I knew I'd forgotten something.
Or rather, I knew I'd tried desperately to put something out of my mind and succeeded.
Today I had a meeting with some folks who are putting on a show and using us for extra publicity. I'd been forewarned, and had no idea why I was being pulled into it. Having sat through over an hour of meeting, I'm still none the wiser.
Well, perhaps not entirely true.
My previous experience with the sites stood me in some good stead, but the length of time I've been out of the loop counted against me. There were also things that the guy who used to run the websites did, that I'm not able to do (easily) myself, or that I'll have to defer to the IT folks who do the background stuff. I was, however, reasonably certain of what we can offer. While in the meeting, I was relying on bluff and confident silence more than thought (who actually manages to think in this kind of meeting anyway?) but, after the meeting, more of the ins and outs of the requirements started popping up in my memory, so when they started emailing me, I was able to answer more confidently.
Much of it will be going via the Editors anyway, so I really only need to worry about the technical crap that - supposedly - I'm very good at. The MD described me as a genius... Largely, I suspect, because he hasn't hit upon anything I'm no good at... yet...
Day after press on yesterday's magazine was a far more civilised affair than Friday's. The Sales team shifted their few remaining spaces promptly, and the only reason we weren't finished by midday was that the last ad took a while to come through from the client, and needed their logo adding to it.
We finished by about 1.30pm
After that, it was announced that Accounts would be invoicing April web ads tomorrow... When we'd only just started working on them today. These things need to be ironed out... Invoicing all web ads at the beginning of the month is more than a little ridiculous when the salespeople are still selling them into the second week of the month.
In other news, my Broadband is up and running at the flat (supposedly), so these last few posts will be up - dated correctly, but in one big hit - once I drag my computer and modem over to the flat.
I also popped over to the flat to measure up for the possibility of getting a large sofabed with chaise longue. Theoretically, there's enough room for my ideal choice, plus the computer desk, with enough room for the planned cabinet in the corner, and possibly a small table over by the window.
Now I just have to order the sofa.
On the way out, I noticed a possible cause for the problems with my front door: part of the lock arrangement had come unscrewed from the door frame. Once screwed back (after a couple of adjustments for fit), the door closes soundly, and the seal seems better. I'll have to keep an eye on that. If it keeps coming unscrewed, I'll have to call in the window people to fix it properly.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Monday, 30 March 2009
Offline Blog #3
Who'd have thought that, having apologised for his stupid behaviour on Friday, the Commercial Manager would spend the weekend brooding, and try a whole new attack on Monday morning?
Well... I have to admit that I didn't predict it... but equally, it doesn't surprise me. He's really losing his grip, and I suspect he'll lose his job if things carry on the way they are at the moment.
He apparently started off with the same complaint - that I'd 'walked out', and that he hadn't signed off the magazine when I left, so it shouldn't have gone to the Printers. My boss pointed out that, since this all happened the day after press, I was under no obligation to stay past 5.30 and that surely he should have signed everything off the day before... it had been Press Day, after all.
Even the MD tried to jump to my defence, I hear... by my boss got there ahead of him and cut him off.
By the time I'd arrived, however, it was all over... My boss had sent the replacement final page, and all was well. Except that this particular Commercial Manager has pushed it too far (again) and is never getting any favours ever again (again). I pointed out to my boss that this is not the first time she's said that. She suggested I remind her of this next time he asks for a favour, and I replied that I always do, and that she always responds by saying "this isn't a favour".
We shall see.
Press Day for my next magazine ended up being staggered into tomorrow. There's only a page worth of space left (coincidentally, Thursday's magazine went to press with a page worth of fillers), so that shouldn't be too difficult to fill. Everything bar the last few pages is uploaded, and everything bar one section has been signed off. Hopefully tomorrow shouldn't be too much of a struggle, but the Salespeople are rather put out that they have to return to our office. If they're sensible, they'll make damned sure they're finished by noon.
Once that's out of the way, I'll have some breathing room to work on the web ads... They're all due to go online on Wednesday, so it'd be nice to make some headway on them.
Well... I have to admit that I didn't predict it... but equally, it doesn't surprise me. He's really losing his grip, and I suspect he'll lose his job if things carry on the way they are at the moment.
He apparently started off with the same complaint - that I'd 'walked out', and that he hadn't signed off the magazine when I left, so it shouldn't have gone to the Printers. My boss pointed out that, since this all happened the day after press, I was under no obligation to stay past 5.30 and that surely he should have signed everything off the day before... it had been Press Day, after all.
Even the MD tried to jump to my defence, I hear... by my boss got there ahead of him and cut him off.
By the time I'd arrived, however, it was all over... My boss had sent the replacement final page, and all was well. Except that this particular Commercial Manager has pushed it too far (again) and is never getting any favours ever again (again). I pointed out to my boss that this is not the first time she's said that. She suggested I remind her of this next time he asks for a favour, and I replied that I always do, and that she always responds by saying "this isn't a favour".
We shall see.
Press Day for my next magazine ended up being staggered into tomorrow. There's only a page worth of space left (coincidentally, Thursday's magazine went to press with a page worth of fillers), so that shouldn't be too difficult to fill. Everything bar the last few pages is uploaded, and everything bar one section has been signed off. Hopefully tomorrow shouldn't be too much of a struggle, but the Salespeople are rather put out that they have to return to our office. If they're sensible, they'll make damned sure they're finished by noon.
Once that's out of the way, I'll have some breathing room to work on the web ads... They're all due to go online on Wednesday, so it'd be nice to make some headway on them.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Offline Blog #2
Weird week.
Everything has slipped back by about a week, meaning things are more or less back to normal, just... off.
On the whole, it went well. Press Day was just stupid. There were spaces still to sell - nothing new there - but the Sales team were employing the most scattershot tactics I've seen in quite a while. Even that wasn't too bad, though, as it filled spaces.
Things started to to pear-shaped when the new guy - stop me if you've heard this one - made a late sale to a new client who had no complete artwork. What they had was an ad designed by an agency which they had declined... so we couldn't even use it as a style guide.
So the saleman directed them to an online 'style guide' thing our parent company has for advertising. So far, so good. They picked a style they liked, and I gave the job of setting it to myself, to guarantee that my staff wouldn't have to hang around when it all went wrong.
Because it did go wrong.
So very wrong.
In every way I knew it would, hours before it happened.
Let's break it down:
What they hadn't reckoned on was:
Sure enough, the Commercial Manager had been going ballistic.
Equally sure, my boss had been pointing out the flaws in his flimsy argument.
By the time I switched my phone back on, I'd had a text message from him - supposedly meant to be an apology, but actually a grudging 'thank you' followed by an instruction.
The rest of Saturday was not exactly a blur of activity. I hadn't slept particularly well (though I did have a bizarre dream in which one of our Senior Designers, made redundant around this time last year and recently demoted to 'Artworker' in his new job, thought he was returning to the fold, and I took great delight in telling him he was not. He started crying uncontrollably, and the Editor he was sweet-talking did likewise, running off to a dark corner of the office and refusing to talk to me), so a good chunk of the afternoon was lost to a nap.
Sunday, by comparison, was much more fun - a day trip to the Birmingham NEC for the Spring Memorabilia show. The show, in and of itself, was a disappointment (as the spring shows often are) with a lacklustre collection of guests, many of whom I'd never heard of. The stalls were rather bare of anything new in the TransFormers line - most everything there is commonly available in the shops... though Memorabilia seemed slightly cheaper on average.
I did pick up a new T-shirt (because I have so very few already) from Retro GT - a scene from the end of level one in Salamander, where Giant Tentacled Cyclops Brain Monster is being attacked by the two good-guy spacecraft.
My companion gave me one of her Totoro phone charms - the number 6 (Totoro peering out from under a torn umbrella) since my birthday is in the sixth month. I gave her a late 'filler' birthday present, because the new TransFormers movie Bumblebee isn't available yet - a Viking Kitten from the Rathergood.com shop.
There were no diversions on the way home, as her stomach started playing up, but it was a pretty decent day out, with lovely weather. The NEC's little ecosystem managed to be warmer than London, where it's normally colder and frequently wetter, whatever the weather back home. This trip was also probably the first time we've actually had a good view over the plain of Oxford on the way out.
Everything has slipped back by about a week, meaning things are more or less back to normal, just... off.
On the whole, it went well. Press Day was just stupid. There were spaces still to sell - nothing new there - but the Sales team were employing the most scattershot tactics I've seen in quite a while. Even that wasn't too bad, though, as it filled spaces.
Things started to to pear-shaped when the new guy - stop me if you've heard this one - made a late sale to a new client who had no complete artwork. What they had was an ad designed by an agency which they had declined... so we couldn't even use it as a style guide.
So the saleman directed them to an online 'style guide' thing our parent company has for advertising. So far, so good. They picked a style they liked, and I gave the job of setting it to myself, to guarantee that my staff wouldn't have to hang around when it all went wrong.
Because it did go wrong.
So very wrong.
In every way I knew it would, hours before it happened.
Let's break it down:
- New client, booked in for full-page ad, on the day after press.
- Materials supplied are text, images and a layout that we must not use as a guide because Client has rejected it.
- Client chooses library tempate.
- Client insists on seeing a proof.
- Production must not proof on Press Day
- Saleman insists that he's following Commercial Manager's instructions.
- Commercial Manager listens to Production concerns and ignores them, blinded by the pound signs, deafened by the 'cha-ching' of a sale he's been assured is good.
- Production agrees to send a proof based on layout selected by Client
- Client requests changes, which are made, and a new proof sent (my mistake, at that stage, it should have been approved or cancelled)
- Client request further changes, which are made, but the ad is then sent to press (at just after 5.30pm on the day after press) before the client sees a proof, in accordance with our procedures.
- I leave the office, while the Salesman is still on the phone to the Client, who is "not sure."
What they hadn't reckoned on was:
- It was booked the day after press
- They were supposed to be filling space and hitting their target, not wasting time doggedly chasing one particular sale
- Since it wasn't a press day, neither I nor my team were obliged to stay after 5.30pm
Sure enough, the Commercial Manager had been going ballistic.
Equally sure, my boss had been pointing out the flaws in his flimsy argument.
By the time I switched my phone back on, I'd had a text message from him - supposedly meant to be an apology, but actually a grudging 'thank you' followed by an instruction.
The rest of Saturday was not exactly a blur of activity. I hadn't slept particularly well (though I did have a bizarre dream in which one of our Senior Designers, made redundant around this time last year and recently demoted to 'Artworker' in his new job, thought he was returning to the fold, and I took great delight in telling him he was not. He started crying uncontrollably, and the Editor he was sweet-talking did likewise, running off to a dark corner of the office and refusing to talk to me), so a good chunk of the afternoon was lost to a nap.
Sunday, by comparison, was much more fun - a day trip to the Birmingham NEC for the Spring Memorabilia show. The show, in and of itself, was a disappointment (as the spring shows often are) with a lacklustre collection of guests, many of whom I'd never heard of. The stalls were rather bare of anything new in the TransFormers line - most everything there is commonly available in the shops... though Memorabilia seemed slightly cheaper on average.
I did pick up a new T-shirt (because I have so very few already) from Retro GT - a scene from the end of level one in Salamander, where Giant Tentacled Cyclops Brain Monster is being attacked by the two good-guy spacecraft.
My companion gave me one of her Totoro phone charms - the number 6 (Totoro peering out from under a torn umbrella) since my birthday is in the sixth month. I gave her a late 'filler' birthday present, because the new TransFormers movie Bumblebee isn't available yet - a Viking Kitten from the Rathergood.com shop.
There were no diversions on the way home, as her stomach started playing up, but it was a pretty decent day out, with lovely weather. The NEC's little ecosystem managed to be warmer than London, where it's normally colder and frequently wetter, whatever the weather back home. This trip was also probably the first time we've actually had a good view over the plain of Oxford on the way out.
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