Looking Back To When I Was Green

I am taking this class - Writing for Online Environments, for those who forgot - as a way to update my Communications degree. I am enjoying it a lot, but sometimes I forget that my classmates are still learning...and that they haven't experienced life in an advertising agency or in the sales office of a TV station. I get aggravated over missed deadlines, and I supppose I always will, but it is more than that.

I forget that my classmates have probably not yet taken classes in Research Methods...that the extent of their writing experience ends with Writing 101, the universal college writing requirement...and that they have yet to learn how to balance their time. My boss tells me all the time that it is very easy for students to waste time without even realizing it, and then complain that they just can't fit everything they need to complete into their schedules. (As a Tutor, part of my job is to assist students in time management).

Sometimes, I forget what it is like to be young and "green". Kermit the Frog was right - it ain't easy being green - and although I can't see myself being more accomodating of missed deadlines, I can control my response to the situation.

That Was My Last Nerve, So Please Stop Getting On It!!!!

I think I have finally discovered what my "pet peeve" is! There are a lot of things that really p!ss me off - people who lick their fingers before turning the pages of a newspaper; bad drivers; and poor manners among them - but my annoyance with that stuff is usually quite fleeting. This group project and peer review forum on which I have been working has led me to discover an annoyance that has reached levels I have never before known; in fact, I did not know I could be so p!ssed and still manage to not to (literally) tear someone a "new one". What is this pet peeve of which I speak? Ignorance for deadlines, especially among Communications majors.

Having spent the first several years of my career working in media advertising, I learned the hard way that a deadline is just that - a deadline. A drop-dead date after which material cannot and will not be accepted for editing or publication. I have seen salespeople whine and cry and beg for understanding, suffering complete breakdowns, because they missed a deadline and their client's advertisments were not to air (and their commissions were not to be in their paychecks).

For this Internet re-design project, Peer Reviews were due this past Thursday, by Midnight. Only ONE person responded and posted on time. One person out of THREE! The remaining two responded today - Sunday. The project is due tomorrow!! If they think I am even going to consider any more changes at 9:20 PM they are high on something! I seriously fear for their future careers, because unless they pull their heads out of their asses and learn the meaning of "deadline" they are not going to succeed in this field!

RANT OVER!!!