Working in a WP Center and Picaso Syndrome:
Yes, I am having some fun here but I want to make a very important point that can make you or break you in this industry. There are a lot of you and you will know who you are. You are a perfectionist.
You like everything perfect. In fact, you get anxiety if your document is not exactly down to the molecules like the master document you are working from. Going back in time...(Dream Sequence). I was working on my weekend shift as usual doing a 16 hour shift. I brought a very pleasant and competent temporary in to help me with work for the day. I gave this person a rather heavy mark-up and after two hours or so the attorney who was at the firm and waiting on a Saturday was calling me and asking where is the document? How close are we to finishing? Fair question no doubt?
I go over to the person working on the document and this person was lovingly doing each edit keystroke by keystroke and approaching the document like a masterpiece because as he said, he wanted it to match exactly as the hard copy. He was only about ¼ of the way through. First of all, it will never match because you are adding a ton of text from the editing process and secondly IT DOES NOT HAVE TO MATCH! Just do the edits! Get the work done in a timely manner! If you waste your entire shift on one document where you could have already gone through 3 other documents, they are not going to want you back.
You do your best. You do not try to make lines break at the exact same spot that they broke and wrapped around on the original. There is no need to do this. You are not in third grade in art class. They are calling you in to produce. If you do the perfection route and they can’t get you to do more than 1 or 2 documents in a 8-10 hour shift they are not calling you back. Remember, YOU HAVE A PROOFREADER THERE. Let the Proofreader catch the minor errors and little mistakes. Go through the documents at a good clip.
I am not saying to be sloppy but you are not there to take an inordinate amount of time to finish a job. You are also not there to be a perfectionist. Get it done, give to the proofreader and go get another job from the coordinator.
Remember as in this scenario, now the Coordinator has to try and make up an excuse to the attorney as to why the job is so far away from being done. That does not sit well with the Coordinator or the Attorney.. And, when it comes time to call in a temp don’t you think that your slow work is not going to be remembered by the Coordinator and more so if it caused a problem with an attorney?
Think about it. If you want to help gauge your time take off your watch and place it in front of you. It will help you to keep track of how long you are taking. I used that method all the time. Unfortunately, Picaso is not valued in the center.
ON THE SUBJECT OF TIME: if the Coordinator should call out to you Joe, Jane what is your estimate of how much longer you will be before you are done with the job? Be honest if you are asked. If you are within 45 minutes of finishing then let them know. Don’t tell them 15 minutes because the Coordinator will tell the attorney 15 minutes and guess what? In 15 minutes the attorney is going calling again asking can he/she come down and pick up the job so just be honest. Use the watch routine to help pace yourself and finish in a timely manner.
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