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Old 03-27-2015, 02:47 PM   #25786
WT Sharpe
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So much so that some of the big box pet stores have stopped selling food and treats manufactured n China.

Unfortunately it's not just China. I think that's where most of the tainted food has originated, but some of it has come from right here in the United States. And it's involved some well-trusted brand names.
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Old 03-28-2015, 12:00 AM   #25787
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It costs me over $100 when I get cat and dog food at the same time. I have them on top of the line low ingredient chow
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Old 04-02-2015, 09:50 PM   #25788
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I think Arwen has an odd form of pica. She's always licking things, blankets, clothes, skin and she very aggressively grooms Strider. In the fall I noticed that Striders whiskers were breaking off. I thought he was maybe catching them in the cat FL
ap. I've fin ally caught her chewing on his face and breaking the whiskers off. Little brat
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:26 PM   #25789
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How strange! Strider doesn't mind?
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Old 04-03-2015, 01:19 PM   #25790
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He's getting to the point where he objects to the over grooming more often. I don't think he realizes that she's biting off his whiskers. When we group snuggle and she's after his face I smack her away, but then again, I'm not always here. She has started to realize that I consider it a negative behavior, but that has no weight when I'm gone. Poor guy. I can't even put icky stuff on him given the location
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Old 04-03-2015, 04:25 PM   #25791
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Why do users join a forum, and within 2 posts, one of which is the actual change request(!), they suddenly decide they need to change their username to something completely different. This isn't cause they mistyped their username - I could actually get that. No, they join, and then decide they need to change to something else entirely.

Now this isn't someone who has been here for a while, and whose circumstances/needs/whatever have changed enough that they want to change to reflect that. No, this is a newbie.

I don't get it, and I think it shows a complete lack of respect for the time and energy of the Mods. Really, they have lives too.

Sigh. Having a bad day with users in general, and just noticed yet another name change request in the Feedback forum.
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Old 04-03-2015, 04:44 PM   #25792
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People don't spend enough time browsing, to get a feel for the place, before they choose a username? It's usually only us introverts who are capable of being silent for a while when we first come into a room. (I don't really mean to start a flame war with this! Just an observation....)
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Old 04-03-2015, 05:18 PM   #25793
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It's easy enough to abandon a handle and create a new one, especially if you don't have to abandon much history in the process.
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Old 04-03-2015, 06:10 PM   #25794
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CRussel View Post
Why do users join a forum, and within 2 posts, one of which is the actual change request(!), they suddenly decide they need to change their username to something completely different. This isn't cause they mistyped their username - I could actually get that. No, they join, and then decide they need to change to something else entirely.

Now this isn't someone who has been here for a while, and whose circumstances/needs/whatever have changed enough that they want to change to reflect that. No, this is a newbie.

I don't get it, and I think it shows a complete lack of respect for the time and energy of the Mods. Really, they have lives too.

Sigh. Having a bad day with users in general, and just noticed yet another name change request in the Feedback forum.
I am voting for "a cavalier disregard for other people's time."

That's my rant du jour. I have had a client, with 15+ emails, back-forth, JUST on him/her (from this point, "he") not being able to open his mobi on Kindle Previewer. (So...these are in addition to all the OTHER emails from this client on his book. As of right now, 49, total.) Same client managed, with some effort, to get his ePUB open in ADE. FIFTEEN-plus emails. I have said, not less than 3x, "whatever you do, do NOT CHANGE THE FILENAME, nor the file EXTENSION."

I sent the files our normal way; I sent them with a Dropbox link; I sent them using our Hightail corp. account, just to try to make it easy for him. This is, all in, well over 2+ hours of time that should not be needed. Right?

Finally said, "send me the files [that you purportedly downloaded from us] that are giving you the error message." ("File Type is not supported" error message).

AND, what do I get back?

Just ask me, WHAT?

XXXXX_mobi.docx

WHY? WHY, DEAR GOD WHY?

Why are people ALLERGIC to the goddamn instructions??? WHY?

Because it's easier to annoy people and ask them to do utterly and totally unnecessary work, like changing a username, then to PAY ATTENTION IN THE FIRST GODDAMNED PLACE AND RTFI, or think for 5 seconds about what user name you want.

And really, mods? Were I you, I'd put a new rule in: 20 posts before you can change your username, unless something happened. You accidentally typed your real name. You made a typo. Otherwise, TOUGH TITTIES.

</rant>

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Old 04-03-2015, 06:11 PM   #25795
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Originally Posted by badgoodDeb View Post
People don't spend enough time browsing, to get a feel for the place, before they choose a username? It's usually only us introverts who are capable of being silent for a while when we first come into a room. (I don't really mean to start a flame war with this! Just an observation....)
Most people lurk without joining for a while. And ANYONE ought to "listen" to the place before speaking up. That's just basic netiquette.

Quote:
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It's easy enough to abandon a handle and create a new one, especially if you don't have to abandon much history in the process.
Yes, though I rather think that the Mods actively discourage sock-puppetry, I certainly think a single abandonment and rejoin would hardly get their ire. And, of course, I may be totally off-base and they don't mind at all. I'm not a mod here and can't claim to speak for them. But sometimes I just get annoyed at users.
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Old 04-03-2015, 06:15 PM   #25796
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Ah, Hitch. I seem to have struck a nerve, what?! I'd give you some more K, but apparently I've done so too recently. IAC, I agree completely. I mean, really, how many emails does it take to turn bad docx into a .mobi version of the same (likely horrible) book?
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Old 04-03-2015, 06:26 PM   #25797
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I am voting for "a cavalier disregard for other people's time."

[..rant about latest client...]

Why are people ALLERGIC to the goddamn instructions??? WHY?

Because it's easier to annoy people and ask them to do utterly and totally unnecessary work, like changing a username, then to PAY ATTENTION IN THE FIRST GODDAMNED PLACE AND RTFI, or think for 5 seconds about what user name you want.

And really, mods? Were I you, I'd put a new rule in: 20 posts before you can change your username, unless something happened. You accidentally typed your real name. You made a typo. Otherwise, TOUGH TITTIES.

</rant>

Hitch
Yikes. Just yikes.

I suspect they (MR mods) are unofficially following this rule, at least last I saw the allergic individual was not getting an answer...

And sympathies on the client. I hope you're charging for your time...
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Old 04-03-2015, 06:42 PM   #25798
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Ah, Hitch. I seem to have struck a nerve, what?! I'd give you some more K, but apparently I've done so too recently. IAC, I agree completely. I mean, really, how many emails does it take to turn bad docx into a .mobi version of the same (likely horrible) book?
Thanks, Charlie:

I think we shared a moment (oooohhh...) about something else, recently. Yes, it's just mind-boggling to me. Do I occasionally do stupid s**t, and misread instructions, or goof up on something? Sure, but, bejeezus, I try not to make a freaking lifestyle out of it!

I'm just...frustrated. The biz has just changed a lot; all the low-hanging fiction fruit is long gone, mostly, or is being DIY'ed (not necessarily in a good way, mind you). So now, we seem to have a heavy traffic in uber-complex books, and uber-not-schooled clients. And worse, we get a lot that are BOTH. I set a rule in place on Wednesday, at the shop: no more workout books this week that were made in Word, or by obvious, first-time, just-subscribed INDD in the Cloud users. No more books this week that are cookbooks, with obviously do-it-yourself-with-your-smartphone-home-photography. (I may never eat meatballs again...).

It's exhausting. I'm not trying to complain, nor obtain sympathy, it's just...it's not like there's a good (secret, Masonic-handshake, closed-to-the-public) forum for professional bookmakers to vent, realistically, and you certainly can't BLOG about it, for the love of heaven. I mean, no prospective client wants to see you making fun of another client. That would be BAD, and let's face it: it would be unprofessional. Just doing and saying what I'm doing here is on the verge, but...mostly, I manage to stuff it, tamp it down, but with 5-800 books a year, sometimes, it gets out.

Oh, and don't get me STARTED about the guy with the blog. Who thinks that everyone he's spoken to is either being condescending or ripping him off, because "obviously there's an automated way to turn Wordpress posts into a Kindle book." That's a long, long, looooooooooong story, and I won't bore you guys with it. But...man. It simply seems like this past month, folks are being either deliberately abusive or, like Mr. 49-emails above, cavalierly abusive of one's time and dignity.

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Old 04-03-2015, 06:49 PM   #25799
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@Hitch

Have you considered sending them an invoice for your time that they wasted, at your usual hourly rate of course.

lesee figger figger uh... each email take 15 minutes... times 15 emails... that's 3 hours and forty five minutes... times $50/hr ... why that comes to $187.50.

hmmm, bet they don't do it again.
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Old 04-03-2015, 07:17 PM   #25800
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@Hitch

Have you considered sending them an invoice for your time that they wasted, at your usual hourly rate of course.

lesee figger figger uh... each email take 15 minutes... times 15 emails... that's 3 hours and forty five minutes... times $50/hr ... why that comes to $187.50.

hmmm, bet they don't do it again.
Oh, believe me, I've thought about it.

But here's the problem that I (sort of endlessly) run into: they think it's part of my job. We send out a handout, with the quotes (and again, mind you, when we set up their project) that expressly states that "Tech Support is NOT included" with the work. That they will have to download and install programs, in order to view their books, etc. That they need to be able to do this, to work with us.

But then, when they can't do it--it's your problem. I have a pretty famous story (I've told it on one of the sub-forums here, I forget why) about the 80-email guy. A guy who insisted, for 80+ emails, that I'd sent him corrupted files. And why did he think that? Because, not only did he convince HIMSELF of that, but APPLE told him that, too. They told him that the mobi file I was sending him, was corrupted.

Why? Why? In the end, because he didn't know how to download a file from Gmail. I finally had to pull out my Mac Mini, hook it up, put a monitor on it, and then shoot a bunch of screenshots, to show him HOW to download the FILE, not a SHORTCUT, from Gmail, to his Mac Desktop. Once I spent two MORE hours of my time (this is above and beyond the replies to the 80 emails, telling him exactly what he was doing wrong, mind you), hooking up the computer, synching my dropbox, yadda-yadda-yadda, and taking images, marking them up with instructions (go here, click that button...) well, IT WAS A MIRACLE! The file wasn't corrupted, after all. Surprise, surprise, surprise. (Yes, think Jim Nabors there).

But you can't tell them that it's THEIR problem. It's YOUR problem. It's not John Doe who will get bad reviews online. It's not Client X who will be said to be uncooperative, or providing bad service. Or bad products. Once an error message is involved, YOU are the bad guy, because YOU sent bad products. Or, because you don't know what their OS is, or what computer they're using, or what version of X, you're not doing YOUR JOB. I got so frustrated with one guy recently I gave him the number to the Geek Squad, and told him to call them for support (which of course, they don't do, because--that would cost MONEY).

Or the person who wants to get on the phone with you about all their POD options. Did they go to Createspace first? Did they look at what trim sizes are available? Do they know what fonts they want, or margins? No. They want you to work on it WITH them. Now, there are perfectly good--and perfectly expensive--print-layout houses that do this sort of hands-on, step-by-step support. Usually starting at around $2500/book. But that's not what we do, and it's not what we CHARGE to do.

So, it's a Catch-22. If I try to ding them for the support, because it's not included in our pricing (and trust me--it really isn't), they get angry, because somehow, somewhere, we've fallen down on the job. If they think we sent corrupted files, it's worse.

I had a guy who filed my one and only ever Paypal complaint because he had some type of whacky meltdown, got angry because the "emergency" email he sent on a Friday night at 6:00 p.m. wasn't answered that night, (n.b.: we DID respond, repeatedly, on the Saturday), he stayed up and spent "the whole night formatting his book" himself, and wanted Paypal to refund him his money--after we'd already finished the book. This whole s**tfit? Was over the ALIGNMENT of some CAPTIONS on some IMAGES. He kept emailing our "do not reply" email address, and when we didn't respond--duh--he got upset. I must have emailed that guy 20x, trying to figure out what on earth was going on with him, but, hey, no, that wasn't good enough. Paypal of course decided in our favor, in about 30 minutes, but it was seriously aggravating. I don't like customer complaints, ANYWHERE.

Yeah, and don't get me started about "emergency" books. There's two words I never thought I'd ever say together. And it's no better when they say "book emergency," either.

There's simply something about writing a book, I guess. I don't know what it is, but I have to say, had I known then, what I know now...

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