Adventures in proofing

I've been temping as a proofer at a company that imports various tchotchkes and crap from overseas and sells them to housewives in the midwest. I look at a spread of two pages that will face one another in the catalog and check for problems. Some common problems include:

• grammar issues
• spelling mistakes
• transposed letters (who the hell thinks "thier" looks correct?)
• transposed numbers in upc codes
• omitted words
• spaces added or omitted
• missing dollar signs
• extraneous apostrophes (which have always been my biggest pet peeve)
• inch marks used when rounded quotes should be used
• rounded quotes used when inch marks should be used
• characters like ® or © that have been corrupted into nonsense ASCII
• incorrect prices
• items flagged as exclusive when they are not
• items not flagged as exclusive when they are
• copy that's missing important information
• copy that has incorrect information
• copy that has too much fluff
• omitted disclaimers
• math issues (e.g. "50% off!" when it's really 49%)
• gaps between images and borders
• subjects in images facing off the page
• images that will be cropped too closely when the pages are cut
• list order and image order not corresponding

and so forth.

Occasionally I find something totally outlandish, like bookmarks being displayed lying on top of an open book, the text of which describes the act of snorting cocaine. When I brought that one to the book lead, she asked me if I thought anyone would really look at it. I shrugged and reminded her that it was up to her. (Personally, I wouldn't want to leave something like that in a catalog that has like 15 pages devoted to religious merchandise, but it ain't my ass on the line.) I saw the finished product some time later, and the book was the same, but the print has been fuzzed up a bit. Another interesting one would be the vinyl bendable monkeys, whose tails look inappropriate for children's toys the way they are positioned in the photograph.

One of the very awesome benefits of this gig is that the office is about 10 blocks from my apartment. I can roll out of bed and more or less sleepwalk (sleepdrive?) to work. It's pretty nice.

One of the very nasty drawbacks of this gig is that there is always candy around. Moreover, because the candy is overstock crud that the company sells, it's not very good. So not only am I tempted frequently by sweets, but when I finally give in, it's so not worth it!