After 20-some years in magazine publishing and eight years at my current job, I’ll be starting a position as a photo archiver at a stock-photo house on Sept. 19th. Less money, but less stress—and, hell, going through old photos is what I do for fun!
The office isn’t far from a library, thank goodness, but it’s a lousy area for window-shopping (very bleak and industrial), and I’ll have to take a subway to have my regular lunches at the Algonquin with friends. And, I’ll really be dialing down: not only won’t I have the constant stress, but I won’t have Internet or e-mail access at work, or even, probably, a phone. No goofing off on the SDMB for Baby—I’ll only be able to check the Internet and my e-mail once, when I get home after work.
So after the 19th, I guess a once-a-night check-in is all I’ll be able to do. I could spend most of my weekends here, though I have to get my next book to the publisher’s by spring and should be working on that . . .
Hey, Eve, I enjoy having you around whenever you can manage it. I know you don’t owe me anything but please, from time to time, drop by and let us know what’s what. Oh, and don’t stop being a smart-ass, too!
That’s great news about the job, Eve. I’ve been thinking of you and wondering if your career-change plans have been working out. As stated above, any posts at any time from you are welcome. Just don’t forget about us, okay?
On one hand, we’ll miss the hilarious descriptions of your psycho soon-to-be-ex-co-workers. On the other hand, who knows what eccentric characters are lurking at the stock photo house and in the new district?
Cool, we’ll miss you, yadda, yadda, yadda. You already know that, dear! I need more info on the job. What kind of people or companies use this service? People like YOU, possibly? Writers that need accompanying photos and that sort of thing? Film students?
What EXACTLY are you going to be doing? Finding the photos FOR their archives? Pulling them up for people who ask for them? Filling in holes in their collection? Any writing involved?
It sounds awesome, even if you are taking a hit financially. Comes a time when the peace of mind is worth more than the money. Lucky you.
Congratulations, Dear One. I’ve always enjoyed your stories and have been saddened about the crap you’ve had to take at your job lately (or on the Board). This does sound like a wonderful alternative, in spite of the few downsides. Best wishes and I look forward to reading more of your exploits in the future.
I’ll find out more tomorrow, when I meet with them in the morning—from what they tell me, I’ll be culling good, usable photos from their archives and digitizing them, also cross-indexing them in their “virtual” archives, and labeling them. It’s just one project, then they’ll put me on another, and another, and eventually train me in Photoshopping and getting the photos to the customers.
Less money, less benefits, less vacation—no goofing-off time. But when you change careers in middle age, you gotta expect that. And I hope I’ll enjoy the work enough that I won’t miss the goofing-off time. Plus, regular hours, which you never get in publoshing!
The last straw here at the magazine was when the editors decided—in the middle of shipping the issue—to start removing hyphens from all the articles, because “they looked weird.” I swear I am not making this up.
Yeah, that was my first thought as well. I’m going to miss the angry, sarcastic, full of piss and vinegar posts. What are you going to do to fuel your rage Eve, colorize the black and whites?
