Reply #11: Oh GAWD yes. Every day we jump through hoops. We meet ever more [View All]

insane deadlines but one little thing goes wrong (usually because we're rushing to meet impossible deadlines) and it's like the world ended. And recognition? HA! Let me give you my favorite example of how my department gets recognized. Read on...

Sept. 11, 2001.
You all know, I'm sure, what was going on that day. I was in a conference room at work, crying with everyone else as we watched the towers fall. I finally decided to go back to my desk to see if my niece at NYU was okay when I saw an email from my boss. Here's what it said :

"Subject: emergency!
More changes on ________(followed by a long list of changes on a product I was designing for a company based in Manhattan, *really* important stuff)...We still need waterproofs on all the changes, and guess what....still comped for tomorrow. (Tomorrow, as in Sept. 12, 2001. A day when not a single plane flew anywhere in the U.S., much less to Manhattan. For a comp of a consumer product no one at that office was going to see because they were all evacuated.)Hope this is clear....I am traumatized (sp)and stunned by the horrible situation. I'll check back with you all as soon as I can. If you need me in an emergency, I'm in _______.

Okay, so that was the atmosphere at my office on Sept. 11. While most people were glued to televisions all day, we had to work on nonsense that wasn't going anywhere because there was no UPS or FedEx for over a week. To make matters worse, the CEO insisted on continuing with a planned "appreciation" dinner for my department that night. And we were all expected to attend.

Fast forward to the "appreciation" dinner. Everyone in my department was in shock. We could barely speak and barely keep from crying for the entire meal. Meanwhile the salespeople and the CEO were drinking and having a grand old time. It was so inappropriate.

To add insult to injury, the CEO decided to make a big speech "thanking" us for doing such a good job. But in that speech, he actually turned to the salespeople to tell them what a fantastic job they were doing at "coming up with all the great ideas" and "providing the artistic vision" for our products. Then he thanked the rest of us (the ones with art degrees who have to come up with 500 ideas before the salepeople with deign to select 5 for shopping around) for "executing the artistic vision of the salespeople so quickly." That was the thanks we got. One of the most backhanded insults ever.


Sorry for the long story, but I feel it perfectly describes how people are (un-) valued and (un-) appreciated the people at my office are. There are so many incredibly talented people here. And we get shit on constantly.