Wednesday, May 24, 2006

ANTM, Questionable Work Karma and Other Events

Yet again... this is becoming ridiculous. There are far too many blog-worthy frustrations in such a short period of time.

Let's start this off on a good note shall we? Last week I watched the finale of my guilty pleasure, America's Next Top Model. And SNOW BLACK won!!! Yay!! That's who I was rooting for even though it was a tough call this season. Peruse her complete portfolio. It's pretty stellar. I wish I was that pretty! Joanie was a contender. I mean, look at these two Cover Girl shots. Can you really choose? Make 'em both winners!



But our Snow Black pulled through to win it all. We love Snow Black!

Okay let's get down and dirty now... Earlier this week, I was asked to proofread a 35-page marketing plan for a potential client. It took me an hour and 15 minutes and I found numerous blunders. No problem though. Yesterday at 4:30 - an hour before closin' time - Brent brings the same marketing plan up to me for a final proof.

He says, "I looked through this twice. I don't think you'll find anything. I made most of your changes. Some of them were very subjective changes though."

Umm what? Did I hear that right? I do not make subjective changes. My bible is the AP Stylebook and everything I mark is justified. The things he considered "subjective." I am truly offended.

Ah, so "...within the next two month..." is correct is it?? And I thought he read through this thing twice. Hey - and why don't you throw a few more "verys" in there?? I'll let a "very" slide every now and then. If it's part of a phrase and sounds weird without it, it stays. But I learned from the best of the best and he told us nearly every day that "very" is completely unnecessary and we were not, under any circumstances, to use it.

Since when did taking out a word or phrase because it makes the sentence redundant become "subjective?" Oh, and I suppose that marking run-on sentences is also just something that is a personal, "subjective," pet peeve. Right...

This has got to stop. He needed this thing finished last night. He wanted me to stay and help him put it all together after I proofed it one final time. Well that obviously did not happen. I actually stayed past 5:30 for this. If he had made the changes the first time around, it would have been done in a timely fashion. In the name of productivity, these people need to start listening to me. If they don't make the changes the first time around, what makes me think they'll make them the second time? If this error-ridden nightmare goes out as is, I sure as heck do not want to be held accountable. What is my purpose here? They change the things that I write (and make them worse), they make me write stuff and then trash it and let the client write it (can't wait to see that) and they don't heed my proofreading corrections.

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to buy the updated AP Stylebook and keep it here. So when I proof things, I can say, "Reference AP book, page whatever." I am seriously going to do this.

Moving on...

After a healthy rant with both my mom and my dad, Brett and I drank some wine, had a nice chat, and decided to have a swim. But first, I slammed my finger in the front door. Almost exactly one year (14 months) since I slammed my thumb in my car door and fractured it. I sure hope this isn't becoming an annual thing. Thankfully, it's not as bad as last year's door slamming. It hurt like hell but it's just swollen and badly bruised. I can still move it and do things with it.

So what did we do next? Jumped into a cold pool. It was exhilarating.

Ahhh and now I'm at work again. Let's hope it's better than yesterday...

Comments:
I think you should definitely reference the page number in APA of your "subjective" changes. You probably wouldn't get comments like that anymore once the idiot looked through the manual. Do it! Document your superior knowledge! :)
 
No matter how much we think we're supposed to EDIT, the boss really means "proofread." He wants to make sure he didn't forget a period or a capital letter. He doesn't want to hear about silly little things like grammar, sentence structure or clarity. Girlygirl...I hear ya. BTW...can't wait to see you this weekend!!
 
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