glazed over powder, sez i

So, after hearing that things are kind of bad down there, and that I might not have, or might not want my job after returning, I've been exploring some other options. I posted my resume on an industry specific board last night, and already got a VM from a national headhunter, wanting to know more about my skills and what I'm looking for in a job...

I haven't heard back yet from the places I actually emailed my resume to, but it seems like a pretty good sign, right?

I don't know anything about the industry, but it sounds to me that the email you sent, while harsh, was appropriate. if no-one outside the company would take the position at the rate they offered, you had the right to protest, and protest strongly. and if you've already heard sounds from competitors, you can reasonably expect to find a similar job at an appropriate salary elsewhere. I agree with what's been said: don't work a job you hate or that treats you like nothing just because you feel you must. you clearly have skills and other opportunities. seize them. you don't need to take crap from them.

So the lady sounded really eager to talk to me, and I have an interview tomorrow. Said that she'd seen my resume all over and had several people forward it to her and say 'You NEED to talk to this guy!'

Hopefully being a bike commuter isn't too much of an issue. A lot of print shops are out in the middle of nowhere, without even much for bus service. Odd to think I might have to move to the suburbs to be closer to work...

why aren;t you here yet?

Sending emails in a fit of rage never turns out real well, but it sounds like you have a good resume - best of luck!

Um, because I heard some bad stuff from work, and decided that I needed to prepare for possibly being unemployed on Monday...

But the headhunter could place me in Chicago, they have an office there...

you need a vacation meet up with the chicago peeps and ride with them to this.

http://chifg.com/comments.php?Discus...&page=3#Item_7

A couple of days after sending a really angry email to one of our maintenence service providers my boss came over to me with a print-out of it. He said "Next time you feel like this, take an extra coffee break, come back and reassess the situation. I doubt you will feel the same way." Its pretty smart advice that I have to follow quite alot. Writing angry emails isn't as satisfying as yelling or punching someone so you can tend to go a little bit overboard on the tone and language if you're not careful.

Writing the email and then saying 'You guys are going to pay me to take the next week off' actually felt pretty good...

A couple of days later I was regretting it, thinking I should have just taken the week off to 'think about it' but whatever. What's done is done, right?

I have yet to storm outta a job, but you gotta live w/ yourself and not your job. Clearly you got skills to get another one, so don't sweat it and enjoy your time off. :D

I've stormed out on all of them, except my last one. This one, I just told them, 'No, I'm not doing the more stressful job anymore, and I'm taking next week off. When I come back, I want to go to my old position.'

If they don't want to give me the old position back, then they have to fire me, and I haven't heard that yet. I did get the time off approved, actually by my boss's boss. It's probably not going to be fun going back monday, but I'll still be making the same wage while I look around...

They clearly ****ed you by getting you to do the job, before all the pay and duties were ironed out. :mad: Hence your reaction.

Rule #1 of most jobs. If they can **** you over they will do so. The only way to get what you want is to stand up for whats fair.

The interview probably could have gone better. Turns out that while the company's been around for 12 years, they've only been in Minneapolis for like 8 months. Part of that time, they only had one guy doing everything, and now they replaced him and hired a couple other people. So they're mainly getting low-level positions in bindery, press helprs, stuff like that. They had a test for Docutech, but the questions were about the 135, the first one I ever ran, which was nearly obsolete when I ran it 8 years ago... I think I probably got a lot of the questions wrong. :grr:

And even though I wasn't all that nervous about getting interviewed, it turned out the girl interviewing me was pretty cute, so I ended up fumbling around with my words because of that. Dammit.

They did share an office with PIMN, which is an org that represents a lot of shops here - I think that's a good sign. They were the ones that I called up to ask what the going wage was for the position I was being offered...

We'll see, I guess. Monday should be interesting.

Can we have an update? How's it going? Do you still have a job? Do you have a new/better job? Have you been made president of the company? I fully support your blowing off of steam, by the way.

Yeah, I ended up taking the offer - they wouldn't budge. Sucks, but I thought that I was going to lose my 10% - now I'm not...

I just have to show up at noon instead of 10am :D

More details sometime when I'm not working...

"They had a test for Docutech, but the questions were about the 135, the first one I ever ran,
which was nearly obsolete when I ran it 8 years ago"

I love 135 's !!
The best Doc of all time !!

Please tell me you're joking about the 135...

Just got a call from ANOTHER shop asking if I was still looking. I figure it's best to talk to them tomorrow, seeing as how I'm still working now. But I do know this shop has a rep for paying REALLY good.

I hope I'm qualified...

No...not kidding about the 135.
Its the punk rocker of digital !!
The Doc publisher 6100 type is totally overrated, especially the
latest software 'upgrade'(?)
Here in Vt. there are only about 25 doc's in the whole state.
Obviously, no doc jobs. I worked for XERoX in Delaware for a while
in 2000. I cant wait to get back into a state that has Doc's - 0 - plenty.
I ***** about having to run them, but then am sad when I cant....Go figure :cry:
Good luck...you're qualified !

I interviewed w/ a woman that was both pretty and had a ginormous chest. I got confused at what to stare at most. I didn't get the job. :(

Yeah, I'm pretty good at making and keeping eye contact. Unfortunatly, I'm also really good at tripping over words and stammering when it's returned... You'd think that would have changed at some point in life, but it never has...

Note to any girls reading this - if you see me acting like that, make a move. I'm usually better after that...

Man, the 135s are kind of like playing original nintendo games. Company X should have totally marketed the OS that they made for that machine - it was basically windows/mac before either came out with their cross-platform stuff. The touch screen was a nice touch, but the doc feeder was crap (at least on my machine) and it took way too much time to set anything up. I don't know, just because it's the original doesn't make it the best. The 61XX series has flaws, but the separation of the print engine from the prepress/digipath stations makes a lot of sense. True, the actual machinery besides software and chipsets hasn't changed much, but if you're looking for jobs with that peice of machinery, um...

Your days are numbered.

Like the Komori press operator that I talked to today. He was surprised I came back, and also had no idea what the processes were on digital. But he did know that everyone was moving towards what I'm doing, and said that he wasn't happy about us making him obsolete. I guess there are a lot of shops around town that are getting rid of their ink-based stuff and moving to digital.

Even on the B&W end, most shops can't justify owning something like a 135. Most of what I see B&W these days is on offset shells and variable. You just can't really make money on anything else in volume...

Sorry for the long assed post, but that's what I'm seeing.

^^^ Another Xeriod printer to talk to, so Im babbling, sorry :p
The 6100 publisher is necassary for most on-demand today, so its not going
anywhere. At my last job in PA I used one to print secret doctor and drug
company manuals and research stuff with V.I.P.P., so Im very familier with it.
I just have fond memories of the 135. With just cut & paste I did great
'zines and vinyl catalogues for local musicians in the 90's ! A lot of fun :D
Sort of like comparing a fixie to a carbon fiber lycra rokkit to me almost .....
Where I am now, they run a Hiedelberg DI which is the most amazing machine
I have ever seen. True 4-color offset in only a little more time than a large MB
rip on a 6100 and the pressman never touches plates or even gets his hands dirty.
It blows the I-Gen away. I believe this technology is where everything is going
to go for color because toner based material cant be folded, perfed
etc, like ink. If you come across one, definately watch the make ready process...
its really cool !
Im just like every other boring old fool you come across though...I learned
printing a few decades ago and beleive the onset of XEROX sort of wrecked it in
that it turned from almost an art form to drivethru McPrinting........
Im am in a print shop bindery now doing all the monotonous stuff. On friday
I interview to be a area repair tech for a digital machine Ive never even
heard of. Depending on how it goes will determine whether we stay in VT or
move souf to where there are some jobs...