the legend is real

i had always heard that it's a nightmare to work with printers, and i had managed to avoid the experience until yesterday when i had to get film made. it all started out innocently enough. i had asked LS to tell me everything i needed to bring with me, and asked her to give me the answers to any and all questions that i might be asked and wouldn't know the answers to. she left a few things out, i suppose because she's so used to the process that they didn't occur to her. but i'm getting ahead of myself.

so i went downtown early and walked over to "the printing shop" with my CD in hand, i had packaged it with all it's fonts and images and written my name and phone number on everything several times and i had a little index card with their address, phone number and "right reading emulsion down", "150 line screen", "pantone 334c (green), pantone 484c (red), process black" written on it. i walked into the office and told the lady at the front desk that i had never done this before and i wanted to do it right and could she help me? she was very nice, but she didn't seem to really know much more than me.

she sort of helped me fill out the form and got all my credit card info. when i thought i had filled everything out correctly, i tried to tell her one more thing about a strange blank sheet that printed when i test printed separations. she hadn't a clue what i was talking about and said that she would get the printer for me to talk to. this was when things started to go downhill.

i started to explain the potential problem, and that i only needed my 2 pantone colors plus black printed and so forth. he asked if i knew what this was going to cost and i said yes and we went back and forth about that a few times and then he started getting huffy and puffy that i hadn't brought in any print outs of my file, nor had i provided him with a PDF for him to consult or ANYTHING, (this was the kind of thing i was hoping to get a heads up about from LS) he was huffing and puffing and i was starting to not like the tone he was taking (a rather condescending one). had he simply been helpful and friendly and asked me to bring it back with additional documentation i would have said SURE and happily left and returned with the necessary details. but he was in fact being an arrogant butthead, and i told him that i felt like he was being unnecessarily condescending to which he replied "well, you're a student right? you need to learn to accept criticism and blah blah huff puff burf burf...."

i could have taken the high road and remained calm and straightened out the problem, but instead my head started spinning around and my eyes were bugging out and flames were coming out of my ears and i informed him that while i was a student, i was not a child and did not appreciate being spoken to like one and that i would be happy to take my business elsewhere

and then i walked to school
crying
i think i might just be wound a little too tightly these days

the suck part is that i have been unable to find anywhere else in the entire philadelphia metro area or beyond that outputs film.....so i might just have to go back there with my tail between my legs

so i guess the moral of this story is:
there is no crying in graphic design