I Can't Believe I Took This On

One of the reasons I detest production is that something always goes wrong. And usually it's more than one thing. In addition to creating frustration and stress, production tasks eat up vast amounts of time because you have to correct or redo all of the things that go wrong. That's what happened to me yesterday, and I should have known better.

I had planned to take the proposal to Kinko's for copying at 8 AM yesterday. I had gotten up at 4 AM to get everything finished -- editing, filling in some forms, reviewing and checking, etc. Naturally, all of this took longer than I had anticipated. When I got done, I printed out the proposal and found that some of the page numbers were wrong because I had miscounted the number of pages that had to be inserted by hand. So I had to go back into several files, re-number pages, and print out the document again. It was 10 AM before I got to Kinko's. Luckily they weren't busy and said they could have my 10 copies ready in a hour. That was the only thing that went well.

I picked up the copies an hour later and began the assembly process. It was then that I realized that there were 7 pages that looked awful because the shading on some of the tables didn't copy well. Back to the computer to take out the shading and re-print 10 copies of each of the bad pages. Of course, I ran out of 3-hole punch paper for the printer, so I had to use the manual hole puncher to make holes in the pages I had just printed. Then I had to go through all 10 documents, take out the bad copies, and insert the new pages. More wasted time.

Finally, I get all 10 copies assembled and packed into the box for shipment to the state agency. Time to go to the Post Office. I send the box via certified mail with what I thought was a return receipt request. The Post Office lady stamps my certified receipt with the date and I stick the receipt in my purse without looking at it because I still have to send a copy of the proposal via Fedex to my client. I wasn't prepared for this because he had only told me that morning that he wanted me to Fedex him a hard copy. Well OK, how hard could that be? The Post Office has a Fedex box out right out front. Except... there is only one envelope that is the right size and no mailing labels. That's just great. I take the envelope and drive over to Staples, where there is another Fedex box. This one has no labels either. Get back in the car and drive over to Kinko's, which is now owned by Fedex. They have plenty of mailing labels but no mailing envelopes. Huh? This is a Fedex store, for God's sake. Have they ever heard of inventory? Good thing I had taken the one remaining mailing envelope from the Post Office Fedex box. I go back to my car, get the envelope and go back into the Fedex-Kinko's store to fill out the label and send the overnight package.

But wait! I want to make copies of a few receipts to include in the Fedex package. No problem, there are plenty of copiers at Fedex-Kinko's. I head over to the copiers only to find that I can't put actual money in them -- they only take credit cards. So I have to use my card to make 34 cents' worth of copies. Give me a break.

One of the things that I copied was the certified mail receipt from the Post Office that I hadn't looked at when I sent the package. Uh oh -- the receipt doesn't show that I had requested a return receipt for the proposal package. So now I have to go back to the Post Office and wait in line to see the same lady that had originally helped me with the package. Fortunately, she's very nice and doesn't give me a nasty look when I explain the situation. She goes in the back to retrieve the package, and we start all over again filling out a new certified mail form and return receipt request form. I am finished! Hooray!

And all of this took only 7 hours out of my day. It was exhausting, frustrating and stressful. That's why I'm venting here. Production? BAH!