I had a panic attack last night.
I have been doing graphic design for a local gay nightclub called the Odyssey for the past 6 years or so. They have given me plenty of exposures and contributed a significant amount when I first build up my portfolio. Unfortunately, they are forced to move to a new location by the end of this month. With the help of some politicians, their lease got extended and they now have a bit of time to get the new place renovated before moving in. They decided to do a small ad in the local gay newspaper to thank the two politicians for their help. Naturally, I'm the one who got the job. I got a phone call with the names of the politicians and was told to double check the spellings of the names because nobody seems to know how to spell them correctly. I were suppose to get the ad out by yesterday and since it's so simple and it's urgent, not final proof is required.
When I was working on the ad, I went to google and search for the correct names and did the cut and paste. Simple, easy, done.
A few hours later, I have this strange feeling that something was not right. So I checked over the note I have with the names. To my horror, something was wrong... terribly wrong: I copy and pasted a wrong name. And it's not just any name, instead of the Liberal MLA candidate, Arthur Griffiths, I've got Conservative MP candidate, Lorne Mayencourt!
By this point, let's us be real, I was shitting my pants.
For those who don't know, Lorne Mayencourt was a Liberal MLA who switch to the Federal Conservative party during the last election. It's save to say that he's not overly popular to some people, and I think anyone who's running for the Conservative party in a gay riding is usually less welcome.
I spent the next 30 minutes sending three different "urgent" emails to the newspaper to let them know something went horribly wrong and I need their attention immediately. This was an urgent ad and I know the newspaper is usually distributed on Wednesday morning, meaning that either it's going to be printed on Monday night (last night) or Tuesday morning, so I don't have much time.
I didn't get a response from them before I go to bed.
I woke up this morning with the feeling that it will be the end of my relationship with the nightclub. I can literally hear Lorne Mayencourt laughing at his free publicity while Arthur Griffiths hounding the nightclub for the mistake. While stuck in traffic, I checked my iPhone constantly to see whether there's email coming in from the newspaper. Still nothing. After stuck in the traffic seemingly forever, when I finally get to work, I decided to call the newspaper to hear my final verdict. I got the advertising designer on the phone and he said they got my email and he did caught it before sending everything to print. So everything is fine and nobody needs to die. I thanked him and told him I can offer my body for him as a token of my thankfulness. He said he needed to go and hang up immediately.
Let's just say I will never work on any urgent ads for anyone that doesn't require final proofing of the work I've done.
Now, I need to lie down somewhere.