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Sunday, August 12, 2007

4pm Friday update

8:15 arrive to work
4:15 leave work
4:30 walk dog, attend to all needs
5:00 spend next 2 hours at pool, yeah for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Apparently my allegiance knows no bounds…

Due to an unfortunate series of mistakes that angered a client, I found myself volunteering for a mission to correct the mistakes and thus restore the reputation of the Company.

Mistake 1 – asked client if we could change printed spots on Minnie to easier production method, get told angrily no and yelled at for even asking. Manage to follow approved method for production.

Mistake 2 – submit samples without proper paperwork, get screamed at.

Mistake 3 – fail testing, get screamed at for being only vendor to fail on whatever we failed for, find solution, get clients grumpy approval and fix before shipment.

Due to attention devoted to fixing above mistakes, somehow fail to show pre-production samples to client before shipment and thus produce with wrong clip colors for 2 pieces.

Mistake 4 – produce Pooh plush keychain with puke yellow clip instead of pretty red color clip to match his shirt.

Mistake 5 – produce Donald plush keychain with purple clip instead of white clip.

Client furious, thus we volunteer to drive to client’s warehouse and change the clips to approved colors for 2,400 pieces per character.

We planned this trip in advance by practicing the time it takes to change one clip – 10 seconds. Somehow through a series of faulty numbers boss announced that we had PLENTY OF TIME to complete the project within 7 hour time frame and 4 people. Client said we could only work in warehouse from 7am – 2:30pm.

Asia office gave the following recommendations after we asked how clips are attached at the factory:

Step 1 : Widen the space between two rings by using fingers.

Step 2 : Put wrong clip like the photo at the right side.

Step 3 : Insert the correct one at the same time as it is very easy to insert since the wrong one keep the space between two rings.

Step 4 : Remove the wrong and push the correct one.


Without going into every single painful detail of the day, I will list the highlights:

Monday – drive to Orlando a day in advance to visit Universal Studios, get free tickets to walk the park and look for product ideas. Get to bed around mid-night. Just as I’m falling into a deep sleep some jerk from HK office calls and I wake up on the last ring, fully waking up self and others in shared suite. Can’t sleep for ½ hour, hate hate hate.

Tuesday –

5:30am – wake up, wait for shower

5:45am – shower

6:30am – breakfast

7:00am – check out, stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffee (get frowns from others for wasting time but nothing stands between me and coffee)

7:45am – find warehouse, drop girls off at front with supplies and then park car

8:00am – begin changing clips

10:00am – discover new way of changing clips that does not involve fingernails as everyone is experiencing broken nails from splitting the metal clips with fingernails. Quickly show everyone. Am briefly lauded as hero.

10:15am – one person is on phone with management from our Company reviewing something and doing clips at the same time. Grumbling from other girls for wasted time talking and working slower.

10:30am – girl on phone call ends call and announces she will not go to bathroom to save time. I eat applesauce.

12:00pm – negotiate with warehouse manager to let us stay until 6pm so we can finish that day as there is no way in hell we are getting done by 2:30.

1:00pm – discuss shared hatred of client for insisting we had to leave warehouse by 2:30 and thus spent day before at Universal when we could have started ½ the work at warehouse.

1:30pm – discuss shared anger with moron who said we had PLENTY OF TIME and did not take into consideration the pain that slows fingers to a craw, re-taping boxes, plush falling off keychain when not properly situated before new clip, blurring of vision causing us to reach for wrong color clip, etc.

2:00pm – we finally finish 2,400pcs of Donald, stop for packed lunch. Discuss if we should spend the night in Orlando or finish that day and drive home same day. Already delirious from 2,400 Donald clips, do not want to drive home after another 2,400 Pooh clips. Learn no one has brought change of clothes but me. Everyone gets grumpy and silent.

2:30pm – buy water for everyone

3:00pm – one girl offers 2 options, stop at 4pm and stay in Orlando. Others counter with, if they stop and come back next day, fingers will be swollen and will not have mental stamina to start again. Angry faces set in stone want to finish that day no matter what. 10 boxes done, 40 to go.

4:00pm – 20 boxes done, 30 to go. We calculate finishing at 8 or 9pm

4:30pm – discover water dispensers everywhere.

5:00pm – dementia sets in and stories get wild but can’t remember any of them.

6:00pm – I leave to get dinner, gas and stop at downtown Disney for reference samples. On the way back, I take wrong turn, lose ½ hour, get back at 8pm.

8:00pm – 6 boxes left, no one wants to stop for dinner until they are done. I again try to negotiate staying the night because everyone is exhausted from 12 hour non-stop work day and I’m terrified of driving 3 hours while exhausted. Try to convey my concerns in hysterical tense voice; met with determined, frustrated angry faces of women who will cut me if I force them to spend the night in sticky gross clothes. We drove to Orlando in my car, I know I’m not capable of driving home, they ask to split the driving, I agree.

1:00am – we arrive back in Fort Lauderdale, safe, alive, stunned and need I say exhausted.

Speechless, worried staff will quit due to extreme, unexpected and badly planned working conditions.

Thursday, one girl (who would be very hard to replace) arrives to office with announcement that another company has offered her 12K more then current salary. In stand by mode as she takes the weekend to “consider the other offer and our counter offer”. Taking weekend very very slowly to recover from shocks of the week.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Friday Update

I left work at 5 today, got home at 5:30 and walked dog.

My co-worker invited me and other co-workers to a candle lite party starting at 6pm. I'm not good at arriving at anything early or on time. In this case, its because I had to walk the dog, then take a shower because its so painfully hot in South Florida, then I decided to surf my favorite blogs for a few minutes while hair was drying and finally left at 7pm.

Party had lots of candles. I didn't buy any because I'm broke. My co-workers spent the evening discussing children. I don't have kids yet but I've gotten used to parties with lots of kid talk. I assume it will happen to me some day. I will torture all people without kids with endless stories of clothing fits and day care costs.

Sorry this post is rather boring, I'm really tired. I've had a really bizarre week and I'd rather write about it tomorrow.