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  • Customers more important than employees

    aka where Reyneth had enough and quit her job.

    I know that I did overreact in proportion to this particular situation but it was the proverbial straw.....

    I've gotten a new job in a call/collections department at an insurance company. Great company, good job and the managers back you up. Not so in the place I had worked for the past year where my manager/owner was notoriously spineless and it made problems for those of us on the front lines. With the new job I have Sun and Tues off. I wished to stay at photo place on a limited basis because I usually liked it and I really need the money. But when I talked to manager about that, I specifically said about coming in in the mornings to do retouching/designing work and not be opening the store. That was ignored so when the schedule for this week and next came out, I was once again working on my days off - making it 25 days in a row with no idea when the end would be. Added to that I had rq'd off the Sun and Tues of this week to celebrate my bday - oked by the manager verbally but he apparently "didn't get my note" about it. I wasn't able to switch with anyone but managed to be able to leave early on Sun so I could see my mom and sis and we could at least go out to dinner.

    Now that the scene is set.....thoughts in ( )
    This past Sunday. I'm there, not thrilled, but I'm dealing. The other person on the schedule for the store is the owner/manager (he never does that). Things are ok until SC lady comes in to pick up photos.
    SC: The girl yesterday told me that the "auto enhance" button gets rid of red eye. Right?
    Me: No, I'm sorry it doesn't but I can redo them now for you (calculating how much work I have due) and ready in about 15 minutes. (The "girl" is a grandma. She's already being condescending.)
    SC: Ok, make sure and get both sizes.

    At this point, manager has already disappeared into the back to work on other things. Why put yourself on the schedule if you're not actually going to be in the store part? I was trying to stay ahead of the workload but slowly drowning as we really needed two people there.

    I fix the redeye, reprint the 3.5x5 photos - this is important because I had to switch paper magazines in the machine to do so - and have them on the counter ready when she comes back.
    Me: I left the originals in there, just take them to make up for coming back. (The redeye wasn't really that bad)
    SC: Ok......

    Obviously the story isn't done because that's all good, right?
    Twenty minutes or so later I get a call from SC.
    SC: Whoever cut these didn't do it right!
    Me: Ummm, that is the machin......
    SC: There are white lines on the top! I can't use these!
    Me: I'm sorry, I can reprint them and have them ready in about 30 minutes. (Dying because that's time I don't have)
    SC: That's not good enough, I shouldn't have to come out there again! I need these today and this is a big inconvenience.
    Me: (We don't do delivery service) Well, I can have them here when you make it in.
    SC: This was really SHODDY work, I can't believe.....
    Me: Ma'am, I fixed the redeye and resent it exactly as printed the first time it was the MACHINE.
    SC: Blargle blah blah blah
    Me: They'll be here after 30 minutes for whenever you can come in.

    I reprint them - having to put the 5" paper again - and this time I see the white border. It's an alignment issue with the machine, which the owner doesn't bother to keep maintained. I've been working at a photo lab for the better part of 6 years and on this machine for about 4. I know what I'm doing! I'm pissed at this point. I was stuck in the store myself and resentful that I was even there that day at all - missing out on my bday with my family - and dealing with machine jams, lots of work, and now this customer insulting my abilities and work.

    So I take the stack of photos to my manager and toss them on his desk, telling him he can deal with her when she comes in because I had it. I get a mini-lecture about taking things too personally and then he decides to cut the edges off of them to fix it - where I tell him fine, I have 8 rolls of film due in about 30 minutes, he can do it, I'm not.

    SC returns.
    Me: (civil but just barely) He's finishing them up for you right now.
    SC: Well, how LONG will it be?
    Me: He's almost done and he'll have them for you when he is.
    SC: Can you ASK him? (he's about 12 feet behind me, ftr and she's 8 feet in front of me - I'm still printing the rolls furiously)
    Me: (turns around) How much longer?
    Manager: About 10 sec.
    Me: (turns back) 10 sec.
    SC: (stony glare)
    I ignore her. He brings the photos and she starts bitching.

    Ok, you know what? It wasn't my fault you got wrong info (I had already mentioned it to the owner when I was redoing them the first time) and I went out of my way to fix it for you. I didn't do anything DELIBERATELY to your photos nor am I incompetent to not know what I am doing - both of which you have implied. I'm sorry you had to come back but it's nothing I did. If they were so important to have that day, bring them in/pick them up sooner and check them before you leave!

    She leaves, manager comes to talk to me. Said I took it too personally. I replied I was sick of being treated that way by customers and she *made* it personal. Other stuff and he's like this isn't all that's going on.......duh, sherlock!
    How about 25 days in a row when I specifically asked to not be in the store? How about him caving to whiny SCs constantly making our (employee's) lives harder because now we have to do what they demand in the time they expect and they're getting it for prices lower than we pay? How about I'm doing *tons* of restoration work for him that customers pay a pretty penny for and I see nothing of that money? How about the custom collages that I make out of the store's portraits that the photographer gets commission on and - once again, I don't see a penny?

    How about the insistence on using this new production software for event photos that makes all of our jobs 50% harder because you don't want to admit you messed up when you bought it and it makes your job about 20% easier? How about you not using what I'm best at in the store - PhotoShop retouching - and instead scheduling me in the store when I'm doing other things so get very little retouching done which means you farm it out to the other two people who have about 1/2 my experience and already overloaded work loads so then portrait orders hang on the racks for a week because they're too busy trying to do something they don't normally do to quality check them and package them and call the customer who I have do deal with when they come in pissed because the portraits were supposed to be done days ago?

    How about the fact that you used two of my collages that I made on my personal time with photos I took at my cousin's house of her baby for some of your promotional materials? That's ILLEGAL bud. You don't have permission from my cousin, and you certainly didn't have permission to use MY photos. I'm not a photographer in their studio, and the photos weren't taken there. My property, not yours. How about having 4 full-time employees at 24 hours/week for nearly 4 months the beginning of the year? I didn't accept a part-time job, I accepted a full-time one. How about I worked for what is now one of their biggest competitors of a portrait studio but they dismissed any of my suggestions about competing with them - and then I had to listen to how portrait sales are down and that's why there aren't hours blah blah?

    So yeah, it wasn't just about the customer - but I was tired of making nice and being blamed and demeaned for stuff that I was not responsible for! I'm not going to suck it up forever. So when he said "Sounds like you don't want to be here right now." I agreed, took my stuff and left. Resigned the next night.

    I hate leaving like that - never have done anything like that on any of my jobs before. And there really were good times there - but I had HAD it.

    Unfortunately, the SC will probably think she won.
    Last edited by Reyneth; 06-22-2007, 03:49 AM.

  • #2
    I totally feel you on this one. When I worked in a photo lab I HATED it when customers would get angry at me while I'm bending over backwards to make their photos perfect. And the freebees! The more we give away, the angrier they get. I, like you, left that job on pretty sudden terms. I hope you have much better luck at your new job.
    Our brains are smarter than we think they am!

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    • #3
      Maybe its just the vehemently protective writer/artist in me, but I HATE HATE absolutely HATE people using my work without permission. I would tack his ass to the wall for that. GK has used cease and desist before, GK will use cease and desist again! ( Works really well too. Most people, no matter how smug, will back off pretty quick once they receive a legal notice. =p )

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      • #4
        I'm very sorry that you had to go through all of that Reyneth - it sounds like there were a lot of poor decisions made by management in the lead up to your resignation.
        Hopefully your time in collections will be more enjoyable.

        Quoth Reyneth View Post
        How about the fact that you used two of my collages that I made on my personal time with photos I took at my cousin's house of her baby for some of your promotional materials? That's ILLEGAL bud. You don't have permission from my cousin, and you certainly didn't have permission to use MY photos.
        If your boss had tried that in Australia, he would have been guilty of offences under both the Copyright Act 1968 (use of your photos without your permission) and the Trade Practices Act 1974 (use of a person's image for commercial [read:advertsing] purposes), both of which carry heavy penalties.
        I think, therefore I am. But I am micromanaged, therefore I am not.

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        • #5
          Send him a $200 bill for collages he took for promotional artwork.
          Every day at work is the new worst day of my life.

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          • #6
            Quoth Special Patrol Group View Post
            Send him a $200 bill for collages he took for promotional artwork.
            why only two hundard? I'm sure he can sue his boss for much more, because does he have a case. Theft of work comes to mind...

            Also im sure his cousin has a case too. Because its illegal to use an image of a minor with the parents expressed permission.

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            • #7
              Quoth Sliceanddice View Post
              why only two hundard? I'm sure he can sue his boss for much more, because does he have a case. Theft of work comes to mind...

              Also im sure his cousin has a case too. Because its illegal to use an image of a minor with the parents expressed permission.
              Her.
              And I'm not sure how far I want to take the whole thing - I don't have the extra money (I'm really regretting the loss of that extra $300 or so a month). Not even sure how I'd proceed.

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              • #8
                Quoth Reyneth View Post
                Her.
                And I'm not sure how far I want to take the whole thing - I don't have the extra money (I'm really regretting the loss of that extra $300 or so a month). Not even sure how I'd proceed.
                First of all just ask him to stop using it. Period. If he says yes, no worries. If he says no, inform him of impending legal trouble. If he's as spineless as you say he'll likely fold before you ever need to shell out $ to a lawyer.

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                • #9
                  Quoth Reyneth View Post
                  Her.
                  And I'm not sure how far I want to take the whole thing - I don't have the extra money (I'm really regretting the loss of that extra $300 or so a month). Not even sure how I'd proceed.
                  opps sorry something about the name Reyneth triggered the male responce.
                  But then im not sure mine names overly female.

                  Yeah.... SliceandDice is girly...right?

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Sliceanddice View Post
                    opps sorry something about the name Reyneth triggered the male responce.
                    But then im not sure mine names overly female.

                    Yeah.... SliceandDice is girly...right?
                    In a... Lorena Bobbit kinda way I guess...

                    Though honestly, there are some customers that need that.

                    "*DING*! I'm sorry, that bell indicates you have just lost your reproductive privileges due to stupidity... *SHING* Drop your pants please."

                    And Reyneth, I can understand how you feel. Some employers simply will not fix problems until they literally can't function anymore. As long as it works well enough to get through the day, they'll leave it as is. That means balky machines don't get fixed, schedules remain half-assed, stores remain understaffed and employees get used and abused.

                    As for your work... well, take it as a learning experience. If someone takes your work without asking and decides to use it in a bid to make themselves money, chances are they're not going to be appreciative or give you any sort of credit. With people like that it's best to snap them up short as quickly as possible, it's probably the only way to get any respect.
                    Last edited by Polenicus; 06-22-2007, 12:23 PM.
                    Check out my webcomic!

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Polenicus View Post
                      As long as it works well enough to get through the day, they'll leave it as is. That means balky machines don't get fixed, schedules remain half-assed, stores remain understaffed and employees get used and abused.
                      I don't know why they do that. Don't they realize that it actually costs *more* to do that? Think about it--when you add in the possible staff turnover, the customers you piss off who may not return, and the repairs of having the machine "repaired" multiple times. All of those add up, and can eventually drive a company out of business.

                      For example, at one of my previous jobs, the company was always having problems with their server. The main problem was, that the damn thing would overheat...which would cause the drives to stop working, and would basically shut it down. Instead of fixing it properly, or even replacing it...the "solution" was to run it with the case side panels off. Of course that opened up () an entirely new problem--dust and other nasties would find their way into the circuitry...and *again* crash the thing. However, it didn't last long after that--eventually it started crashing constantly and was replaced. You'd think with the repair costs and downtime it would have been done sooner
                      Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Reyneth View Post
                        Her.
                        And I'm not sure how far I want to take the whole thing - I don't have the extra money (I'm really regretting the loss of that extra $300 or so a month). Not even sure how I'd proceed.

                        If I may make a suggestion. If you have a portfolio of your work, including both before and after examples of your touchups, and collages. Take this and go visit local mom and pop copy shops and print shops as well as screen printers. We always need graphic artists to outsource to who do good work at a good price.

                        From time to time I get requests for work I can't do or don't want to do. Theres always a huge market for a simple logo scan and clean up, basically we get clients who come in with really shitty artwork and we need something thats going to be "camera ready". But most smaller printers don't want to keep someone on staff simply for this type of work.

                        It could be a few extra bucks in your pocket done on your own time.
                        My Karma ran over your dogma.

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                        • #13
                          I'm lucky. The hobbyshop is owned by one man. He views it as his retirement. He's not going to kiss anyone's ass. If this had been a photo place, he would have told her sit down and be patient. White lines on the paper? Here's a lathe, you want me to trim it for you? Or would you rather take these home and cut them yourself?
                          Check out my cosplay social group!
                          http://customerssuck.com/board/group.php?groupid=18

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Polenicus View Post
                            In a... Lorena Bobbit kinda way I guess...

                            Though honestly, there are some customers that need that.

                            "*DING*! I'm sorry, that bell indicates you have just lost your reproductive privileges due to stupidity... *SHING* Drop your pants please."

                            And Reyneth, I can understand how you feel. Some employers simply will not fix problems until they literally can't function anymore. As long as it works well enough to get through the day, they'll leave it as is. That means balky machines don't get fixed, schedules remain half-assed, stores remain understaffed and employees get used and abused.

                            As for your work... well, take it as a learning experience. If someone takes your work without asking and decides to use it in a bid to make themselves money, chances are they're not going to be appreciative or give you any sort of credit. With people like that it's best to snap them up short as quickly as possible, it's probably the only way to get any respect.
                            DANG....
                            i was hoping it was girly in a homicidal insane punk way...

                            Oh and agree 110% to everything yo said.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth digilight View Post
                              If I may make a suggestion. If you have a portfolio of your work, including both before and after examples of your touchups, and collages. Take this and go visit local mom and pop copy shops and print shops as well as screen printers. We always need graphic artists to outsource to who do good work at a good price.

                              It could be a few extra bucks in your pocket done on your own time.
                              Thank you! That is a really good idea - I had thought about doing freelance restoration work but I'd have to invest in a new scanner and frankly I hate most restoration work. Retouching typical portraits and stuff like that, not a problem.

                              The collages were made using a program that they had at work and costs about $400-$700 IIRC depending upon the version you get, so they would be out. But I'll have to look into print shops, especially if it were on a "by piece" basis that I could do from home sort of thing.

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