feeds from other companies all over London. Never mind that some Production departments regularly work till midnight on press days. We're obviously not busy enough.
I'd like to say it wouldn't seem so bad if it weren't for the idiots we do have in Production (largely inherited, rather than employed by choice), but that's probably not true.
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
w00t!
One thing I forgot to make mention of yesterday is the TransFormers pop-up book my friend/colleague found for me in a charity shop. Now, personally, I love pop-up books of all kinds simply because of the complex engineering that goes into making them 'pop-up' (and, let's not forget, do all kinds of other clever acrobatics). To have found a TF book that's in very good condition (bar the missing cut-out models) was pretty special. My favourite pop-up book (which I'll have to go searching for now I've remembered it) was based around the movie Tron, and featured some incredibly clever cardboard tricks. Other noteworthy 'pop-up' items in my strange collection include the poster that came with the limited edition Saturn version of Cyberbots... it features Mech-Gouki facing off against the robotic octopus piloted by Devilot, in the sea, with a couple of people in a dinghy in the mid-ground.
Really must give pop-up book making a try one weekend... must be a fascinating job.
In other news, following my lucky find of Classics Jetfire at TRU yesterday, I arrived home today to find that my order from the TFCC had arrived. Landquake and Skyfall are molded largely in transparent red and blue plastic, with opaque red, blue and grey making up the rest. Landquake is a repaint of the twin-barrelled tank mold from Bruticus Maximus, Skyfall is the plane loosely based on the A10 from Superion Maximus. Each comes with a lenticular card which is, at once, a certificate of authenticity and a profile for the character. Skyfall's shows his transformation in three stages, while Landquake's somehow manages to be 3D. Overall, for $20 a piece (approx £10 at the current exchange rate) they're both bargains.
I also snagged an Armorhide, to repaint as Huffer. Strange that I should have to order from overseas for a 'Scout' class figure... but he was always impossible to find in shops over here, either because he was short-packed, or because he's actually an extremely cool model... or a combination of both.
That's always assuming he was ever released over here... which isn't entirely certain.
Really must give pop-up book making a try one weekend... must be a fascinating job.
In other news, following my lucky find of Classics Jetfire at TRU yesterday, I arrived home today to find that my order from the TFCC had arrived. Landquake and Skyfall are molded largely in transparent red and blue plastic, with opaque red, blue and grey making up the rest. Landquake is a repaint of the twin-barrelled tank mold from Bruticus Maximus, Skyfall is the plane loosely based on the A10 from Superion Maximus. Each comes with a lenticular card which is, at once, a certificate of authenticity and a profile for the character. Skyfall's shows his transformation in three stages, while Landquake's somehow manages to be 3D. Overall, for $20 a piece (approx £10 at the current exchange rate) they're both bargains.
I also snagged an Armorhide, to repaint as Huffer. Strange that I should have to order from overseas for a 'Scout' class figure... but he was always impossible to find in shops over here, either because he was short-packed, or because he's actually an extremely cool model... or a combination of both.
That's always assuming he was ever released over here... which isn't entirely certain.
Monday, 19 February 2007
Thought for the day
OK, this is one of mine, and it proves what a complete fascist I can be in the workplace...
"Why is it that the simple solution is so rarely legal?"
Here's the thing: The MD desperately wants to reorganise the department into a North team and a South team. Overall, in terms of pages output, there's very little between North and South. South has fewer magazines, but a larger page count on what it has, North has more mags, but they tend to be smaller. Considering how few we are in Production, it's a recipe for disaster but, under the right circumstances, it would be a reasonably flexible system.
"What are the right circumstances?" I hear you ask...
Well, for starters, no bloody slackers.
Seriously. We have a 'Senior Designer' who recently confessed that 'at his age' he only wanted to do certain things, and palm the rest off on his subordinates. He is not a team player. He's a lazy, middle-aged loser. He doesn't even like half the magazines we produce. He has become exactly what he said he hated about the 'Art Directors' we got rid of months ago. He has resigned once, in a pay dispute, but then bottled out on his last day, and begged for his job back. He's also tried to get the Group Production Manager sacked, because... she's a manager, and he doesn't like not being the ultimate authority in the department. He failed, and was given an ultimatum this weekend - either get with the programme and do as he is told, or leave. Sadly, he chose the former, and he has been informed that the next time he tries anything stupid, he'll be clearing his desk and leaving that same day.
We have a guy who, according to his job title, is a Production Manager. He does as little as possible, as rarely as possible. He is the embodiment of the idea "just enough to get by". He doesn't manage anything. He can't structure his workload, he can't prioritise. He used to let his department - and everyone else - run him. He is spineless, and more concerned that people like him rather than respect him. This runs wholly contrary to getting his job done.
In an ideal world, they could both be kicked out... but Employment Law is on the side of the slacker.
So here's another angle. We have two senior designers, one of whom is good and reliable. If another job title could be dreampt up, the position of 'Senior Designer' could be made redundant, removing one problem.
Additionally, since we have a Group Production Manager, we hardly need a Production Manager... so, rather than bump me up to Production Manager to match him (since we do the same job) why not make Production Manager redundant? He complains about having been effectively demoted, but he never actually behaved as a Production Manager. All he ever did was check supplied artwork and output final pages. If that's all it takes to be a Production Manager, I've been doing that job for about 10K+ less, for the last six years.
Another option would be to move him over to a side-project, and bump another member of staff across to be my counterpart. Easily doable, and this other guy would be infinitely more reliable. Given a bit of training, he'd quickly become adequate. Given a few months, he'd be able to do just about everything it takes to publish a magazine all by himself... which would definitely help him in future.
Problem is, my current counterpart wouldn't be able to do the work required of him on the side-project. Everyone knows this, so the transfer would never be approved, and he'd never accept the job anyway (too much like hard work). And with Employment Law on the side of the slacker, he couldn't be pushed into it and then fired for not doing it properly.
It's really rather disheartening.
So many obvious ways to get rid of people who underperform (and are happy to do so), none of them legal.
And what really pisses me off is that Mr Senior Designer, who threatened to leave if he wasn't given a pay rise, is actually getting one in a couple of months. OK, it may not be all he was hoping for, but it's the principle of the thing. Why give the lazy bastard a pay rise when he's admitted to underperforming? There are plenty of others more deserving, and it supports the suggestion that if one kicks up enough of a fuss, one will get a pay rise... Which is exactly the sort of thinking we need to stamp out.
Damn, you can just hear those jackboots, can't you?
In other news, I popped off to Toys'R'Us after work, and picked up one of a very few TF Classics Jetfires. They actually had three Cryo Scourges on the shelves, too... And, months after they disappeared from the shelves, my friend/colleague was able to get an Ice Age 2 electronic Skrat. The look on her face as she burrowed through the other stuff on the shelves - once she'd caught a glimpse of what might, just might have been Skrat - was one to treasure, as was the look of triumphant joy as she clutched to her chest the Skrat she thought she'd missed out on forever.
I love moments like that.
"Why is it that the simple solution is so rarely legal?"
Here's the thing: The MD desperately wants to reorganise the department into a North team and a South team. Overall, in terms of pages output, there's very little between North and South. South has fewer magazines, but a larger page count on what it has, North has more mags, but they tend to be smaller. Considering how few we are in Production, it's a recipe for disaster but, under the right circumstances, it would be a reasonably flexible system.
"What are the right circumstances?" I hear you ask...
Well, for starters, no bloody slackers.
Seriously. We have a 'Senior Designer' who recently confessed that 'at his age' he only wanted to do certain things, and palm the rest off on his subordinates. He is not a team player. He's a lazy, middle-aged loser. He doesn't even like half the magazines we produce. He has become exactly what he said he hated about the 'Art Directors' we got rid of months ago. He has resigned once, in a pay dispute, but then bottled out on his last day, and begged for his job back. He's also tried to get the Group Production Manager sacked, because... she's a manager, and he doesn't like not being the ultimate authority in the department. He failed, and was given an ultimatum this weekend - either get with the programme and do as he is told, or leave. Sadly, he chose the former, and he has been informed that the next time he tries anything stupid, he'll be clearing his desk and leaving that same day.
We have a guy who, according to his job title, is a Production Manager. He does as little as possible, as rarely as possible. He is the embodiment of the idea "just enough to get by". He doesn't manage anything. He can't structure his workload, he can't prioritise. He used to let his department - and everyone else - run him. He is spineless, and more concerned that people like him rather than respect him. This runs wholly contrary to getting his job done.
In an ideal world, they could both be kicked out... but Employment Law is on the side of the slacker.
So here's another angle. We have two senior designers, one of whom is good and reliable. If another job title could be dreampt up, the position of 'Senior Designer' could be made redundant, removing one problem.
Additionally, since we have a Group Production Manager, we hardly need a Production Manager... so, rather than bump me up to Production Manager to match him (since we do the same job) why not make Production Manager redundant? He complains about having been effectively demoted, but he never actually behaved as a Production Manager. All he ever did was check supplied artwork and output final pages. If that's all it takes to be a Production Manager, I've been doing that job for about 10K+ less, for the last six years.
Another option would be to move him over to a side-project, and bump another member of staff across to be my counterpart. Easily doable, and this other guy would be infinitely more reliable. Given a bit of training, he'd quickly become adequate. Given a few months, he'd be able to do just about everything it takes to publish a magazine all by himself... which would definitely help him in future.
Problem is, my current counterpart wouldn't be able to do the work required of him on the side-project. Everyone knows this, so the transfer would never be approved, and he'd never accept the job anyway (too much like hard work). And with Employment Law on the side of the slacker, he couldn't be pushed into it and then fired for not doing it properly.
It's really rather disheartening.
So many obvious ways to get rid of people who underperform (and are happy to do so), none of them legal.
And what really pisses me off is that Mr Senior Designer, who threatened to leave if he wasn't given a pay rise, is actually getting one in a couple of months. OK, it may not be all he was hoping for, but it's the principle of the thing. Why give the lazy bastard a pay rise when he's admitted to underperforming? There are plenty of others more deserving, and it supports the suggestion that if one kicks up enough of a fuss, one will get a pay rise... Which is exactly the sort of thinking we need to stamp out.
Damn, you can just hear those jackboots, can't you?
In other news, I popped off to Toys'R'Us after work, and picked up one of a very few TF Classics Jetfires. They actually had three Cryo Scourges on the shelves, too... And, months after they disappeared from the shelves, my friend/colleague was able to get an Ice Age 2 electronic Skrat. The look on her face as she burrowed through the other stuff on the shelves - once she'd caught a glimpse of what might, just might have been Skrat - was one to treasure, as was the look of triumphant joy as she clutched to her chest the Skrat she thought she'd missed out on forever.
I love moments like that.
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