There are days...

[selenay]

I enjoy looking after the website that I run for the Quakers. I'm proud of the work I do on it, I earn a little bit of extra cash in my English bank account and it keeps my skills in practise.

The thing that I do not enjoy is receiving urgent "please put this up!" notices about events happening tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Quite aside from the time difference, there is the issue that very few people will see the notice on the website in the few hours that it is up before the event and actually have time to rearrange their schedules if they wanted to go. Also, it is inconsiderate. I've just been out for the evening. It was something that I planned to do for days. Spending half an hour updating the website wasn't in my plan for this evening and I'm now doing it when I'm tired and cranky.

What would have been much more considerate is to send me the stuff a week or more ago with a note to say "when you're ready, but we'd love it within the next couple of days". Then if I was busy that evening nothing would be lost but I'd definitely make the time to ensure it went up as soon as it could.

This last minute stuff? Sucks. It's stupid. I make the time to do it because it actually can't wait (the lecture is tomorrow evening) but the next time this happens I'm not doing it. She's already had a couple of letters explaining why it's not good to do it. I know that by doing it ASAP I'm letting her get away with it and she assumes that I always monitor and jump on stuff immediately. So next time, I'll be unavoidably unable to do it that evening.

Actually I won't, because I can't. But she's definitely getting a more strongly worded letter pointing out that I cannot always be guaranteed to be available to do this work at the drop of a hat. She has to stop making these assumptions.

And thus my quiet time with Holby City and some knitting after an evening out is destroyed because it is now much too late to be considering starting to watch everything. I think that I'll go to bed with my book and try to de-stress a little.

Comments

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Here's a better idea.

For anything given to you with a one week window, it's X amount.

A 2 day window is X + Y.

One of these OMGITSGOTTOHAPPENYESTERDAY is X + Y + Z.

Keep doing it for them, but make them pay through the nose. You'll find those kinds of requests fall way off and when they *do* happen, it'll be worth your while.

[selenay]

If they weren't a charity then I'd do that, but I'd feel guilty about charging them through the nose when I know they can't afford it :-(

The chirpy email that I just received from the woman indicates that she still hasn't got the message, though, about this not being on *sigh*

[tejas.livejournal.com]

They never will until you make them pay for it.

[selenay]

My other thought is to 'not see' one of these emails for a day, so that the event has happened before I get to it. I can't see it making much difference because the info goes up on the site too late for anyone to reasonably be expected to react to it and my contact might finally get the message!

We'll see. I might just blow a gasket the next time I get one of her emails like this and do something about it :-)

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Not seeing them might help some.

[historyterry.livejournal.com]

That really is irresponsible of her. Surely she must have known about this for weeks. Chances are, someone's been pestering her to ask you for a while, and she finally bowed to that pressure just to get them off her back. Then, of course, if it doesn't appear, you're the one to blame.

Having just spied on Tejas' comment, can I suggest the following, given that the Quakers are well aware of the time difference?

Rate for any day of the week, 09:00-18:00 (Canadian time), standard rate.
Rate for any day of the week, 18:00-22:00, time and a half.
Rate for any day of the week, 22:00-09:00, triple rate.

Or something like that.

If you are only given a day's notice, this would, more often than not incur the higher rate.

I somehow suspect you won't do this, but then I probably wouldn't either. You'll remember that my boss has been known to do pretty much the same thing. Maybe you just need to threaten them a little. :-(

[selenay]

If they were a big business making loads of money then I'd totally do this. But they're not, they're a charity, and my conscience won't let me. Drat it.

The next time one of these comes in it's time to remind her that this isn't on, I think. Her chirpy email to me this morning indicates that she really hasn't got it yet and needs it spelled out in small words.

[catseatsocks.livejournal.com]

Perhaps have a policy of requiring x amount of days or hours before an event so you can post it, and if she knows that and still sends things last minute, then TS! (that's "tough shit" :P)

[selenay]

We had a policy like that. She just keeps thinking that she can 'slip things in'. I'm suspecting that a lot of the time she sits on the information and then realises at the last minute that it needs to go out and she's doing this to save face. After all, by taking on the liasing with me she was supposed to be getting the information out in a more timely manner!

Next time, I'll remind her that the people using the site need the information with more than a few hours notice if she expects anyone to actually go to these events as a result of seeing them there. Maybe that will shake her up.

And maybe I'll accidentally 'not see' an email on time because I shouldn't be expected to be checking my emails multiple times every day :-)

[paranoidangel]

I think you will have to tell her in future that you're not doing it. It's the only way she's going to learn. I see it all the time at work - if you do something quickly for someone they assume you can do it that quickly all the time.

[selenay]

You've definitely hit on why this is happening! I'm thinking that the next time this happens, I'll conveniently 'not see' the email until the following day and then have to write an apologetic email to her. I'll feel crappy for doing it, but I can't fine them for her idiocy and that might actually remind her that I have a life and may not check my emails every day.

At least everyone is reassuring me that I'm not selfish and insane for feeling that this is wrong *sigh*

[paranoidangel]

That sounds like a good plan to me. And you're definitely not selfish and insane and it is definitely wrong. The chances of anyone reading the website in time to see it is small anyway - she probably needs to give you at least a month's notice.