So I’m back to work after cooling my heels in heffalump-land for most of last week. Obviously, I had to put a number of projects on hold for a couple of days, which as you can expect meant I had a buttload of work waiting for me when I got back.
One gig, my favorite of the 5 ongoing, is a wonderful example of "not knowing when you are in over your head." (Mind you, it’s my favorite because it’s so retarded, not because I enjoy working on it in any way, shape or form.)
Here’s the situation:
The client is joining a tradeshow for which they want to prepare a giveaway CD-ROM, highlighting their various services and pimping their partner firms.This trade show is happening in the US, although the client is local.
Insanity #1:
The tradeshow is in early November. They contact me about it in early October, because it never occurred to them that they might need a slightly longer lead time than that. I say, "3-4 weeks is tight but doable."
After they’ve agreed to my quote, they say, "BTW,the company that’s pressing the CDs says they need at least 2 1/2 weeks to produce 2,500 copies."
I say, "Ah. You need to get a different CD supplier because those guys obviously suck very much."
They say, "We’re already committed to them."
I say, "Ah. This is bad."
Insanity #2:
Monday afternoon they’re riding my ass to design a print ad for said tradeshow because it never occurred to them that they needed it until that morning. I say, "Ok, I’ll have a study by tomorrow."
They say, "We’re transmitting it to the US tonight."
I say, "Ah. This is bad."
Two hours later, I send them a draft.
They call me up and say, "Sorry, we read the dimensions wrong, the print ad is horizontal, not vertical."
I say, "Ah."
30 minutes later, after having sent them the corrected ad, they’re back on the phone with me. "Sorry, we read the specifications wrong, the printad is supposed to be black & white, not full-color."
I say, "Ah."
15 minutes later, they say, "Ok! We’ve sent it to the printers in the US! We beat our deadline, thanks so much!"
I say, "YOU SENT THE FUCKING DRAFT FOR PRINTING?!"
Insanity #3:
Tuesday afternoon they’re riding my ass to design the inlay and traycard for the CD’s jewel case, because it didn’t occur to them that they needed it until that morning.
I say, "I guess you need this within the next couple of hours huh?"
They say, "You’re so professional! How did you know?"