OK, so let's say you're a person with a Ph.D., and you're hosting a big conference. Now let's say that you have someone theoretically "in charge" of your publicity design and printing. Let's say you have admitted on more than one occasion that you know nothing about the ins-and-outs of printing. So here's the quiz. Do you:
a) Allow the person in charge of the job to take care of the printing, trusting that she'll get the job done properly?
b) Check in with her repeatedly asking questions that have no relevance to the job at hand? ... or
c)Make 10 phone calls to the printer incessantly interrogating him or her about the per-sheet cost of paper, then at the last minute, tell them you don't want to spend the extra $30 to have the 2,500 copies folded. You figure it would be cheaper to fold the copies yourself. Of course, you're considering asking your designer and print coordinator to "help" with this task. She makes $12 an hour, and it will take her at least 5 hours to fold 2,500 copies. In other words, it's twice as expensive to give the job to someone who has much better things to do than to pay a machine $30 to do it. But that doesn't matter, because the $60 doesn't come out of your department's budget, so why not exploit others?
Yes, that's right. The correct answers are 'b' and 'c.' I am sooo cranky today.
posted by Kate at 1:21 PM link/comments
