What do you do in this (stupid) work situation

[pete6032]

So for the past 6 months I've been working with my colleagues to generate some content for a website. The content has been vetted by our exec director and our communications team. Today we sent it to our communications/web manager to post online. She posted the content and we reviewed the site and found some changes that needed to be made to the text content (about 8 typos spread over 4 articles we had written). I emailed our communications/website person and asked her to make these changes and she emails me back saying "I was under the assumption that the documents you sent me were final documents. I can't make all these changes, please make sure moving forward the content you send me is in final form."

Now, these changes are minor. We're talking things like capitalizing a word, or putting a space here or hyphen there. I know we use a WYSIWYG web editor program at work and it would take about 10 minutes to make these changes to the web content. Instead our web editor seems to think she "can't make these changes" because she was expecting the documents she received to be "final" form. Granted, we should have caught these typos before posting the content, but what really gets me is that we had the content vetted by about 8 different people (including this woman) and no one caught the errors until we posted the content online.

I think she should just fix them, it would be a negligible amount of time. She's already spent more time emailing me about why she can't fix the errors than she would have if she spent that time just fixing them. Am I being unreasonable here? How should I approach the situation? I didn't respond to her email about her not being able to fix the typos yet. She just emailed me right before the end of the day and left right after sending the email.

 

[nace186]

I would bring higher up into the email chain. This sounds like a simple changes that literally take less than 5 minutes to do it.

Then I would complain to her manager that she's not fit to do her job. But that's just me.

 

[pete6032]

I would bring higher up into the email chain. This sounds like a simple changes that literally take less than 5 minutes to do it.

Then I would complain to her manager that she's not fit to do her job. But that's just me.

For the record I have limited past interactions with this woman so I don't know if this is common or coming out of left field from her.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

She's an internal customer and probably feels put upon or sidestepped. Apologize for stepping on her toes and ask for her help in making the website as professional as you know her capable of. A little sunshine and flattery does wonders. Bring her some coffee/tea/chocolate. Don't waste energy on negatives waves, Moriarty.

 

[notposting]

Agree, kick up the food chain. Make it her friggin problem. Don't you all work for the same company?

PS where is the website so we can laugh at the typos?

 

[notposting]

She's an internal customer and probably feels put upon or sidestepped. Apologize for stepping on her toes and ask for her help in making the website as professional as you know her capable of. A little sunshine and flattery does wonders. Bring her some coffee/tea/chocolate. Don't waste energy on negatives waves, Moriarty.

You're a nice guy. I guess the OP could try it this way too.

But if it doesn't work out, scorched earth is totally acceptable. :sneaky:

 

[sao123]

Agree, kick up the food chain. Make it her friggin problem. Don't you all work for the same company?

PS where is the website so we can laugh at the typos?

Just give us the address of the site... well all go to it and click the email webmaster link and complain about how horrible the site is because the webmaster cant spell or use proper capitalization.

 

[Thebobo]

Punch her in the face.

 

[lxskllr]

Fix it yourself, and see what you can do about getting her transferred to Walmart, where her skills are more appropriate for the work environment.

Edit:
On a more practical and efficient note, reply "Alright..." to her email. That simple word and ellipses conveys paragraphs, and says "You're a worthless piece of shit, and are barely fit for autonomous breathing". Then go fix the site yourself with fuckin' Notepad.

 

[kranky]

The one time I had a similar problem (it was engineering drawings, not web pages), I replied with something like "We all wish we had caught the errors before it was final but it didn't work out that way. Is there a good time for you to show me how to make the corrections?" And I copied my boss.

Looking back, that was a bit too snarky. But the email I got back (and with a copy to my boss) simply said all the changes have been made.

 

[mistercrabby]

Don't get stuck on the minor principle of getting other people to do their jobs, especially when you can do and then take credit for it. Don't be sarcastic or unprofessional. Tell your boss verbally what you're going to do and why, then do it and move on. In the future, assume that this person is hard to work with and CYA.

 

[Brainonska511]

Can you fix it yourself? If so, do it and then send her an e-mail back in the same e-mail chain, while copying your boss, that you fixed the few problems that slipped through so she no longer has to worry about it.

 

[rudeguy]

Do people really lack social skills this badly? A very minor, simple problem and you can't figure out how to deal with it? This isn't rocket science, its basic human interaction. Man...this country is screwed.

The first step is to talk to the person who can fix it. I know...I know...talking to people is such a burden. I mean face to face talking, not via keyboard. If you can't talk face to face, I heard about a new invention called a telephone. Apparently you can talk to people hundreds of thousands of miles away on them.

The second step is to take ownership of the problem. If you want to be the one who fixes the problem, you have to own the problem. Its not her fault the typos were made, its not the 8 other people's fault, its your fault. A simple line like, "I'm really sorry I missed that and I hate to add more work to your load, but can you please help me out on this one? I will owe you big!" will do wonders.

If that does not work, go to *your* boss and ask how you can help fix the problem. Don't complain about 8 people missing this, about the woman not wanting to fix it...again, you own this problem. Ask your boss what you can do.

If all that fails, oh well. You gave it your best shot. In the end its only a couple typos and nothing too major.



I seriously worry about the state of society where people are not capable of basic human interaction.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I would explain to her that 8 people, including HER, reviewed the documents and didn't find these errors beforehand, and that she needs to take a few minutes to fix them. If she refuses, have your manager talk to her manager, explain the situation (noting she also reviewed the document), and let her manager handle it.

 

[Markbnj]

I mean, she could be nice and just make the changes. It's not completely out of the realm of responsibilities of an "editor," after all. On the other hand, you guys could have done a better job of proofreading, and when you found the errors you could simply have fixed them and sent new copy with an apology (which is what I do when I find a flaw in my work). Bottom line: still glad I don't work for a corporation full of idiots.

 

[manimal]

Punch her in the face.

I prefer the new twat punt from GOT

 

[cbrunny]

Sounds like she works in a union.

 

[slag]

The real question is, Why did you submit something to be published before proof reading it and making sure it is correct?

 

[dank69]

You could always set fire to the building.

 

[Schfifty Five]

After she replied saying she can't make those changes, did you respond back to her any?

If not, then I'd send her a friendly follow up email apologizing about it not being in final form (even if you don't mean the apology) and let her know these changes would only take 5 minutes. If she still won't budge after that email, bring in the higher ups.

 

[dabuddha]

Me personally, I'd send a reply back asking for access to the webserver so you can fix any typos/bugs yourself since it seems difficult/time consuming for her. This way you're offering a solution and a slap.

 

[purbeast0]

i work with stupid people like the lady you are describing. i wouldn't sweat it.

 

[purbeast0]

Do people really lack social skills this badly? A very minor, simple problem and you can't figure out how to deal with it? This isn't rocket science, its basic human interaction. Man...this country is screwed.

The first step is to talk to the person who can fix it. I know...I know...talking to people is such a burden. I mean face to face talking, not via keyboard. If you can't talk face to face, I heard about a new invention called a telephone. Apparently you can talk to people hundreds of thousands of miles away on them.

The second step is to take ownership of the problem. If you want to be the one who fixes the problem, you have to own the problem. Its not her fault the typos were made, its not the 8 other people's fault, its your fault. A simple line like, "I'm really sorry I missed that and I hate to add more work to your load, but can you please help me out on this one? I will owe you big!" will do wonders.

If that does not work, go to *your* boss and ask how you can help fix the problem. Don't complain about 8 people missing this, about the woman not wanting to fix it...again, you own this problem. Ask your boss what you can do.

If all that fails, oh well. You gave it your best shot. In the end its only a couple typos and nothing too major.



I seriously worry about the state of society where people are not capable of basic human interaction.

i call bullshit on the bolded/underlined.

 

[Jeffg010]

I'm going to be on her side. So if she starts to fix all errors what going to stop people who create the docs in the first place from making more errors? If they know the web master will fix it anyways why should they put any effort in getting right the first time. All it does is create lazy people to push it down the line. 8 freaken people to review a 4 page doc what joke. IT TAKES 8 PEOPLE TO REVIEW a 4 page doc already the laziness has started.

 

[DrPizza]

She's an internal customer and probably feels put upon or sidestepped. Apologize for stepping on her toes and ask for her help in making the website as professional as you know her capable of. A little sunshine and flattery does wonders. Bring her some coffee/tea/chocolate. Don't waste energy on negatives waves, Moriarty.

This.