I'm with you, Professor Jennings

As Faber College's renowned English instructor, Professor Dave Jennings, famously said to his class at the bell, "Now I'm waiting for reports from some of you. Listen, I'm not joking. This is my job!"

That's how I feel today. One of my coworkers and I didn't agree on a headline for a postcard. She wants me to replace it with a headline we have used elsewhere. I have no issue with changing my headline, I just don't want to do the same thing we've done before. It's an infinite universe -- I'm sure I can come up with something new and different. I'm not being a diva, I just believe that recycling that old headline is sloppy and lazy. And she wants what she wants.

When I left my office for less than 20 minutes to pick up a ham and Swiss sandwich, she took the postcard to my boss. Then, while I was on the phone checking on my sick mother, she left me her revision on my desk with the notation, "As I discussed with Mike ..."

My boss is a go-along-to-get-along kinda guy, way more concerned with the Big Picture than I am and a big fan of workplace harmony. So when I confronted him about this, he was very conciliatory -- telling me he didn't think her suggestion compromised the project in the consumers' mind. After all, they won't remember a simple postcard headline once they have read it. True, but while consumers won't remember the majority of what I write after they read it, clients do, and that's no excuse for sloppy, lazy creative. I'm also less than thrilled that a coworker did an end run around me.

He was sorry I was upset and then I began to feel I was over-reacting, and … OH, HELL! Yes, I take it seriously. Because listen, I'm not joking. This is my job!