Set said:
As for stat blocks, John Cooper needs to be given every book with stat blocks before they go to the printer, a wad of cash and a red pen.
Amen brother!
I've beaten that drum before. How WotC can't see that hiring Mr. Cooper for $100K or so a year would make their, and our, lives so much easier is beyond me. I'm in the camp of wanting professional products done professionally. And that means error free.
I've been in the food and hospitality business for over a decade. I can't tell you how many times I've had to return a dish because it was done incorrectly. Why? Because that's the professional thing to do. I can't say to my patron (consumer), sorry dude, it's to much effort to make the food like you ordered it, with out errors. But if the kitchen sends out the plate exactly as ordered the patron doesn't have the right to complain. I have brought you exactly what you asked for. This is how we do this particular dish and if you didn't take the time to read the menu or ask questions I can't be blamed for you not liking what you've ordered.
And then I
IMMEDIATELY ask,"What else can I get for you instead?"
That's how to be professional. Do the job right, error free, the first time. And if the consumer is still unhappy, find out what it takes to make them happy, and then do it. No excuses.
I really hated what I've come to call the "Not My Job Attitude." I first coined the term in the Navy. Once when I went to the Post Office on board ship to buy a money order to make my car payment. The PC2 that ran our post office had one of the easist jobs on board the ship. We had just finished with an UNREP (underway replenishment) that he had just finshed SUPERVISING. A bunch of deck apes did all the real work. He was to tired from the evolution and wasn't going to open the post office that day. He refused to sell me a money order. I was standing right in front of the post office, which is the size of a large broom closet, with the door open. The money oreder machine was right FRICKING there!
Oy vei!
I worked on the ORTS (operational readiness test system) for the AEGIS weapon system. I sat at Missle Systems Supervisor in Combat Sytems. It was my job to push the button (it's not really a button, it's a beam of light) that shot down the enemy air craft to protect the aircraft carrier and the rest of the carrier group. (As a complete aside, I was taught my job by the guy sitting MSS when the USS Vincenes shot down that Iranian Airbus and the story we got at home was not the real one. In a nut shell, the Vinnie had been at GQ (general quarters) for 24 hours at the point. They were involved in a running gun battle with two Iranian boghammers <that the USA sold to the Shah btw> armed with twin fifties that the US had modified to hold a couple of Harpoon cannisters. The Vinnie had taken fire from the .50 cal. Wait... this isn't a nutshell. If you want to know the rest you can email me.) ****Heavy sigh***
To get back to my original point. Needless to say, I could not just choose not to do my job. At the time, when I was 15 years younger, I fumed. I was furious. And my ulcer got worse. I had to choke down a lot of anger in the Navy. It was no where as professional an organization as I was led to believe.
I'm no longer angered by poor editing and sloppy lay out. I am dissapointed. I am dissapointed at the state of affairs this country has come to that the kind work, put out by any company that considers itself professional, can be so god awful. I feel cheated by any company that does business this way. And when I am dissapointed and feel cheated, I'm not going to give that comapny any more of my patronage. An old term. Look it up. We are the patrons of the RPG industry. And our benefactee is taking advantage of our good will.
We gamers are a very accepting people. We accept that some people have limitations, are different, don't always get it right. But why do we accept the same standards from a CORPORATION? All these companies are incorporated in some form or another. They are not our buddies that sit at the table and go off on fantastic journies, tell amazing stories and create strong bonds of friendship with. They are an economic entity that should give you the value of your hard earned dollar.
I ask you, how many of you could get away with putting out the kind of product/work preformance that we are discussing? Maybe it's because I always have a job where not doing that job directly affects another person. I'm in nursing school now. Go figure.
I guess I'm just trying to say we, the patron, should expect nothing but the highest standard from those we give our patronage.
Sorry I got a little worked up, but to answer the OP question. No, editing/proofreading errors don't drive me mad. They dissapoint me.
Respectfully,
Edward Kopp
