Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Tearing up over tearsheets

Here at the Muppet Daily News, there is this wonderful little creature called a "tearsheet."
What it is, basically, is the page an advertiser's ad appears on, torn out of the paper, and mailed to them along with the invoice for that ad. It's like proof that the ad actually ran.

Advertisers that need tearsheets do so for several basic reasons:
1) They are out-of-area and don't receive our newspaper directly.

2) It is an advertising agency, and they need tearsheets (usually 2) as proof to their client that the ad ran and also for their files.

3) (the most common) Because someone in the ad dept. here at the Muppet Daily News, in their effort to look impressive, told their client "Hey, and I will get a copy of the ad mailed to you every single week."  That occurs primarily because the ad-muppets aren't the ones who have to tear up that many papers.

Anyway... back to Muppet happenings.

One of the few jobs that Waldorf has here is to pull tearsheets.
At least to most, it would be a small job.
To Waldorf, it is epic. And Waldorf still gets it wrong.

Now I'm not being tough on poor Waldorf ... but how she gets it wrong still boggles my mind.
Note: Waldorf gets the invoice.
On it is a post-it.
The post-it tells Waldorf, specifically, which newspaper(s) the ad is in.
In some cases, it tells Waldorf what page it is on.
Some of the ads that have to get pulled are in the same spot every single issue, every single week.
Their invoices still have to be labeled, or Waldorf won't know where to find the ads.
Also, on the invoices (to which the post-its are stuck), it says exactly what type, and what size, the ad is. Sometimes even what the ad says.
Simple?
Oh one would think so.
At least one who doesn't work with Waldorf would think so.

So this month's episode of "Fun with Tearsheets" went like this:

Some ads, if she wasn't sure, got skipped. Just skipped. Didn't ask me (I am a whole 8 feet away, at most). Just skipped them.

Some ads, if she wasn't sure, she guessed. And guessed badly, I might add.

When I asked about the wrong tearsheets, Waldorf said things like:
"Well, the ad was in the paper, so I thought that was it"
"I didn't know which one it was."
"Well how would I know what ad is for Broadley's?"
   -  note: The ad says "Broadley's" in it

Asked why Waldorf didn't just ask me which ad it was, or if one was the right ad, Waldorf's answer was:
"Well, I was busy."

Really? Waldorf hasn't been busy at work since about 1996. And that's a generous estimate.

So now I have a pouty Muppet, because I gave the invoices back to Waldorf, and am making her pull the RIGHT tearsheets.
Waldorf said she doesn't think she should have to pull the RIGHT tearsheets, because she already pulled tearsheets for those invoices.
The fact that they were the wrong tearsheets is apparently lost on Waldorf.

Sorry, my little Muppet, but this one, I'm not backing down from. Get tearing, or I'll go all Oscar-the-Grouch on you.

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