Ooh, that's a mess all right.

Oh my god, final message: "I suggest you do X and do not spend too much time on it."

I am going to have a stroke before I even have breakfast.

I love that, Jesse! What shoes are you wearing with it?

These brown Clark's wedges with cork heels I can't find on the internet.

Now she's telling me to send a message to the senior executive editor asking whether the author can do X. What the shit, lady, IT IS IN THE AUTHOR GUIDELINES THAT HE CAN DO X.

Yipes.

Oh my god, she just flip-flopped and told me to tell the author that he can't do X. The author is going to be pissed, since our guidelines clearly say that he can. I really resent being put in the middle of something that shouldn't be an issue.

I am seriously having trouble keeping my eyes open.

The author is going to be pissed, since our guidelines clearly say that he can. I really resent being put in the middle of something that shouldn't be an issue.

I hope he understands that it's not you making policy decisions, and he should seethe at your manager or senior editor.

In such situations, I have no trouble throwing upper management and whoever mis-wrote the instructions under the bus.

I hope he understands that it's not you making policy decisions, and he should seethe at your manager or senior editor.

When he complains, I'm going to politely ask my manager to call him. I'm not dealing with this nonsense. They can decide that they're going contradict their own guidelines, but then they get to deal with the fallout.

Oh, that's a cluster, Steph. I'd make my manager tell him. Well, my old manager. My new manager is a useless clammy fish that flops and slides away from you before you can even finish your request. He surfaces only to drop slimy piles of work with a cheery shit-eating grin and then vanishes again, into the sea. Hopefully he will be my temporary manager.

Oh, that's a cluster, Steph. I'd make my manager tell him.

I can't; at this stage I'm the one who has to communicate with him. (Which you would think would mean I could just tell him to follow the author instructions on the website. Who can argue that the author did it wrong if what he did conforms to what is on our website??? But apparently no, he did it wrong despite all evidence to the contrary AND there being no way in advance for him to know what the "right" way is.)

I have a lot of sympathy for authors in situations like this; I'm just annoyed because I'm the one who has to deal with it, all while knowing it's a load of crap.