"Has anyone seen my sense of humor?" Vendor Relations Gone Awry

Always able to make jokes even during stress or giggle certainly at inappropriate times -- yes, that's typically me. If there is one thing you learn in business if you can't deliver, what is the point? I've said that phrase a few times this week. Thus, my sense of humor seems to have fled the office. A project in particular in which the client has an urgent deadline seems to be fraught with delays. It's Murphy's Law in action. I've never liked vendors who screw up and make excuses. So I like it even less when I have to make excuses about vendors who have not provided excellent service. Vendor selection and who I work with reflects back on me. So a vendor's excuse is not going to fly with me nor do I expect it to fly with my clients. I do like though something that my husband said, "You're only as good as your last book," which applies to the movie business, too.

I don't consider myself a control freak by any stretch of the imagination. I do try to live on the low end of stress. So it's even more important to me that my vendors do their jobs right. Babysitting vendors is no pleasure of mine. The fact that my current eBook conversion house just screwed up begs the question: will I give them another chance? They pretty much screwed up twice on the same project. What's the old adage, fool me once ... so in the middle of yet another transition to new operations I now must examine my conversion house's capabilities. They did very little to assure me of their desire to straighten it out.

So ... let me know if you find my sense of humor!