The Discussion

Ironically, the day after I wrote the “So Heavily Disgusted Part II” blog, one of my supervisors wanted to discuss a few things over lunch.

She sat me down and seemed concerned about my morale—as she should have been. She brought up some issues that I had posted the day before. She very well may have read this blog.

In any case, it was nice to hear that she wanted to me to be happy and successful at the College and seeing that she opened the door for discussion, I spilled my concerns.

By the end of the day, all I want is clear direction and some freedom, but what I experience is anything but. All I ask is that they don’t blame me because I’m the last in line and don’t treat me like a peon because I’m the youngest in the office.

It’s disgusting how often my name comes up when something goes wrong… and it is usually not my fault.

I find it frustrating that I was hired for my “young” perspective and fresh ideas—or so I was told—yet, sometimes I can’t even have the final say about the boldness of a font, for example. I am told I can run with things, yet forced to make decisions about my designs that I don’t want to make and hovered over as if I’m not mature enough to carry a project from start to finish.

I’m practically given little to no time to complete my projects with little direction. I can work fast, but I can’t work fast with hardly any instruction.

Mid Friday, I finally receive the text for this view book, and while I was configuring the design, I was happy and in a good mood. All I want to do is design. Leave me out of the bullshit.

Finally, by Friday afternoon, my [immediate] department sat down to review what I had completed for the College’s view book. It was well received for the most part, which was a huge relief. However, it was at that time where I realized that I would be designing to revise for the rest of my stay at this job.

In other words, things can’t progress until the design is seen because people can’t visualize and/or understand when text becomes TOO MUCH. Dangerously enough, it hurts the process when people don’t understand that I can’t do my job if I don’t get any fucking text.

So Heavily Disgusted Part II

And the bullshit continues. I was supposed to start designing the College’s view book three weeks or more ago, but I still haven’t received any text for it.

Once again, people are dragging their heels and not following up. Since things are running so fucking late, the project’s timeline was shifted around to accommodate the client. This isn’t some rinky-dink thing I’m talking about here. This is IT: 48 pages of college jargon that will be mailed to over 30,000 prospective students—not something to be taken lightly.

To compensate for people’s blatant neglect, the original timeline was shortened and I was left with only have 5 days to “put the whole thing together.” That’s over 40 hours of work crammed into 5 fucking days. Think about that for a second.

Of course, I will still be expected to baby sit the interns, take photographs and probably update parts of the website. Oh, NO PROBLEM!

Once the management started to realize how ridiculous they were, they maneuvered more things around and I now have at most two weeks. Still not enough time, considering everyone and their mother has a say in its design…

Before I forget, I will digress for a moment to tell you how unbelievably negative, insulting and unproductive the Admission department is here. They are the kind of people who crack jokes, over think and look for there to be something wrong with your work. All that comes out of their mouths is something negative and when we give them what they want, they show no thanks or gratitude.

The bitch that had the job before me was obviously out of her goddamn mind, because she evidently missed a lot of deadlines, didn’t get along with my boss or the other designer and had a bad relationship with the Admission department.

Sometimes, I feel like they hold her actions against me and I take it personally because I bust my ass for them and try so hard to do a good job, but all I get from them are jeers and snide remarks. It’s not me though, they don’t like my department and rightfully so in their defense. Even though a new “design team” has been put into place, this department still can’t GET IT TOGETHER.

ANYWAY—so, now that have 2 weeks to design this view book, I find out a few days ago that my boss wanted the other designer to start creating “sample” pages so we could see what it would look like.

Now, I’m not stupid, folks. Obviously, they didn’t trust me to handle the look and feel of the view book myself, so they shelled it out to the other designer and I’m guessing they expect me to just pick up where it was left off.
Now for those of you who are graphic designers out there, you probably know what it’s like to touch another designer’s files. I fucking hate it and to make matters worse, I’m not a fan of what was created.

She and I have very different ways of doing things. I’m open to ideas, but I can’t just pick up where someone left off like that. As you wouldn’t tell Mechanic A to fix half of your engine so you can take your car to Mechanic B, the same analogy applies to graphic designers.

I have my own way of thinking and doing what I do and I don’t like being boxed in or stifled because someone thinks I should be designing a certain way.

I am pissed. Not only do I have to deal with a dysfunctional department, but I now don’t have any say or freedom to do what I was hired to do.

So much for green grass.

So Heavily Disgusted Part I

The past couple of weeks have been so fucking unbelievable, I can’t even think straight.

First of all, I am getting sick and tired of everyone and their mother coming to me with work assignments. There are two other designers in this department, yet people seem to only ask me to do everything.

Granted, it’s probably because I’m competent and work quickly, or at least I’d like to think, but for Christ’s sake, I’m not Superman.

Management does not seem to have an oversight over what’s on my plate. I find myself frequently overwhelmed because the department’s work assignments aren’t evenly distributed. In other cases, I’m under utilized and sit for days with absolutely NOTHING to do. There is no in between. It would help if the work flow was not streamlined and not scattered or poorly coordinated.

For some reason, my job catches the larger projects; miscellaneous booklets and websites, most of which are for the Admission department. Obviously, the larger a project is, the more time it takes to complete. Working fast is one of my strengths, but sometimes I wish people would realize that I cannot handle several big projects in a rush. I just don’t work that way.

On top of people’s poor judgment, I manage two student interns, who require a lot of attention—especially when I have to go back and “tweak” their work. I also help maintain the College’s recently-launched new website. Furthermore, I’m constantly being asked to take pictures because people are too afraid or too lazy to do it themselves and I am getting sick of being pulled and tugged in 18 different directions.

Most of the time, my assignments don’t funnel through a proper line of command. Instead, people come to me directly, when they really should secure approvals through management FIRST.

I end up having to redo most of my assignments at least twice and sometimes completely, because nobody THINKS. A simple established standard or system would help, but people don’t think. They are oblivious to deadlines and time.

An hour can make a difference. A day can delay me three.

When people don’t think, time is wasted and when time is wasted, deadlines pass. THAT’S when people have the nerve to look at me like it was my fault. I’ve already been looked at twice for mistakes in my past couple of projects that were not my fault. I was even told “not to let it happen again.” Why is it that I’m always the one that has to pick up the pieces when the shit hits the fan?

Every goddamn project is late. Nobody completes ANYTHING when they say they will and there are too many fucking cooks in the kitchen. I wish people would cut the shit and GET IT TOGETHER!

God, sometimes I feel like I’m right back up in Manhattanville!

Cancun

Every year, my best friend Tori and I take an international trip to escape the monotony of our jobs. Cancun set the bar thus far and just might become a permanent vacation spot.

Everything was amazing—from the service to the food. Absolutely incredible and a money well spent. Unlike Acapulco, Cancun had much less panhandling and annoying beggars trying to sell you their junk.

We really didn’t spend that much time on the beach because our hotel had a huge pool area where most of the spring breakers gathered. Entertainment was provided daily, from stretching classes to pool volleyball and we pretty much spent a majority of the time soaking up the sun, from which I am now peeling. Black people don’t peel.

The sun wasn’t as intense as in Acapulco or as weak as in the Bahamas. I thought it was a nice balance and it certainly turned my skin a rich coffee bean color. The waiting staff, bell/bus boys and other hotel staff where very pleasing, accommodating, and in some cases, strikingly clean cut. 95% spoke English, so communicating wasn’t any trouble.

Our big trips didn’t happen until the following weekend after we arrived. The first was a bar hopping tour, where a group of us spring breakers had a tour guide who took us to the local bars. We were told we would be visiting 4 bars and be done by 3am, but instead, we went to 3 and were left alone around 11pm.

Tori and I were hoping for more of a dance/club scene, but instead, there were obnoxiously drunk college kids crammed into a bar than anything. Not quite a pleasurable experience and a waste of 75 bucks.

We ended up leaving at 11pm because we weren’t doing anything and we aren’t big drinkers, so there was no point in bar hopping. Unfortunately, what was marketed to us was different than what we actually experience. I should have known.

I believe the next day when I went to ride an ATV and Tori went horseback riding, both of which occurred on a private beach and in “the jungle.” Well, it wasn’t much of a jungle, but that’s what they called it. That was pretty cool. I got bored after a while because the thrill of being on an ATV faded by the end of the day and my hand was starting to blister from hanging on so tight. Yeah, it was scary for a while and keeping my balance on rugged terrain was a challenge.

That third day was spent in Xcaret, an ecological park about 2 hours from our hotel. It was a long ride. Again, the marketing was off. We were told we would return around 5pm, but it turns out, the trip actually ended at 8:30; due to drop us back off at 10:30.

Xcaret was cool for the most part. We saw some awesome sights and did things we would have never done had we not gone. Floating in underground rivers, watching a simulated Mayan ritual and walking through a butterfly pavilion were some of the highlights. I even went inside a bat cave and saw a live manatee for the first time ever.

By 5 or so, we were pretty much done with the place and kind of farted around until the bus was ready to pick us up. That pretty much concluded our series of day trips. On Monday, we went to the markets to do some shopping, but there really wasn’t that much original goods to buy, so I passed.

It was hard to pack up and get ready to come home. Cancun probably made for the best vacation I ever had. We met some cool people… the pool boys, Josue and Pablo, in particular and some doofy kid from Wisconsin named Nico.

And no, I didn’t get laid.