Aye, there's the rub.

"This job would be great if it weren't for the fuckin' customers."
-- Randal, Clerks

I love my job, I really do. I love programming and problem-solving. It's very mentally rewarding for me. I love getting things done for clients and creating solutions for them that fulfill their needs.

What I don't like is last minute jobs dumped in my lap that require revisions all the way to the deadline. I'm not talking about bugfixes, either. Hell, I haven't even gotten to the programming part of this project yet. I'm still monkeying around with their HTML. "No, this copy that we gave you, well, we've changed our minds. Let's jumble all of the paragraphs around! It's not like we have to do it. That's what you're there for, right? I mean, it's not like we could actually run the copy past our client first to get it approved before you waste your time doing layout changes for us, right?"

This isn't programming or problem-solving. This is monkey work.

While I'm at it...

...next time this client wants to overhaul a decent chunk of their site, I'm going to politely request that they give me more than 2 days to get it done.

Part 5: Okay, this has gotten ridiculous.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have hit a new low in client-developer relations.

Given a 225 x 112 pixel graphic and the following instructions:

"Store - We will remove the demo button on the home page and put this graphic there instead - it will link to Risk Free url "

Looking at the demo button in question, I see that it's 115 x 40 pixels. It's also got a light blue background, while the graphic I've been provided with has a white background. I'm also up to my ears trying to get the backend of this project to work, so I do the sensible thing -- give it to our graphics guy Doug to handle. Within an hour, he's got 4 alternate versions of the graphic that fits the color scheme and size, so I send them off to our client rep.

I get a response back...

"Doug wasn't supposed to work up store buttons. XXXXX wants to use the same one that is on YYYYY. The one our art director did. Won't it work. I can't pay Doug for the work he did. That wasn't part of my instructions."

So, taking a bigger graphic, editing it to make it fit, and providing 4 versions for the client to choose from weren't in the instructions of "remove graphic and replace it"?

It boggles the mind.

Part 5.1: Math is hard...

Remember I said we provided 4 versions of this graphic?

Client rep gets back with me. "Oh, I see. Well, use number 2, 3, or 5."

Five? *blinks* Five? Where is this mystical 5th graphic that I didn't send you?

This could drive a man to drink, you know...