Tomorrow I may lose my job

Well, you asked:

We produce the weekly paper as a paper version, and for subscribers
overseas who can't wait for the post (ie: most of our subscribers), a
PDF version, accessible via a password on our website.

The paper does not carry advertising. We produce glossy magazine-style
supplements for that purpose. The paper is for hard news only.

For three years I have been trying to make the man understand that we
can put adverts in the PDF version - just chuck an extra page in - and
hyperlink them to advertisers' websites.

Costs us nowt, adds a bit of memory to the PDF come download time, takes
next to no time to do.

When he finally realised that I wasn't bullshitting (yes, after three
years), he said we could "test" the idea with a house ad for our
forthcoming conference. I grab the ad from marketing, slot it in,
hyperlink the PDF, test the link, job done. Then it's for IT to upload
the PDF to our website. Tell him it's done and it works.

"But I've checked on the website and there's still last week's issue
there!"

"Yes, that's because IT uploads the new one in the afternoon."

Get another message from him, copied to marketing: "The copyright stuff
on the PDF is all wrong! Re-do!"

Huh? Ask marketing what he's on about. They have no idea. Call him and
ask.

"The copyright stuff. It's all wrong. It has to be changed."

"*What* copyright stuff?"

"On the PDF! Change it!"

"Show me where it is, because I don't know what you're on about."

So he talks me through our (labyrinthine) website till we get to the
download page, and he says triumphantly: "THERE!"

"But that's a copyright notice on the webpage."

"Yes, on the PDF."

"No, it's on the webpage."

"So you're saying it's not on the PDF?"

(trying to lkeep patience) "No. It's on the website. You can see."

"So who put it there?"

"Not me."

"IT?"

"Presumably."

"But it pops up on the PDF too!"

(Really puzzled) "We don't have pop-ups on the PDF!"

"It pops up on the PDF and it's wrong."

So I d/l the PDF on the website. "Nothing pops up here at all."

"Go to page eight!"

So I scroll to p8 and he says, again: "THERE!" And he's talking about a
liability footer that's at the bottom of the page. "How long has that
been there?"

"SInce before I joined, so at least six years."

"Oh. Well, it's got to be changed. I never look at the PDF. Only the
print version. It's all wrong."

"OK, I'll junk it and put in another footer." (clutching the phone in
such a tight grasp I fear it may shatter).

"No. I'll do it. I'll do it! I'll send you down some new copy. It's got
to be done right."

So I acknowledge, and fire him an email reminding him that until he does
this, the PDF can't go live.

Time passes, and I wait, and the time for putting up the new PDF on the
website comes and goes, and he calls a snap meeting at 3pm for something
else, and I remind him at the begining of the meeting that we still
don't have a website edition.

"I didn't ask you to do it this week!"

"Yes, you did. You told me to wait while you did new copy."

"No, I...."

(Firmly, in front of colleagues) "Yes, you did."

"Oh, I'll do something after this."

At the end of the meeting I remind him again, and he says he'll copy
something from another of our copyright liability statements.

Time passes. Nothing arrives, the PDF doesn't go up, and when I look out
of the window at 5.30pm, his car's disappeared. He's gone home. So I
tell the IT man to stick the old one back up anyway our we'll have
subscribers screaming, as it's now hours late.

And today in an hour and a half, I will be back in the office. And I
know that he will ask why the uncorrected version has gone back up....

And this sort of thing is happening with increasing frequency...

 

message

good man ..........

 

good man .....

 

In communiqué
<1i4f57v.sc88kh13brdt6N%>, The

Always a problem when the higher echelons start to lose it.
Assuming you enjoy your current position and want to keep it you need to
start keeping notes or communicate with him by email.

Could be promotion prospects though. Has he started rolling ball
bearings in his hand yet?
--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

May he rest in peas.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

HOUSE!

Oops, wrong thread.

 

Sucking his keyboard for inspiration, Champ typed:

Or mine. I was speaking generally

 

He'll turnip eventually.

 

Is this, given they supposedly draw so many 'exclusives' from here,
your way of letting MCN you're available? ;-)

 

He might be a bit tattie.

Phil

 

Lettuce pray for him.

--
Mylodon

XB12R
FXDWG
TBucket

 

You spent 3 weeks off work "mourning" the death of your father? Didn't
you think that getting on with your life might have been a tad more useful?

People like you that slag others off for not laying bunches of flowers
at the side of the road really piss me off.

Go die.

--

Paul.
CBR1100XX SuperBlackbird (Buen mueble de patio)
And a pushbike of some sort.
BOTAFOT #4
BOTAFOF #30
MRO #24
OMF #15
UKRMMA #30

 

Mine live 1000 miles away and I see them once or twice a week.

God bless Skype.

--

Paul.
CBR1100XX SuperBlackbird (Buen mueble de patio)
And a pushbike of some sort.
BOTAFOT #4
BOTAFOF #30
MRO #24
OMF #15
UKRMMA #30

 

Bean there, done that.

 

Man, go and see Tom.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

That's my view on it as well. Everybody reacts differently to a
bereavement and Nige didn't say whether he took the 3 weeks off
because his family needed him or because the whole thing just fucked
him up personally.

I'd expect to be paid 3 or 4 days then a day off for the funeral then
use holidays for as long as I felt I wanted to be off and any
arguement from my employer would see me taking a hike.

 

Hmm. A bit like when you sued the BMW dealer that sold you the bike,
yes?

 

**** me, 'ello stranger.

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Oh, God, they're all coming out of the woodwork now ;-)

 

I left my dad's ashes at the funeral directors for about 2 years, then my
sister picked 'em up. Still don't know what to do with 'em so they're
sitting in the urn just festering.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19