Been a while. Sorry about that, but things reached a head with the gaming gig.
To be honest, this really was just shy of my dream job. I got to write intricate settings, undermine cliches, set up mysteries, etc., and get paid for it. It was an incredible ego boost to go to conventions and have people swarm around, asking me questions.
Unfortunately, I also had to deal with bosses who didn't particularly place a high priority on communication or keeping promises. Over the course of the last few months, they went back on their promise to make sure that I had a say in art (as a result, we've got the crappiest art ever coming down the line) with a blog from the presiding boss proudly stating that this was now totally his call, and had my immediate boss ignore repeated questions that prevented me from doing new stories, while asking inane questions that'd been answered several times over.
I'm getting a new day job soon (well, internships that'll hopefully lead there). I've still got two classes (98% GPA) left in my training. I've got a certification exam coming up. My bosses knew all of this, and still acted like a 24 hour deadline with massively stupid and/or problematic art was no big deal, just as they had for the previous five years' worth of my work. Five years I'd desperately tried to tell them that I couldn't do the job they'd given me if they kept making key decisions without my knowledge or input.
Then the head of the company e-mails me, says he takes responsibility, and that recent events don't excuse the poor communication on their part... so I sighed, sat down, and told him that none of this was new. The way they'd casually lie to me, or ignore me. The way they'd upend plots they knew I'd spent months or years working on, and then give me mere hours' notice to fix them. The way that 90% of the changes they made to my work, I only heard about after it was announced to the general public. This, despite the fact that almost everything I was complaining about, would be solved just by calling me up and talking to me for five minutes when these issues arose.
I still want this job back. No, the stress isn't worth it, and I definitely won't have time for it unless they utterly revamped their priorities. OTOH, this is what I've wanted to do for as far back as I can remember. This was almost everything to me, and because my bosses wouldn't take five minutes out of their lives every month or so, it's virtually all wasted effort and frustration.
I'm hoping the books coming out are well-received. I'm hoping I get job offers because of it. Much as I think I'll be able to do the pharmacy tech job (and hopefully get on from there), it won't be the same as this.
Damn, does it suck to feel this depressed over a job that was sucking that hard.
To be honest, this really was just shy of my dream job. I got to write intricate settings, undermine cliches, set up mysteries, etc., and get paid for it. It was an incredible ego boost to go to conventions and have people swarm around, asking me questions.
Unfortunately, I also had to deal with bosses who didn't particularly place a high priority on communication or keeping promises. Over the course of the last few months, they went back on their promise to make sure that I had a say in art (as a result, we've got the crappiest art ever coming down the line) with a blog from the presiding boss proudly stating that this was now totally his call, and had my immediate boss ignore repeated questions that prevented me from doing new stories, while asking inane questions that'd been answered several times over.
I'm getting a new day job soon (well, internships that'll hopefully lead there). I've still got two classes (98% GPA) left in my training. I've got a certification exam coming up. My bosses knew all of this, and still acted like a 24 hour deadline with massively stupid and/or problematic art was no big deal, just as they had for the previous five years' worth of my work. Five years I'd desperately tried to tell them that I couldn't do the job they'd given me if they kept making key decisions without my knowledge or input.
Then the head of the company e-mails me, says he takes responsibility, and that recent events don't excuse the poor communication on their part... so I sighed, sat down, and told him that none of this was new. The way they'd casually lie to me, or ignore me. The way they'd upend plots they knew I'd spent months or years working on, and then give me mere hours' notice to fix them. The way that 90% of the changes they made to my work, I only heard about after it was announced to the general public. This, despite the fact that almost everything I was complaining about, would be solved just by calling me up and talking to me for five minutes when these issues arose.
I still want this job back. No, the stress isn't worth it, and I definitely won't have time for it unless they utterly revamped their priorities. OTOH, this is what I've wanted to do for as far back as I can remember. This was almost everything to me, and because my bosses wouldn't take five minutes out of their lives every month or so, it's virtually all wasted effort and frustration.
I'm hoping the books coming out are well-received. I'm hoping I get job offers because of it. Much as I think I'll be able to do the pharmacy tech job (and hopefully get on from there), it won't be the same as this.
Damn, does it suck to feel this depressed over a job that was sucking that hard.