The kids today, they show no initiative. Back in my day, if we didn’t know how to do something we were supposed to know how to do, we figured out how to do it ourselves. Here, at Ferret Limited International Publishing, what the kids like to do is pass their work on to me. I’ll get a forward from an editorial assistant that will say… NOTHING. Just ( Read more... )

I sent out an email to a few people about the relative pluses and minuses of doing some very slight changes to a book to save some money. The savings were pretty small--about $850 spread over three titles. What I said in the email is, "It's not that much, but I'd pick it up off the floor ( Read more... )

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So, Monday afternoon my boss calls over to me. “Did you respond to the email from Al?” Her tone is ominous, which is bizarre because like, hey--Al? He’s just a sales dude, trying to sell me some printing, and not doing a very good job. Also, why does she know about an email that Al has sent me that I haven’t even gotten yet ( Read more... )

Siobhan was a woman who was as big as the state she came from-Texas. A six-foot Rubenesque redhead with an un-ignorable presence, she made the time I had to put in working in the accounting department tolerable. She was the office manager and kept all the cranky menopausal accounting ladies cool and happy. In her real life she was a singer (soprano ( Read more... )

Robert was the replacement replacement publisher at the nature magazine, after Linda the Liar fled for alleged greener pastures. He was clearly hired for his height alone. He was the dumbest person I'd ever met in a position of power. He was very tall, though. Here's an example of how dumb he was. He had been working at the magazine for a month. He ( Read more... )

Linda was the replacement publisher, when the long-term publisher retired, at the nature magazine. She'd been associate publisher at a very similar publication, so it was assumed she'd be a good fit. Linda was the first and only true pathological liar I'd ever met. I was shocked to find her name in the magazine she claimed to work at. It seemed ( Read more... )

Meredith was a publisher of a tourist guide in New York City. Hers was the 2nd or 3rd in a field of 2 or 3 publications, and she was always trashing the top publication of this genre, which, to be honest, was mroe than a tiny bit better than hers. Since she came from a sales background, she insisted that all the advertisers get editorial space in ( Read more... )

Josie was a production asst at a business trade magazine. Her mother watched her two children while she and her husband worked so they could afford to pay the mortage on their house in New Jersey. They would go to the Dominican Republic once a year to visit her husband's relatives, and Josie would return with delicious cheeses and crazy stories. In ( Read more... )