RFP Irritations

My favorite director, SeaBee, had a couple RFPs to go out today. I haven't yet received the last one, and I'm not staying 1 minute past 5:30, so she can go climb a tree on that one.

However, I did get the other one done. It went back and forth a few times, as these things usually do. I came back to my desk after having printed and bound 4 copies, and after having had Seabee sign all 4 copies. And what did I find in my inbox but an email from the Sales Engineer with a multitude of proposed changes? Most of them were persnickety. There was only 1 that was significant.

He stopped by my desk on his way out just now and asked me if his changes were adopted. I told him that they were not, because the response had already been printed and bound.

I'm not going to reprint and rebind the thing because a few periods are out of place. These things should have been caught before the document reached my desk. Normally, I wouldn't say that, because I typically review and edit documents for my directors. However, if a document passes through the Sales Engineer's hands, I shouldn't really have to worry about proofing it. That's why he's paid about twice as much as I am.

So the Sales Engineer stopped by my desk and asked me if the changes had been made. I told him they had not. The document was already printed and bound. Then he told me that, FYI, all RFPs have to pass by his desk before going out. The VP of Marketing is getting ticked because RFPs are going out with some errors in them and whatnot. This is really Marketing's fault. The reason why is that the old Sales Engineer used to take a huge amount of ownership on each RFP. He made sure each of them were perfect before they went out. Then he got fired and the Marketing Veep hired this guy. This guy would be happy to do the same, but the Marketing Veep poopoo'd that idea, saying that the DOSs should be responsible for it, which I knew would be a disaster. Today's little escapade, which I suspect I'm going to hear about tomorrow, is just one example of this.

So now the issue has come full circle. I guess I'm a little irritated because this memo stating that all RFPs should cross the Sales Engineer's desk came out and I didn't hear a dang thing about it, even though I am the person who typically produces the stupid RFPs. I would think that I should know about this sort of thing so I can make sure I'm waiting for the proper approvals before I send out an RFP that I'm later going to get reamed for.

And I'm not going to wait all day before I send out an RFP, either. Because then I'd get the verbal smackdown for procrastinating! Jesu Christi!