Well, that’s done.

After six plus weeks of insanity, the project from hell while not done is at a point where I can see my way out of the forest. The client, a cosmetics company, decided that product currently produced but not yet shipped to market was a significant enough investment that they couldn’t just outright trash product even though said items did not meet regulatory guidelines about to go into effect in a few months.

So the decision was made to place decals that would comply with regulations on all already made product. Thing is, while a lot of projects for the client have a timeline that is months out? This project needed to be completed in a matter of weeks.

Eight before the holidays I got a massive dump of materials into my lap with the thought that I would ‘get started’ on a the project which was already late. Of course, the handoff was a mess and much of the data useless because it was simply WRONG and there being no one around to answer questions (because everyone on the client side conveniently took off for the holidays) it meant that when everyone came back at the beginning of the year we were still at the same place we were before without any progress at all.

It’s at this moment you could cue the freak out on the client side as they realize that it’s more likely than not they won’t meet deadlines and there are people high up in the food chain with eyes on this.

Mind you, stuff like this never ceases to amaze me… someone just not doing their job, leaving things to the last minute, dumping it off on someone else with the expectation that the slack due to their laziness or failure to heed a timeline. It really is astounding but then again, they’re the client so really it’s not like you can complain. WE WANT THEIR BUSINESS!

Mind you, I didn’t get a raise when they reupped my contract, I don’t get any overtime, there are no bonuses but someone… yet again, I get another project dumped into my lap which is a disaster in the making. I’m beginning to see a pattern here.

I’m glad to have work but at the same time, my time is valuable since it’s a dwindling resource. I’ve lived this thing now since the New Year meaning almost every waking moment has been playing a game og catch up since it is a huge pile of work that has been dumped on me. I’m doing more in six weeks than two or three people in my role manage in a year.

I’ve worked just about every weekend so it’s been something along the lines of 50 nonstop days of work.

At one point recently, the client said, ‘Oh, I see you got a lot done over the weekend! I guess because it was cold you didn’t have anything else to do.’

Honestly, that went over with me like a turd.

I responded thusly, ‘Actually, I have plenty to do with my free time which is very valuable but because the handoff on this project was so bad I am having to kill myself to try and keep us on track.’

No, working when I could be doing something else especially when I don’t get paid by the hour is NOT FUN! It’s my own form of stupidity that I feel responsible for things and that I don’t want to fail but do a good job. There are people who would just do what is required and put in the minimal hours and be done with it and if things missed deadline then that wouldn’t be their problem.

The only problem I have with all of it is that I often feel unappreciated in the context of how I’ve been jerked around with being on contract and not regular and all of that.

This weekend though, I finished all the setup and markup of everything. Now, from this point forward all I have to do is review, markup work, approve and ship. It’s still quite a bit of work to do but no one now is waiting on anything from me at all. I’m not a choke point so when I get asked I can point people elsewhere.

Again, there is still a ton to do! I just won’t be working 15 hour days or on the weekends anymore and my life can return to some semblance of normalcy. The good part is that it looks like that’s happening just as the cold snap is ending and for that I’m especially glad!