Throwback Thursday, Christmas

For "Christmas in July", a little #tbt action:

In going through my old papers, I came upon this piece I did probably from the early 90's.

Used my Ruling Writer. So much I dislike about it:  the C, the h, and where the t intersects at the bottom. (cringe!)

I also have a little story to share about this piece:

When I was in college, trying to get a graphic design job, I worked for a local publishing company (Meredith Corp. -- published a lot of magazine nationally, such as BH&G).

Yes, it was "impressive" to work there, however, my job was not only less than part-time, but on-call. AND it was grunt work: scanning photos, copy/paste pre-typed info, and placed the pics into ready-made templates. I worked in the real estate division, at night. No designing or fun art work at all.

That was fine...the job was ok, but I was excited to have my "foot-in-the-door", as back then I was a go-getter; Very ambitious.

I was using this job for my internship at school, and had to have my boss fill out paperwork for it. So, I wasn't even a regular employee, let alone aspiring to stay in that position (and my boss knew -- or should have known -- this). Then, I had heard about another "internship"/ opening (or something) in one of the magazines, and had a bit of an interview. I didn't expect to get hired on, but rather, was trying to network. It was very casual, and when I showed the guy my portfolio, he was very impressed with this piece. I was a bit shocked, but proud.

I cannot fully remember the whole conversation (as it was over 30 years ago!) but something was said about using this piece for the magazine (it was a Cmas issue). I recall saying that my boss wouldn't "allow" it or something (which was confusing, as I explained things above), and the guy was irritated with her. He rolled his eyes, and said something like, "Ugh, she's such a stickler..." and then said, "hey, I won't use this, I promise, but can I just scan it in and play with it?"

It was one of those "freeze" moments for me:  I didn't know what to say. In my head, I was thinking, "no", not b/c of my boss, but b/c it was my work, and how did I know he WOULDN'T use it?? But instead I meekly reluctantly said, "ok", and he scanned it in. 

I left there depleted, used. I was so irritated and frustrated, as not only did he take my work and do who-knows-what with it, but I could have gotten paid! And/Or added that to my resume and portfolio. All b/c my stupid "boss" was following some inter-office department "rules" (for a barely employee, barely an intern), instead of trying to help me.

Anyway, I wish I could know what ever happened with it. I didn't even know what magazine it was or I would have tried to see once it got printed.

Moral of story: Be more protective of your work! 😋

(However, how ironic that i now post most of my pieces publicly online!) 😆