Thursday, August 28, 2008

So Sleepy

It's a four-day weekend for us again. Unfortunately, the weather isn't cooperating. It's been gloomy since this morning and the rain hasn't stopped. This kind of weather is making me sleepy.

In fact, I'm so sleepy, I can hardly keep my eyelids open while watching some online video training. (I've resorted to watching these videos again because it's been a slow week.) To keep me from falling asleep, I tried walking. Looking at pictures of the new Lara Croft also helped.




Alison Carroll reminds me of a former officemate of mine.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A Slow Day

Finally, after weeks of crazy rush projects, today is looking to be a slow one. So far, I have only logged in 2¾ billable hours, which is a far cry from my seven- to eight-hour days since Rob left. I don't mind the free time because it means I've got time to write about the following:
  1. The entire office had tea and biscuits yesterday afternoon (now a regular Monday affair), but Jennifer opted to have beer instead. She probably needed the liquid courage to tell the rest of us that the head honcho of a client quit, which meant there would be job changes again. (I just hope no one gets laid off because of this.)
  2. Jennifer was talking to someone over the phone early this afternoon when her tongue slipped: she's moving to New York. I knew she wasn't supposed to say that because when she did, she looked at Shelley and Charlene to see if they heard what she just said. (So, she would leave her team eventually because of the above changes.)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Just When I Thought Everything Was Okay ...

With all the suits' requests and client requirements fulfilled yesterday, I was thinking of taking it easy today and catch up on some video training. I knew something was amiss after lunch when Charlene followed up with a French flyer.

I thought I hadn't received the French translation yet and was waiting for them to be provided it to me. Then I checked my e-mail; Charlene e-mailed it to me last week! Panic set in, of course.

I remember Rob telling me that French versions were normally 30% longer than the English ones. He wasn't kidding. I ended up reducing the font sizes to accommodate the extra-long copy.

I was done in two hours, with ample time to do some other tasks.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Two Random Thoughts

  1. We had a barbecue party at Wendy's place last Thursday. We had steak, baked potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and salad. Alcohol was served, but I had aloe vera juice spiked with two capfuls of gin. It was good. And since Jennifer was in New York, everyone had a good time. Shelley brought her trophy-husband, Chris, to grill the steaks to perfection. They were the best I've eaten in years!
  2. As expected, I didn't get a raise. I saw my latest pay stub and it was still the same down to the last cent.

The Bitch Is Back!

I just needed to get this off my chest quickly.

So, after three weeks of serenity in the office, Jennifer's back to wreak her brand of havoc; i.e., making the rest suffer for her inefficiency. Unfortunately, Nina and I were the unfortunate victims.

As usual, Jennifer was having her rush projects, which, for the life of me, couldn't be planned ahead. Why was every PowerPoint presentation had to be done the day before? Couldn't she e-mail instructions to her two cohorts well in advance?

Because of this, I got to be a part of this fiasco — once again. She approached me to ask how I was doing. I told her that I was very busy with all the ads I needed to lay out (I overheard their discussion, with Jennifer volunteering my services again). Of course, these didn't matter to that bitch because it didn't concern her. So, I ended up spending 1½ hours printing several PowerPoint presentations, time that could have been spent working on some client-related jobs.

Anyway, I need to talk to Wendy about this. This has got to stop. Besides, it's unfair; when it's my turn to ask for help regarding my line of work, who can I turn to? No one!

I just hope Jennifer will get her just desserts soon. I just can't stand her!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Title Change

I was inside Wendy's office yesterday to ask her something about a missing Chinese character in my InDesign layout when she handed me a letter signed by her, formally changing my designation to Coordinator, Production & QA. According to her, the title better reflects my current duties and responsibilities.

I knew the title change was coming (and so would my new business cards), but my present pay doesn't reflect my additional work yet.

I'll probably find out this Friday, payday.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Just Taking a Breather

As expected, I was busy right before and after the four-day-long weekend. Thursday and Tuesday were hell!

Thursday last week, I had to reproduce an image of a red balloon for the flyer using Illustrator because the actual picture wasn't available yet and we had to present the concepts to the client on Tuesday next week. The picture was amateurish; but given the time frame, it would suffice.

Tuesday, I had to proofread several online banners and produce PDFs of them. Then I had to incorporate the client's changes and improvements on the layout after a conference call. The layout eventually turned out okay.

And tomorrow, Charlene is going to present it to the client. Once approved, I will layout the same ad, but this time in Chinese. Good times.