With the kids heading back to school tomorrow (or today, I should say), all the focus is on taking precautions against the H1N1 virus aka the swine flu.
And might I say that this seems to be an opportune time to reflect on one of the blessings of prepress life?
Let me explain: If you are a prepress sys admin, or prepress operator, take a moment to look around your surroundings. How many people actually work in the same room that you work? One? Two? Are you near large pieces of equipment that requires high roofs and plenty of ventilation?
Having worked in the prepress area of more than one printer, I can honestly say that my surroundings were one of the perks of the job. Now you may think that I'm crazy, but let me explain.
A number of years ago, when I was working as independent contractor, selling myself as a project manager or business analyst, I went to an interview in downtown Vancouver for a 3 month gig. They needed somebody to help coordinator a project that had gone off the rails a bit: edit a few Gantt charts, hold some hands, take the blame if things got really screwed up: The usual contractor stuff.
So I get to fourth or fifth floor of the building and walk into a large room and right away two words pop into my head: School cafeteria.
I'm not exaggerating one tiny little bit. Do you remember those long tables in school where you sat with your buddies in Grade nine and ate sandwiches? This was worse. The room was packed with cafeteria tables. Sitting at each and every one of those cafeteria type tables were 6 people, all with laptops and Ethernet cables running to each hub that was placed on every table.
Now imagine one person with swine flu working in that room. I mean no wonder the project was behind schedule, I'm sure that previous winter there was probably a record amount of people who had gotten sick. Come to think of it, what would you do if you had to work there and needed to fart? Jeepers, the more I think about it, the more I think that place was inhumane. It was funny to hear your buddy fart at lunchtime back in high school, notso funny when you're working hard-core on an Excel spreadsheet and everybody is over the age of thirty
By the way, I didn't get the gig. Can't say I was that disappointed.
So anyways, that's why it's good to work in prepress when the flu season is in full season. For myself personally, the years when I managed to swing a sys admin gig, I usually had winters with very mild colds or none at all. But I still remember the two winters I worked downtown in an office sharing a large room with about 6 other people. Killer sore throats and lots of misery. It's not only pigs and chickens that are locked up and kept in pens for an indecent amount of time.
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