Sales Person classic

[WharfRat]

I received a file today.
Printed sample and informed sales about missing fonts.
InDy - simply enough to Package a job.
Of course the client did not sent the fonts
(10 min)
-
 - So "they (sales)" told me to sub the fonts.
(10 min)
-
Inform sales - again -
sales bitching - this is EXACTLY what i was wanting to avoid
(informing the client that their file was all fu**ed up).
-
I went through all of the clients previous files in the archives.
So ... then .... same client fonts loaded.
(15min)
New proof showed same thing
overset type - type missing - text wrap ruined.
-
Contact client - new file.
-
New file - with "their document fonts"
same INCORRECT output.
download - load  - print
15 min
-
Informed sales
they bitchingly state they will have the client send in a PDF.
I say - I can send them our print PDF export settings.
"I'll just have them export to PDFX-1"
(what a moron)
-
PDF from client comes in.
Open and print out for sales
(10 min)
SAME PROBLEMS show in THEIR PDF.
(overset text - missing text).
-
Inform Sales
they contact client
" Well I am a newcomer with InDesign
sorry"
-
Client goes over all the problems pointed out to her in her file.
-
New file uploaded.
Process file - everything fixed on her end (almost) - all OK
(5 min)
-
This is a major company in our city - I don't get it.
The designer is going to all these parties receiving cudos for her great work on this printing piece.

Well deserved!.

Luckily I love PrePress,
MSD

[gnubler]

(10 min)
(10 min)
(15min)
15 min
(10 min)
(5 min)

This is what management doesn't understand. My former boss is fixated on *hours*. "How many hours of prepress is in the new jobs rack?" My answer is always the same for each job...could take 5 minutes, could take 2 hours. Depends on how fucking retarded the supplied files are.

[Slappy]

I've got an open TextEdit doc where I'm starting to document instances just like this, because nobody wants to educate/push clients to a decent PDF workflow. But, they want to increase volume & productivity - somehow. 

[Fontaholic]

This is what management doesn't understand. My former boss is fixated on *hours*. "How many hours of prepress is in the new jobs rack?" My answer is always the same for each job...could take 5 minutes, could take 2 hours. Depends on how fucking retarded the supplied files are.

I was always getting into arguments with Duh Management about stuff like this as well -- my having to take hours to get a client-provided file whipped into serviceable shape -- but the compromise we decided on was that before taking it upon myself to make the necessary fixes, I would estimate how much time I thought it would take, and we would inform the client ahead of time with an estimated cost on the time I'd be spending on their job.  Nine times out of ten, the customer would be OK with this, provided they were notified ahead of time and not sucker-punched with an additional fee after the fact.

Cheers, John the Fontaholic

[gnubler]

Nine times out of ten, the customer would be OK with this

9 out of 10 of our customers think design & prep should be free.

[David]

around here they usually are

[StudioMonkey]

I was always getting into arguments with Duh Management about stuff like this as well -- my having to take hours to get a client-provided file whipped into serviceable shape -- but the compromise we decided on was that before taking it upon myself to make the necessary fixes, I would estimate how much time I thought it would take, and we would inform the client ahead of time with an estimated cost on the time I'd be spending on their job.  Nine times out of ten, the customer would be OK with this, provided they were notified ahead of time and not sucker-punched with an additional fee after the fact.

Cheers, John the Fontaholic

That is how I used to do it.  One client came over to see me (I hadn't been working there long) and asked me why it was taking so long to prep the job.  "It's a right mess" I said and gave him a list off the top of my head of all the things that were going to take me a couple of hours to fix.  "But we have professional designers working on these jobs" he says "Just because you get paid doesn't necessarily mean you're professional" says I. 

Later I found out it was his wife who had done the artwork.  Oh, how we laughed.

[Fontaholic]

That is how I used to do it.  One client came over to see me (I hadn't been working there long) and asked me why it was taking so long to prep the job.  "It's a right mess" I said and gave him a list off the top of my head of all the things that were going to take me a couple of hours to fix.  "But we have professional designers working on these jobs" he says "Just because you get paid doesn't necessarily mean you're professional" says I. 

Later I found out it was his wife who had done the artwork.  Oh, how we laughed.

 

Oopsie!!!

Cheers, John the Fontaholic

[Possum]

Creative Cloud subscription = Instant Professional Designer

[gnubler]

No cell phone, no Facebook, no iAnything. What am I missing?

Not much. I seem to be doing okay.

[DigiCorn]

are you?

[David]

he's ok with being "ok"...

I'm ok with that

[gnubler]

I'm not unwell.

Not today anyway.

[MCpwr]

around here they usually are

It's the same here. I can't believe how much we work we do for nothing in return, it's disgusting. Management says that's what keeps them coming back and then we wonder why we're not making any money. 

[gnubler]

Ya, well we're printing a "Skryber" this week. Shit in, shit out. It's a stitched booklet put together by a local college art class, I'm sure no further elaboration is needed. Pages on the wrong side, no bleeds, text running to trim line, etc. We got the job about a month ago and they were told we needed 2 weeks for production. Now the booklet is needed by Thursday and we just got their shit files today (Tuesday). So 2 weeks = 1 day. My boss rolled her eyes and said we're just going to print it and it will look like shit, but she doesn't care.  :laugh:

Shit in, shit out.