Old Venting Thread

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Seems like it never rains but it pours. Charlie what a nasty thing to have to deal with. Hope it isn't too bad.

Buckytom, holy cow! that is a hanging offense IMHO. As is,
she picks all of the m&m's out of my costco trail mix, which is nearly the same offense. :glare:
She is lucky you haven't divorced over that! :cool:

lulu, glad you have SOME heat now. Hope it all gets fixed soon!
 
It's a vent about work.

We got estimates today for printing a report that has to be bound like a book (called "perfect binding" in the biz). The estimates were from 2 to 3 times higher than the project manager has budgeted for.

Perfect binding is expensive, and we don't do it in-house.

In addition to this, the project requires that we provide several different electronic versions of this report on CD, including an html format that satisfies the requirements of Section 508 of the Americans With Disabilities Act. This meant that I had to research just what the heck those requirements are because the client's list of end products was vague and contradictory as far as meeting these guidelines.

The upshot is that I spent most of this week writing captions for 100-plus
exhibits (mostly photos) such that a person with impaired vision could comprehend what's in them without being able to see them very well.

Harder than you'd think. And I haven't even seen the final chapter yet.

Plus all that, the photos in the report have to be a certain large-ish size, which plays holy heck with trying to format it properly without leaving lots of white space.

When we're finished, we have to print hundreds of copies of the report and make hundreds of CDs.

When I notified the PM today about the cost of printing, he replied that our client will not spend any more money that was originally estimated, and so we will have to watch our labor charges in order to not exceed his lowball estimate.

Me (the editor) and the graphic designer and the document processor have already expended beaucoup time on this job just trying to get our arms around all the requirements, and we haven't even submitted the first draft yet.

And NOW he tells us we can't exceed a certain amount????
 
mudbug, jerkballs the lot of them! Go pour yourself a drink and forget about work for a while. GRRRRR!!!
 
Mudbug, being in the industry and in your shoes, it s*cks to be you right now. I am so sorry that this is happening - take a deep breath and put a plan together. I'm sorry friend. I agree with Alix if time permits (I know this is deadline oriented) have a drink!
 
Alix and MM, thanks for the shot of support. Poured and consumed.

My current plan is to let this genius PM do his own dam* caption writing and formatting. I'll bet his hourly rate is higher than ours, and he will be worse at it than us. Deadline is Feb. 1.
 
mudbug said:
Alix and MM, thanks for the shot of support. Poured and consumed.

My current plan is to let this genius PM do his own dam* caption writing and formatting. I'll bet his hourly rate is higher than ours, and he will be worse at it than us. Deadline is Feb. 1.
Now let that drink do it's job bug, sit, remove job from you mind and enjoy your family..Mr. Wonderful will get his one day:LOL: And you can watch and enjoy the moment..

kadesma
 
lulu said:
Yikes....I had a boss once who was so fussy about his Earl Grey. In the end, because his pot was never as he wanted, he got bags so we had to do the English poncey thing of three dunks and its out. When he was being particularly obnoxious I got real JOY at the fourth dunk of that ****** teabag, lol.

Well, my boiler was fixed today, so I should be happy, but for some reson the water is only coming out hot if the tap is only partly open. If you turn it to a decent pressure (or semi-decent, which is the best we get!) it goes STONE cold. But the heating is working and slowly re-warming the flat, which over night anfd this mornignwas down to 2 degrees! so at least to nights cold shower will be tempered by a warmer towel :(

Sure hope things take a total turn for the better for you soon lulu.....wished you lived close as you'd be more than welcome as a house guest. But since your not hopefully these will bring a smile to your face......too bad they haven't invented smell-a-screen ;)
 

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mudbug said:
It's a vent about work.

We got estimates today for printing a report that has to be bound like a book (called "perfect binding" in the biz). The estimates were from 2 to 3 times higher than the project manager has budgeted for.

Perfect binding is expensive, and we don't do it in-house.

In addition to this, the project requires that we provide several different electronic versions of this report on CD, including an html format that satisfies the requirements of Section 508 of the Americans With Disabilities Act. This meant that I had to research just what the heck those requirements are because the client's list of end products was vague and contradictory as far as meeting these guidelines.

The upshot is that I spent most of this week writing captions for 100-plus
exhibits (mostly photos) such that a person with impaired vision could comprehend what's in them without being able to see them very well.

Harder than you'd think. And I haven't even seen the final chapter yet.

Plus all that, the photos in the report have to be a certain large-ish size, which plays holy heck with trying to format it properly without leaving lots of white space.

When we're finished, we have to print hundreds of copies of the report and make hundreds of CDs.

When I notified the PM today about the cost of printing, he replied that our client will not spend any more money that was originally estimated, and so we will have to watch our labor charges in order to not exceed his lowball estimate.

Me (the editor) and the graphic designer and the document processor have already expended beaucoup time on this job just trying to get our arms around all the requirements, and we haven't even submitted the first draft yet.

And NOW he tells us we can't exceed a certain amount????

So sorry to hear this Mud.....how frustrating it must be for you and those you work with. Hope it doesn't cause too much more trouble for you.
 
lulu said:
... for some reson the water is only coming out hot if the tap is only partly open. If you turn it to a decent pressure (or semi-decent, which is the best we get!) it goes STONE cold.....


I had a simular problem ones, Lulu, the plumber switched something in the faucet, so the hot water would come out in place of cold, but when turned up the cold water would kick in, check.


As far as making it into vacation, we did think about doing it, but then decided not to. What kind of vacation is it in the middle of the winter with little kids, draging them thru the snow did not seem like a good idea. O, well...
 
mudbug said:
It's a vent about work.

The estimates were from 2 to 3 times higher than the project manager has budgeted for.

When I notified the PM today about the cost of printing, he replied that our client will not spend any more money that was originally estimated, and so we will have to watch our labor charges in order to not exceed his lowball estimate.

And NOW he tells us we can't exceed a certain amount????

What kind of project manager is he? He is totally useless at his job. Does he do this often? Can you do the amount of work he's budgeted for and just leave him to do the rest?
 
AGHHHR. I feel so impossible to satisfy, no water, gas or heating last night, this morning an electrician came now everything words, but nasty things were said and the landlord was quite horrid. In a way I feel so sorry for him because he IS very old, and also living in an alien culture. DH handled it all so calmly but I know the landlord is feeling angry and probably scared (DH said "Enough, we talk through layers now" because landlord kept shouting and ranting and being unreasonable and DH feels a stand up row helps nobody). But the landlord exploded with (empty I am sure!) threats, which I understand, he is an educated man, a retired doctor, but his language, age and culture must make him feel defensive at such a turn of events. Landlord also bullies his wife, who just before the blow up, and we had some pigeon Italian conversation, and she, starved of affection, hugged me. I feel so sad for both of them, how terrible to be vulnerable and scared and yet, DH is right, these structural and supply problems ARE untenable and I am positive the landlord has had many of these problems with previous tenents and knew of them before we moved in, in retrospect some of the things he said....well, its clear in retrospect! I am looking for a happy outcome to this situation, and I really hope we find it.
 
Lulu,
what a mess! I'd start looking for a new place, I really would. I'd hold my tongue as much as possible, but this fellow can't be reasoned with. The last thing you need is to have to put up with this for months and months. What will the summer weather bring..? Wish I had an apartment to loan out...I won't say try to make the best of it. You've already been doing that...So put on your hunting shoes and try to find a place where you can be warm safe and free of a landlord with a toxic mouth.

kadesma;)
 
Yep, we sent him a letter today to invite him to break the contract. Italy's rental laws are very different to any other country I have lived in, and like most things in Italy, involve a LONG process, lol.

We have already started looking, so that if/when he "accepts our invitation" we can cut and run! Its just so sad. Horrid to think of the next person living here too and them going through all of this!
 
When I notified the PM today about the cost of printing, he replied that our client will not spend any more money that was originally estimated, and so we will have to watch our labor charges in order to not exceed his lowball estimate.

Mudbug, does he know the definition of the word Estimate?

This type of client ran us out of business. It is beyond me how some companies can low-ball and the client makes up the difference, even if it's 3x the amount. When we tried to be fair, make a profit and it ran over a bit, the clients said, "Eat it". I guess we were too small for them to worry about.
 
thanks for the additional support, ladies. On Friday I was fuming, but I'm feeling less combative now.

Never met the guy.This is the first time I've worked with this PM, and we are working together over the phone and via email - he's in Minnesota and I'm in Virginia.

I get the impression that he is rather young and doesn't have too many management experiences under his belt yet. Actually he's been very nice to work with until this - and he wasn't hostile about it - but I would sure like to know how he came up with such a lowball estimate for printing (this indicates to me that he has no clue).

I'll be asking him that very question in a conference call tomorrow. I'm also going to ask him to run the numbers and see where we are re: labor charges and remaining budget.
 
Ooooh, Lulu, I am sooooo sooooo sorry, you guys went through a lot to find this flat, and now all this stuff...:wacko: But I agree with CJ, probably you guys will be better off if you could find a new place. I wish you guys could relocate to Rome, then we would gladly rent out the flat we are living right now, and we will be relocating to the new one within a couple of months!! I really hope you will get at least the necessities for civilization (gas, water, heat etc.) restored for good very, very soon!!

((hugs))!!!
 
Miss Manners, help!!!

I must apologize for my petty and banal complaint, however I couldn't start a war in the middle of the lesson and I am about to blow up, so I had to victimize you guys for my... "venting"....

This is not the first time, happened to me several times already at our "aerodance" lessons at the gym. People tend to want to go to the front line, so do I, and I make sure to get there early enough to secure my spot before others do, because
A. I have an easier access to my water bottle during the class, especially at the corner.
B. To avoid getting stuck behind the people who move totally off tempo.
C. I can get a better view at Nicola the instructor to see what he is doing.


However others want to do so in order to stare at themselves narcissistically in the mirror. (But ironically, those people are typically the ones who move about like drunken apes out of control.:glare: ) They arrive after me, choose to place themselves like 10 inches from me, then during the lessons they keep moving towards me, while I have to bend over backwards, doing everything I can to avoid collisions and contacts. After a while I would be totally pushed against the corner with nowhere to go, while they happily stomp about as they please. THEN, finally, they would tell ME to move and go somewhere else because I AM IN THEIR WAY!!!!
For the previous few times I just bit the bullets and moved, but there's so much one can take, I was soooo :censored: :furious: I just quit and left the lesson while today's offender was obviously happy to have the obstacle removed and happily waddled on...
Haven't those people ever been taught any kind of manners?? GEES, LOUISE!!
 
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You think inb a gym people would want room, fools. The whole idea of personal space is so different here, but in an exercise class? Poor you! And the class instructors? Surely they want people to be working a safe distance from each other???? With all the fuss of permesso to use a gym, lol!
 
Yeah, Nicola really felt bad for me and apologized for what happened after the class, even if it was not at all his fault... it is always the same thing, lack of consideration for others by too many of the participants, which is also very difficult to control. And I am actually too sheepish when it comes to confrontation, I am the type who just let myself get pushed around, then go to the safe corner and hiss and growl fiercely!:wacko: :blink:
 
Well, when I come to Roma I'll sit at the front and bark at anyone who encroaches on your space, lol!

Thanks for earlier kind words about housing. DH saw a property avocado this morning the situation here changed again :( this afternoon, we go to the lawyer again this evening or tomorrow afternoon. I think part of the problem is that LL does not have enough to do. I have all day to pander to him, but obviously DH does not. So, we call it quits, do what has to be done and start the search again, lol. Oh the dread of it! In fact, we now learn that this is VERY common here, the woman who was in DH's role before him actually left Italy after her third terible housing experience in two years...Milano has it seems a sad reputation for this in Italy. :(
 
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