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Tired of incompetence...................................................................

ikarasu

Active Member
When you go to the doctor and tell them your stomach hurts, you expect the doctor to be thorough and find out if you have an ulcer or stomach cancer or nothing. As a sign professional, customers expect you to catch typos and other art issues. You're the doctor.
Doctors charge like attorneys too.
I'd say it's more like me calling up the mechanic, saying I need a fuel pump because my car won't start, have him order one in and tow my car to his shop, only to find out after he's is talked it, that the fuel pump was fine and it was a dead battery.... And ask him to forgoe the 5 hours it took him to install said fuel pump because as a mechanic he should be checking the battery, the alternator, and everything else because he's the professional.

If someone hands you something and says print it, it's customary to give it a quick once over to see if there's an issue. But it should not be your fault if there's something wrong with it
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
I'd say it's more like me calling up the mechanic, saying I need a fuel pump because my car won't start, have him order one in and tow my car to his shop, only to find out after he's is talked it, that the fuel pump was fine and it was a dead battery.... And ask him to forgoe the 5 hours it took him to install said fuel pump because as a mechanic he should be checking the battery, the alternator, and everything else because he's the professional.

If someone hands you something and says print it, it's customary to give it a quick once over to see if there's an issue. But it should not be your fault if there's something wrong with it
I also expect our mechanics to figure it out and not rely on my diagnosis. I can change the part myself, I need them to actually verify what the problem is. I get ya though. To get philosophical, I don't care what I make on any particular job. I'm there 8-10 hours a day and expect X amount of dollars at the end of the week. I don't care what takes and what gives. Don't get me wrong, I watch it like a hawk but some go easy and some you gotta put some unexpected elbow grease into it.
 

Boudica

I'm here for Educational Purposes
If we are printing supplied artwork, it's not my job to proof read it. I'll check it for quality, and say something, let them know the issue so they can fix it, if they can. In the case yesterday... It was a word document of what she wanted it to say, I had to lay it out for an A- Frame sign. So I caught that typo. Her predecessor (an owner) used to scrawl what he wanted on a legal pad, scan it and send me that. I'm competent, and flexible so that's all fine. But if a creative agency sends me artwork, I don't look for typos. their job, not mine. If I happen to catch it, I'll send it back, but I'm too busy to sweat over all content.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
I also expect our mechanics to figure it out and not rely on my diagnosis. I can change the part myself, I need them to actually verify what the problem is. I get ya though. To get philosophical, I don't care what I make on any particular job. I'm there 8-10 hours a day and expect X amount of dollars at the end of the week. I don't care what takes and what gives. Don't get me wrong, I watch it like a hawk but some go easy and some you gotta put some unexpected elbow grease into it.
If I pay my mechanic to diagnose, I expect them to diagnose. If I pay them to replace a part.... I don't expect them to diagnose it for free as well, just to swap out the part I paid then to swap out. And if it didn't work I wouldn't blame them.... Or expect them to do the next repair for free, or even at a discount.

Don't get me wrong, we help when we can. I just did a door wrap today - customer supplied artwork... Just by looking at it I knew it wasn't setup right.... It was setup to 35" width... With bleed. We added 3-4" bleed each side just to make sure we could center the text properly. When we cat h stuff it's great, but if we showed up with the panel printed as supplied and it didn't fit... Were not going to re measure, re setup the artwork and reprint because we're the professionals and should have known.


If the customer wants to supply their own artwork, then They're the ones taking the risk if something is wrong with it.
 

Boudica

I'm here for Educational Purposes
Sizing is different. We learned a long time ago that if we are installing some thing, take window graphics for instance... Never trust their measurements. Go measure them ourselves to be sure. Designers who have no experience with production or installation are only good for the creative aspect. True logistics should be up to the professional who makes it happen.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
I don't have an issue with changes. I make mistakes on orders to vendors and expect them to catch them just the same. If I've been buying cases of 1.5" tape for years and one day just say tape, I expect a case of 1.5", not 2", not fine line.

Others involved with production of some type, even if it's not the same type going on, tend to be more amiable to changes and going with the flow. I rarely find that to be the case with the average end consumer and I certainly wouldn't assume so to be comfortable enough to do it without making sure that it's in writing that they were aware of changes and if they wanted to do them (typically I mean by email).

As to the above situation, given that there was just "tape" mentioned and nothing else, a call/email (whatever is on record for preferred contact) to see which one is needed, not to be assumed that it's one, even despite the historical record of having ordered that. If they wanted to mention "you always buy 'x', but I see here that you have 'y', is that correct", that's another way to give that nice touch that the are looking back at the records, but still aren't assuming. Now depending on how one orders and there is a default to a size or whatever makes one different from the other, that's another wrinkle in the situation.


I also expect them to question me, you said this but you always buy that.

See, I wouldn't expect that, not necessarily with my buying "x", but now bought "y". Even after years of buying "x". Now, if they want to call/email to make sure, that's a nice touch, but I wouldn't expect that to happen. Rather or not that should be expected, that may be up for discussion. I guess another reason why I don't expect it to happen is even with vendors that I have over 20 yrs experience ordering from, have never done that.

You took the DR thing too literally.
I was just going over the analogy that was presented.


Sizing is different. We learned a long time ago that if we are installing some thing, take window graphics for instance... Never trust their measurements. Go measure them ourselves to be sure. Designers who have no experience with production or installation are only good for the creative aspect. True logistics should be up to the professional who makes it happen.
Have fun when you get the customer that comes from the designer that says that there should be no reason why the production person is unable to do what they need to do with the file "as is", even though they may not be aware of all of what the customer is going to be doing with that file, let alone know what is needed to know for quality production. That to me, takes incompetence to a whole new level.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
Others involved with production of some type, even if it's not the same type going on, tend to be more amiable to changes and going with the flow. I rarely find that to be the case with the average end consumer and I certainly wouldn't assume so to be comfortable enough to do it without making sure that it's in writing that they were aware of changes and if they wanted to do them (typically I mean by email).

As to the above situation, given that there was just "tape" mentioned and nothing else, a call/email (whatever is on record for preferred contact) to see which one is needed, not to be assumed that it's one, even despite the historical record of having ordered that. If they wanted to mention "you always buy 'x', but I see here that you have 'y', is that correct", that's another way to give that nice touch that the are looking back at the records, but still aren't assuming. Now depending on how one orders and there is a default to a size or whatever makes one different from the other, that's another wrinkle in the situation.




See, I wouldn't expect that, not necessarily with my buying "x", but now bought "y". Even after years of buying "x". Now, if they want to call/email to make sure, that's a nice touch, but I wouldn't expect that to happen. Rather or not that should be expected, that may be up for discussion. I guess another reason why I don't expect it to happen is even with vendors that I have over 20 yrs experience ordering from, have never done that.


I was just going over the analogy that was presented.



Have fun when you get the customer that comes from the designer that says that there should be no reason why the production person is unable to do what they need to do with the file "as is", even though they may not be aware of all of what the customer is going to be doing with that file, let alone know what is needed to know for quality production. That to me, takes incompetence to a whole new level.
I'm just crotchety and expect people to read my mind or at least care enough to know their repeat cistomers enough to catch mistakes. Not for nothing, many of our customers expect us to read their minds too.
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
The other day I was working on a sponsor banner for a fund-raising event. I had to re-create a couple of "logos" from poor quality JPEG sources. One of them was for a local construction company. I had their low-res logo locked down on one layer and was building clean vector shapes on top of it. But my "CONSTRUCTION" lettering was not lining up with their artwork. And then I saw it. In their logo the word "construction" was spelled "CONSTRUCTON." I couldn't believe it. Then I decided to visit their web site. It was misspelled there too! I about died laughing. The mistake is still there. One part of their main page has the logo repeated 4 times across the page listing their company strengths under each logo. I'm glad they didn't say anything about "attention to detail."
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
Proofing is tuff, especially when the deadlines are tight and there is too much to get done. We do a bi-monthly package for a chain of fuel station convenience stores. We do window posters, cash mats, cooler cards, shelf wobblers, free-standing bulk signs, etc. With everyone rushing to get us the artwork - us rushing to get it printed and then installed, proofing sometimes falls off the rails. We try to catch things but most of the time I am only looking at the size, material, quantity, and destination store. It is not often that I even know what is in the layout (kind of like POTUS) - just that it made it to the stores on time.
 

Stacey K

I like making signs
I do banners for the high school. Some lady types each kids name and sport on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. They hand the paper to the kid and ask them if their name is spelled correctly, take a of pic them holding it up then take about 4-5 posed photos. Every year there are a few kids who don't see their own name is wrong! And we end up reprinting the banner!
 

Stacey K

I like making signs
I have learned it's easier to proof customer supplied art than reprint but it depends what it is. I had some signs last week that had hundreds of words on them. I don't have time to proof all that.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Sorry, but Reading is named after the largest town in england. It's origin goes back centuries and was originally saxon and that's how they pronounce it. It stuck.
 

rossmosh

New Member
You're not describing incompetence. People make mistakes. That's life. That's why so many people have stories about typos on signs/posters/brochures. It's always been part of the industry.
 

gnubler

Active Member
But he's not tired of it?
Depends. Why would he be with all the new fashion colors for men? They even have husky sizes for larger individuals.

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