inside the office

You’d think, perhaps, by now, that certain things would no longer shock me and yet daily I stumble across websites that make me want to cry. Or fix it. Or just leave. If any of these websites was one that I had navigated to hoping to purchase something, they definitely just lost a sale.
And so began my journey last evening. I ventured to the site for the local chapter of an International business group. Though the site lacked oomph. It looked user friendly and not terribly laid out. Then I started clicking on links. Calendar – dead link. Events – last updated with 2006 events. Hmm. Contact – lists 2006 board names and contact info. Well, the national group wouldn’t still have it listed if the group was defunct, plus someone was paying for their hosting and domain reg, right? So I send an email to their Communications director. Email is returned because address could not be reached. Yeah, this is really not looking good. I looked up the whois info for the domain, and looked up the websites for the admin and technical contact. Admin site is not too bad, but not great, either. Tech contact’s site, however? This person should turn in her mouse and keyboard right now. Clunky, with bad color combinations, tables everywhere, and tiny tiny text. For kicks, I looked at her portfolio page, and checked out some of her “happy clients”. I’ve now got a new group to market my services to.
Just because you enjoy doing something doesn’t mean you’re good at it. I like to garden, and I love to sing, But there’s a reason you haven’t seen me on Martha Stewart or American Idol. Also, just because they make software that professionals use to create something, it doesn’t mean that you become a professional by using it as well. And seriously, if you can’t create pages without tables and with valid code, do not(!!!) offer web design services. Sheesh.

I wonder sometimes where people’s manners have gone, because there are many times when they are evidently not present in a lot of people. For instance – I am in charge of scheduling for a workshop to be held next week. Dates were sent out months ago to the speaker volunteers, as well as a reminder email about three weeks ago. Yesterday I got an email from one of the speakers saying that she doesn’t think she can make it. No apologies, not a terribly valid explanation either. I have been in her situation before, and have done everything possible to make sure that I can keep the commitment that I made, especially if it’s at the 11th hour.
So, I implore you all that, if you make a commitment, stick to it. Or at the very least, try to make acceptable alternative arrangements. Trust me, the other volunteers of the world will thank you for it.