I Spoke Too Soon

Yesterday, I thought nothing was going to happen that's work related. Surprisingly, Tom finished an entire batch of French online banners late in the afternoon. I started working on them immediately (for an hour).

That one-hour headstart helped me with today's workload. Because this was going to be a very busy day, I decided to work as soon as I arrived. By 8:45 a.m., I was already proofing the print ads Brooke left me yesterday. More than half of my day was spent working on online banners, English and French. I didn't mind because this would look good on my timesheet.

By the way, today's commute was a lot less nastier than yesterday, but we still have slush and ice to worry about.

Snow Day

The city got a huge dumping of snow overnight. Julita wasn't able to make it to the office today because of that. I, however, was able to come here on time because I left for work early. Besides, with the power outage in our place and my alarm clock not working, I was waking up every two hours just to check the time. I wanted to catch some z's on the bus, but I met one of my son's old friends and we talked every now and then.

The trek to the office was a mess. White stuff and slush called for slippery sidewalks. My shoes and pants were wet. So was my jacket.

Concerning work, there wasn't much to do again save for yesterday's print ads.

It's Monday Again

I was looking forward to today because I would get to proofread Web pages. Although there were just four of them, it was something new for them for me to do.

I still remember the first time I checked Web pages in this job. During the WIP meeting, Doug even had to remind the suits that I needed to proofread the pages before they were trafficked. Unfortunately, my revisions weren't helpful because they were already online.

This time, things were different. I actually got to check and revise the pages before they were trafficked. It was a very brief task though; I finished in an hour.

I also accompanied Belinda again to Staples to get the remainder of the booklets. Plus, there were a few online banners and print ads to check. Total billable hours: 4¾ hours. Not bad.

(Jennifer was away all week, so the atmosphere was relaxed.)

Here's What's What

Jennifer was nowhere to be seen. So, the mood in the office was kind of relaxed. (Using fear, she was able to wrap everyone around her finger, including those who don't report directly to her.)

1. Belinda's not in today because of a sore back playing volleyball last night. So, I ended up going to Staples for her to pick up Jennifer's booklets. I also picked up two packs of CD-Rs for Rob. I felt like I was the office gopher, which I was not.
   
2. Jim called asking me if I could take a stab at copywriting — finally. He said that he'd be e-mailing the info soon. (I guessed I misheard Jim; he simply wanted me to create copy decks for translation. The copy, which was already written, would come from some Web pages.)
   
3. I downloaded some videos from TED Talks for my video/MP3 player to watch on my way home. There was not much to do anyway.
   

So you see, it's another admin kind of day, save for the copywriting part, which I have yet to see.

Another Admin Kind of Day

In our timesheets, the time spent in the day performing administrative work or, in my case, doing nothing at all is marked as "admin." Since I haven't done anything that's client related today, this day goes to admin — all eight hours of them.

However, one thing worth noting was Belinda's request to help her with Jennifer's thank-you letter first thing this morning, which I thought the latter disliked because of the red ink I saw on the draft. No one should be writing these thank-you letters or any letter for that matter for her in the first place since she's in senior management and should know how.

Doug was right when he told Jennifer this. She's dumb all right.

More Work, Less Time

An hour into the day and Allison sent me by e-mail a link to several online banners that I needed to proofread. This was a time-consuming task, which was fine by me, because this would look good in my timesheet. Unfortunately, it was a rush job and I had to be done by noon. So, I had to think of something that would cut my time proofing in half.

I decided to check the banners directly on my computer monitor instead and screen grab the questionable frames only. What I projected was a five-hour task was then reduced to two. Anyway, Allison was happy about it and that was what mattered most.

After lunch, I helped Belinda collate more stuff for Jennifer. By 2 p.m. we were done and off to Staples, where we had them bound. We made a detour to Tim Hortons (Belinda bought me a large hot chocolate). We made another quick detour to Off The Wall, where they were having a huge sale. Then we took our time walking to the office.

It was almost three when we got here, two more hours before closing time.

I'm Part of the Team — Finally!

As I was checking a laser proof from the studio yesterday, I saw my name included on the line for the team working on that particular project. Although mine was the last name on the list on the job history sheet — the low man on the totem pole — I finally felt that I was a part of the team. At last, someone remembered to put my name! (Deb wrote my name once on the sheet also, but it was a long time ago.)

In my eight months here (eight months ago today), I always saw all the names of the people working on the projects. There were Vassil or Jim, Doug or another copywriter, the suit or suits involved, and Deb or Wendy. Mine was almost always excluded.

I just hope my name's inclusion wasn't an afterthought.

Monday, Monday

Nothing was happening again. Although the job tracker from this morning's WIP meeting was the longest and fullest I had seen so far, it would probably take at least two weeks for these projects to reach my desk. However, I did some writing work for Belinda. It was worth 1½ hours only though.

I am no longer expecting copywriting tasks from the suits. It looks like they have hired freelancers again in Toronto. I guess they want someone with agency experience. At least, I tried and have expressed my desires to help with the writing.

So, I think my creative skills will be put to good use somewhere else. I still haven't heard from the headhunter though. I hope she calls again soon.

A Short Time to Shine

Yesterday, I offered to help with the logo and brochure design. After two hours of sketching, planning and searching the Net for the correct images, I was told by Charlene that Tom, the freelancer, would be called back again tomorrow (which was today) to do work on the project. I also wanted to assist with the copywriting for this particular job, but, unfortunately for me, someone in Toronto already started working on it. Belinda even joked that Charlene had just fired me because my work had been outsourced.

I really like to work on those kind of projects, but my office computer isn't equipped to do such tasks. I need to have InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop installed in my machine to work. My PC at home has those software, but I don't think they will allow me to telecommute for this one.

I guess I have to prove my mettle somewhere else. I saw in craigslist yesterday that a local advertising firm was looking for a junior writer. I'll check them out again this weekend.

So, with all projects taken or pending, I am now left with nothing to do again. This week's timesheet looks bad.

Slow but Laying Low

I don't know when will work arrive. I mean real creative and productive work, and not the kind Jennifer drops on you like a bomb.

Anyway, I have managed to evade her yesterday and was so happy to leave on time. However, I'd be even happier if I could still leave by 5 p.m. and had work done. All this boredom is giving me a headache.

That's why I'm trying to help Charlene with her client regarding logo and brochure design. My design skills are a little rusty though.

Screw You, Voldemort* and Your Work!

Nina was having problems doing Jennifer's reports. So, when Jennifer peeked out of her office, she told Nina, "Let Ronnie do it."

What the ... ? What do you think I am, Jennifer, your freakin' assistant? I didn't say that out loud, of course. Unfortunately, Nina bore the brunt of my ire.

When she approached me, I told Nina that I couldn't help her with my problem because, first of all, I didn't make the report she was working on. Second, I had had it up to here with Jennifer's projects. She simply had no respect to who you were or what you were doing. She wanted you to drop everything pronto because she had work for you to do. No ifs, whens or buts.

And being the good boy that I was, I still ended up helping Nina although I said "Crap!" when she mentioned that Jennifer had something for me to do. Hey, it was past 4 p.m. and I wanted to go home on time like always.

___________________
* That's the name Belinda and Courtney gave to Jennifer when they're pissed with her.

Tough Day

I thought Tuesday was another ordinary day. Well, not quite.

Jennifer came with some work: hers! I didn't know exactly what she wanted me to do with her report; but she said that since I was smart, I could figure it out myself. It was a bad thing because I had no idea what she was talking about. She started some charts on PowerPoint and wanted me to fill in the blanks and finish them for her.

After a few attempts in guessing what she would like me to do with her report, I finally got it right. By then, it was almost 8 p.m. Save for Jennifer, I was the last person to leave the company (only Julita left early last night and that was around 6 p.m.).

Jennifer's brand of leadership and micromanagement only strengthened my resolve to look for another job.

By the way, Philip, our CEO worldwide, dropped by to discuss how the company was doing internationally. It sounded like we did well last year, but it was only a small growth, thanks to our Florida office who messed up big time. I didn't know the specifics, but, according to Philip, they sucked.

LBM

I didn't report for work yesterday because of LBM: loose bowel movement and looking for better management.

My breakfast of smoked-pacific-salmon-flavoured cream-cheese sandwich didn't sit well with me — and I had an informational interview with a staffing firm early in the morning. Fortunately, my tummy stopped acting up before I went for my meeting.

I thought the meeting with the headhunter went well. Farisha was very helpful, but she asked that I send additional job samples because she found the earlier ones I sent were just okay.

Her client, a supplier of concrete construction forms and accessories, was looking for a communications specialist/marketing copywriter, and she thought that I was suitable for the job. But that all depends on the client. If they would give me a shot at the position, then well and good. If not, then there are other fish in the sea.

Regarding work here in the office, nothing was happening again.

Panic in the Office

For a while there, I thought I was going to be laid off.

Jennifer wanted to talk to me about work, but she didn't provide any specifics. It was highly unusual of her to discuss client matters with me. Of course, the idea of Ryan getting laid off at the end of the day after talking to her crossed my mind. Panic set in.

I consulted Belinda about this and she said that Jennifer might be lying. This added more fuel to the flame.

So, instead of mentally torturing myself, I talked to Wendy, my supervisor, and told her how and what I felt. She assured me that she would know and tell me if ever I would get the boot just like in Deb's case. Thus far, she hadn't heard a thing.

I'm safe — for now.

For Now, It Looks Like Work Is Picking Up

As of this writing, it does look that way: five hours of client-chargeable time today, which is an hour longer than Tuesday (yesterday) and 2¼ longer than Monday.

Yesterday, I was compelled to stay a half hour late because I needed to finish checking the printer proofs of a product brochure that came in English, French and Chinese. Before that, there were English and French reprints of last year's store-opening fliers. Belinda thought that this was a piece of cake, but a lot has changed since 2007.

Today, the bulk of my workload came from proofing French online banners — all 32 of them! This was good for 3½ hours of work.

Back to Square One

I've learned my lesson well from my last lay-off.

Two months before I got the boot in October 2006, I said to myself that I wouldn't survive another round of lay-offs. I didn't take any action, not even looked for another job while I still had one. What was I thinking? I knew right then that no amount of loyalty would save me from impending unemployment. Eventually, I ended up going to the Employment Office and applying for unemployment benefits.

This time, I'm looking out for No. 1, even though it means going back to square one: updating my résumé.

I spent some time this morning looking for work at craigslist.org. Surprisingly, there were job opportunities for writers and editors that caught my attention. I'll start applying for these jobs as soon as I can.

And out of the blue, a headhunter called me up in the afternoon! Unfortunately, I couldn't entertain the call right away because Julita was a few metres behind me cleaning up Amanda's desk. The opening was for a marketing copywriter for a construction office in downtown. I promised the headhunter that I would send her my updated résumé along with some samples of my work.

Regarding my offer to help with the copywriting, I wasn't sure if Jim liked the idea. He just said via e-mail that he would talk to me tomorrow (which is today) about this. So, knowing Jim, it would take a while.

Out of the Fire and Into the Frying Pan?

I'm back after a two-week hiatus, and there's a certain feeling of trepidation in the place. I didn't know why at first, but it became apparent when I saw Deb hugging and kissing people after having a talk with Julita. She got laid off along with Ryan and Amanda.

This scene brought back bad memories, particularly my receiving a pink slip back in October 2006. I thought I'm already safe with this company. I still hope I made the right decision of joining them.

Now, I'm wondering who's next. Nina's off sick and Belinda's relegated to reception duties. I am also compelled to offer some copywriting assistance to make myself useful. I couldn't afford to be unemployed at all.