DelBloggolo: THE FIEFDOMS OF THE WORLD

Thursday, October 02, 2014

THE FIEFDOMS OF THE WORLD

The other morning TLW (The Little Woman) and I were chatting about how harmonious things are in her company, The Wanna-Be Bank & Truss Company and how one particular department feels they are above everyone else. It seems if a department sends them something and there is a small mistake, rather than fix it, this particular department sends it back and makes the offender redo everything including client involvement once more.

It reminds me of years ago, when I worked in the city for an advertising agency and one of our clients was McCall’s Magazine. What would happen is I would design a mailing package with the many components that went with it. There was an outer envelope, a computerized letter and two brochures along with some kind of ‘DEED’ or certificate that was computerized or personalized and a reply envelope.

After I designed it and got their approval, it went to our mechanical department where mechanicals were made, boards that were created with all the type and art work in position so that a printer could print the pieces I designed.

Once the mechanicals were done and I OK’d them, I would head off to the client, and in this case McCall’s Magazine to see the head of the printing department. Before I met him, I was told he was a bit of a tyrant, demanding certain things had to be done his way, and that he had a fiefdom he ran with dictatorial powers and rule. If you remember the Jerry Seinfeld ‘Soup Nazi’, that is what you dealt with.

On the way to meet this man, I had visions of someone about 6’7”, built like Atlas and roared like a lion. What I found was a short 5’4” skinny guy with a Napoleonic complex and a real need to be important. Of course we clashed and I was not standing for his guff, and when the air cleared we had reached an agreement. I would do it his way but he had to handle the interaction my way, civil and respectful of me or else we would have more problems. His boss was a wonderful guy who I got along with so I knew how far to push buttons.

The thing that troubled me was his minions were all afraid of him, and they were all young people, who jumped when he said jump.

Then as a teenager many years ago, I worked in a factory: shipping department. My job was to pick children’s play clothes from order sheets and give them to a packer who would fold them, put them in a box and put in a packing slip and the back sheet of the order that would then seal and paste on the labels and mark for shipment. Between the packer and me was a long railing that she pushed the box on to send over to me.

Hers was a world like a small fiefdom: she had to have a certain knife and pads that no one could touch, a certain spot on the line and certain other things that you dare not look at, or even contemplate borrowing. She was all of 4’ 6”, hunchbacked and mean, not to mention old. She was married once, but rumor has it he got on his horse and ran away in the middle of the first night! She owned an explosive temper and one day decided to get a license. When she came to work that first day driving, I though no one was actually driving the car, then looked again, and could see this little head peering over the steering wheel. I almost passed out from the laughter.