Reasons I will miss my job

Below are three of them.

To provide a little context, me and the other two writers peer review each other's work. In the last month, I've learnt to use a new type of technology/documentation in the middle of a fairly important project. It's not because I'm a kick-arse maverick writer who rolls that way, but more because that was the most appropriate type of doc for the user and I just hadn't had a chance to learnt it yet. Lying to the project manager was easy, actually figuring out the thing was a little tricker. Anxious times...

I got my workmate to review the first doc before I sent it off to the clients, to make doubly sure I hadn't done something very stupid. This is some of the feedback I got:

• "Slower! Because the user is not controlling the pace of the slideshow, it needs to creep along ohhhhh soooooo sloooooooooooowly. Make it as slow as you can bear to watch without reaching for a razor and a warm bath, and then slow it down some more... say, around about the speed of a 65-year-old on their 12^th attempt at using trademe."
• "Currently, [a specific button] isn't working. Change the action to [another action]. Unless this is like the Close Door button in lifts, which does nothing except give the user a warm feeling of control and mastery over their own destiny."
• "Not sure if the note is really a note. More of a tip. Or, actually, the entire point of a prep sheet… anyway, a boring old orange caption will not cut it, this needs to be marked Important! In lights! With dancing bears! Ethically obtained bears of course. Think midnight forest feasts in Prince Caspian, with bears happily dancing round campfires, not scummy Russian circuses torturing poor furry animals. (This was immediately followed by "A propos of nothing, I think I should lay off the coffee.")

It was great fun being part of the team and having other writers to learn from/brainstorm with/go out on the piss with. (Turns out tech writers have a rep. As in, our whole unit knows the best way to bribe us is with alcohol. Despite that, the few times I've been bribed to do jobs, jaffas and coffee have featured heavily - clearly I have much to learn.) I'm sure being a lone wolf will have its moments, but none quite like these. Two days to go!