On Handbooks & Embarassments

The handbooks didn't come in on time this year, so we are suffering and trying to get the damn things out still. Actually instead of WE, it feels like ME at times. How many things will go wrong this coming year? Is it an omen? Is this going to be the year of watching all my co-workers do nothing while I still care and put in a 200% effort? I don't know how many more damn people I can deal with complaining about something which they get free. It reminds me of other handbook disasters years. Like the year we printed the price of alcohol in 2 places and had to stick white stickers over both ads in 12,000 handbooks!

Or it doesn't beat the year when we picked the most uncanny Orientation theme. Yes, in April of 2001, we decided the theme would be "Ground Zero". The Student Centre site was about to be demolished and the design of the book and materials would look like they were building blueprints. It was to symbolize starting at the ground and building up something good. I remember distinctly the conversation with the President at the time. He wondered if people still equated that phrase with the bombing of Hiroshima. We both concluded that people entering University that year wouldn't equate THAT phrase with war and bombing. Who knew we were being so naive. Famous last words.

So off we went with that theme. The week of September 5, 2001, we gave out stressballs, nerf balls, bandannas, Activist Newspapers and 12,500 handbooks, all with the moniker "Ground Zero" on them. One week later, on September 11, I turned on the television and saw the news.

The coincidence was so uncanny! Now Magazine even covered it on the page one news tidbits (click on photo above to read it)!!! I was actually phoned for an interview asking if we did that on purpose... I have never been so famous without anyone knowing it was me. Perhaps the anonymity that time was a good thing.