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Three ways of umbrella printing1. Digital print umbrellas2. Silkscreen umbrella3. Sublimation printSublimation print umbrellas VS silkscreen umbrellas1.sublimation print has strong adhesion and never fades (but it will change color, we can fix the color). The silk screen has poor adhesion and the pattern is in the form of bubbles. It takes a long time to fall off, but it will not change color.2.Sublimation print has high output and fast printing speed. It can be mass-produced and disposable multi-color printing. Silk screen printing can only print one color at a time, and it needs to wait for the ink to dry, so the speed is slow.3.sublimation print pattern rich in layers, three-dimensional, vivid color, good reproduction, silk screen without layering.4.sublimation print has a small color difference and does not require multiple color registrations. Therefore, there is no deviation. The silk screen multi-color pattern requires multiple sets of positions, which may easily lead to color inaccuracy and lead to deviation.Sublimation prints umbrella VS digital print umbrellas1, the difference between digital printing and sublimation print technologyDigital printing usually requires the printed pattern to be set by computer, and then finished by machine printing (applicable to 50% cotton clothes, ink is pigment ink)Sublimation print usually prints the pattern on a medium first, and then transfers the fabric and medium to be printed by machine heating (non-cotton clothes, ink is thermal transfer ink)2, digital printing and sublimation print color which is good In terms of color, the color of the thermal transfer flower is absolutely brighter than that of the digital print. Digital printing will have large color cast, double gray and light, and the thermal transfer flower is still relatively bright.3, digital printing and sublimation print which is good The difference is that you have to look at the materials you use. For thermal transfer flowers, there is a poor permeability to pure cotton, and there is no such problem with non-cotton. The effect of digital printing on pure cotton is good, and the effect of non-cotton is poor. The two are exactly the opposite.4, digital printing and sublimation print washability which is good Their washfastness is similar.The umbrellas made by Sublimation print are more colorful! Compared with silk screen printing, the heat transfer cost is higher! In the production of umbrellas, you can choose according to actual needs!1. What is Sublimation print?Also known as sublimation, any image such as portraits and landscapes is printed on plain paper or high-precision printing paper using thermal transfer ink, and then heated to a certain temperature within a few minutes by a corresponding thermal transfer device. The color of the image on the paper is realistically transferred to a special process of porcelain cup, porcelain plate, porcelain plate, clothes, metal and other materials.2. Sublimation print workflow!The operation is simple, the production process is small, the efficiency is high, the pollution is small, the land occupation is small, and the investment is small. After printing, the adhesion is good, the gloss is high, the picture is clear, the color is accurate, the color is bright, safe and non-toxic, and after hot stamping, it can be processed by spray blasting, secondary injection molding, bending and punching.Three. Sublimation print process:(1) Computer processing: first use the computer to process the words to be printed;(2) Lettering: use the cutting plotter to engrave the words or drawings to be printed on the computer on the transfer paper;(3) Uncover the excess as needed;(4) overlay the composite paper with the umbrella cloth and place them together in the heat transfer machine;(5) After heating and pressurizing by the heat transfer machine, the disperse dye on the composite paper penetrates into the umbrella cloth, thus forming a thermal transfer product.Note: Put the engraved thermal transfer paper and the white umbrella cloth together, the colored one faces the umbrella cloth, and the heating with the pressing force by the thermal transfer banner machine, the color of the content on the thermal transfer paper It will move to the white umbrella cloth to form a colored umbrella cloth.The characteristics of digital printing technologyThe production process of digital printing is simply written into a computer by various digital means such as scanning, digital photo, image or computer processing, and then processed by computer color separation printing system, and then passed by dedicated RIP software. The printing system directly prints various special dyes (active, dispersed, acidic main paint) onto various fabrics or other media, and after processing, obtains various highs on various textile fabrics. The precision printing products have the following advantages compared with the traditional printing and dyeing process:1. The production process of digital printing greatly shortens the original process route, and the ordering speed is fast, and the proofing cost is greatly reduced. Since the production process of the digital printing is free from the process of color separation, production, and web making in the traditional printing process, the production time is greatly shortened. The way to accept the pattern can be through CD, E-mail and other advanced means. The general proofing time is no more than one working day, and the traditional proofing period is generally about one week.In addition, the cost of proofing is greatly reduced due to the simplification of the process. The shortening of the proofing cycle and the reduction of the proofing cost are under the market competition law of today’s time, and efficiency is the life of the market competition law, which undoubtedly brings more market opportunities to the enterprise. 2. The principle of digital printing technology makes its products break the limitation of traditional production of color and flower length, which can make textile fabrics achieve high-grade printing.Since the digital printing technology can adopt digital patterns, the color measurement, color matching and printing of the digital printing products can theoretically reach 16.7 million colors, which breaks through the color limitation of the traditional textile printing and dyeing patterns, especially in the color. Digital printing is technically unparalleled in the printing of high-precision patterns such as gradation and moiré. In addition, the traditional printed pattern is often limited by the length of the “flower back”, and the concept of “flower back” may not exist in the process of digital printing, which greatly expands the space of textile pattern design and enhances the grade of the product.3. Digital printing production truly realizes the production process of small batch and fast reaction, and the production batch is not subject to any restrictions.Since the digital printing production process is fully computerized digital production, the production flexibility is greatly improved, and some products can even be delivered on the same day, and it is desirable. In addition, due to the application of computer technology, printing a series of patterns with different shades of the same pattern, as well as the designer’s continuous modification of the color of the pattern in the production process has become a major technical advantage of the digital printing production which is different from the traditional printing production.4. The high-precision printing process makes it possible to use no colorant without water during the printing process.The use of dyes in the printing process is “distributed as needed” by the computer, so that there is no waste of dyeing materials in the printing process, no waste water is generated, no noise is generated during the printing process controlled by the computer, so that the printing process is in progress. No pollution is generated, and the green production process is realized, so that the production of textile printing can be freed from the production process of high energy consumption, high pollution and high noise in the past, and the production process of low energy consumption and pollution is realized, which brings about the production of textile printing and dyeing. One technology**.Four advantages of digital printing proofingDigital printing machine proofing has become the mainstream production method in the western printing industry. At present, more than 90% of European printing companies use digital printing machines to proof. These companies generally believe that digital printing machines have fast response, low proofing cost and good consistency. Digital printing machines have become an indispensable part of the European printing industry. Tool of. At present, there are also enterprises in the country dedicated to the overall solution of digital printing machines, and achieved good results.Digital printing machines have become an indispensable tool in the European printing industry. At present, there are also enterprises in the country dedicated to the overall solution of digital printing machines, and achieved good results. Digital printing proofing has the following four advantages over traditional proofing:1, the reaction speed is fast Digital printing machine with its rapid proofing, can enhance the company’s response to orders, one step ahead in the mall. At present, competition in printing enterprises has intensified, processing prices have fallen, and profit margins have decreased. Customers put forward higher requirements for printing companies in terms of cost, response speed, quality, service, etc. Which company takes the lead first and gets an order. Increasing the speed of proofing will undoubtedly enable companies to win among many competitors.2, cost reduction Using digital printing machine proofing, can replace some of the work that must have been proofed on the rotary screen, flat screen printing machine, no need to occupy the machine time. Generally, a sample often takes up 3-4 hours of a machine. If the customer is not satisfied, it will be modified repeatedly, resulting in a great waste of production capacity.3, good proofing effect, high customer recognition rate Digital printing and traditional printing belong to different systems, many professional and technical personnel are worried that the digital printing machine proofing effect is too good, the traditional printing can not achieve such effect, in fact, this worry is unnecessary. At present, in order to solve this problem, domestic companies have organized in-depth research by the best domestic craftsmen and found solutions. This program uses software to adjust the digital printing proofing effect, so that the traditional printing machine can achieve the proofing effect in production. From the color point of view, since the color gamut of the paste used in the traditional printing is wider than the color gamut of the digital printing ink, the color effect produced by the digital printing machine can be completely simulated by the conventional slurry.4, a wide range of applications Currently available for proofing inks are active ink, acid ink, disperse ink (transfer printing), using dispersing ink direct printing is still looking for the right ink. In the customer sample, if it is a paper draft, electronic draft, you can use the digital printing machine to proof directly after the color separation process, the traditional printing machine can complete the mass production according to the proofing effect. If the sample is a swatch, you need to explain to the customer some features of the digital printing, and you can change the proofing mode after receiving the customer’s approval. In particular, enterprises must consider the ability of customers to accept new things. For some more conservative customers, the traditional proofing method is still relatively stable. Only when digital proofing becomes the mainstream of the market, it is appropriate to recommend digital printing proofs to these customers. . This process will take approximately 2-3 years in the country.Digital printing technology and traditional printing technology are two different printing mechanisms in printing, so the use of digital printing machine proofing needs to have a running-in period with customers. From the perspective of the process, the internal proofing and production system of the enterprise must also have a running-in period. If it is possible to develop a set of process standards, companies can quickly introduce digital printing proofing systems, which are recognized by customers. Digital printing range1. Personalized gift market The domestic gift market has a scale of 9.8 billion, which has become a popular trend of gifts. Print your own photos or favorite pictures, icons, and texts on the gifts, and get rid of the uniform faces of the gifts, which can reflect the value of the gifts and the uniqueness of the givers.2. Home decoration and decoration market The domestic family decoration market has reached tens of billions, and the personalized decoration of the family is also quietly popular. Users can print their favorite photos or images on decorative paintings, tiles, furniture and floors according to their favorite home style. At present, a new technology can directly perform thermal transfer on the wall and directly print the desired pictures. Going to the wall, decorating your home with your favorite style, creating a personal space that truly belongs to you, has gradually formed a fashion trend, and has a new industry term called wall digital printing.3. Personalized products market A large part of the popular mobile phone and digital products market users are young and fashionable groups. Printing their own logos on these products is the best embodiment of individuality. Some of the items that you carry with you, such as makeup mirrors, lighters, wallets, backpacks, etc., are also a great way for these users to express their individuality.4. Personalized Image Consumer Products With the rapid development of digital images, people are no longer limited to printing their own photos on photo paper. The universal digital printing system can print any image on crystal, glass, acrylic, metal, ceramic, canvas and more. The effects of products printed on different materials are different from those of people. People can print their photos on different materials, enriching the expression and effect of photos.5. Popular culture peripheral products Universal digital printing system can also easily print some popular movies, anime, HIP-HOP and other popular pictures on some items according to the popular trend.6. Advertising and signage market high-quality, high-price, small and medium-sized advertising and signage production, such as all kinds of metal membership cards, time cards, badges, listings, licensing cards and other full-color printing, which is difficult to achieve current printing technology of.7. Professional proofing Once formed, no plate making is required, some materials can be used repeatedly, and the cost is low; the computer is directly typeset, modified, and produced, and the operation is simple, the efficiency is high, and the cost is greatly reduced.screen printing. Use plastic ink.Screen printing belongs to stencil printing, which is called four printing methods together with lithography, embossing and gravure printing. The stencil printing includes a stencil, a stencil, a spray, and a screen printing. The principle of stencil printing is: the printing plate (the aperture of the paper film or other plate is made through the ink). During printing, the ink is transferred to the substrate through the hole of the stencil through a certain pressure (paper, ceramics, etc.) ), forming an image or text. The most convenient stencil printing was written in the late 19th century. This kind of printing is made on a special wax paper, which is made into a stencil graphic version by a typewriter or a stylus, and printed on the wax paper plate with an ink roller, and the desired printing effect can be obtained on the substrate. In stencil printing, the most widely used is screen printing.Screen printing is to stretch silk fabric, synthetic fabric or wire mesh on a frame, and make a screen printing plate by hand-engraving film or photochemical plate making. The modern screen printing technology uses a photosensitive material to make a screen printing plate by photolithography (so that the screen hole of the graphic portion on the screen printing plate is a through hole, and the non-graphic portion of the wire mesh hole is blocked. live). During printing, the ink is transferred to the substrate through the mesh of the graphic portion by the extrusion of the squeegee to form the same graphic as the original. The screen printing equipment is simple, easy to operate, simple in printing and plate making, low in cost, and strong in adaptability. Screen printing has a wide range of common prints: color oil paintings, posters, business cards, binding covers, merchandise signs, and printing and dyeing textiles.In addition, according to the printing production process, there are direct printing and indirect printing.Direct printing, the printing ink directly contacts the substance to be printed, and the transfer ink is transferred thereon. All the letterpress presses (the latest rubber or plastic version of the rotary press) and the gravure presses, as well as the hand-held lithographic presses in the oldest lithographic presses, are directly printed.Indirect printing, the printing ink is first transferred to the rubber cylinder (Cylinder), and then the ink roller is used to transfer the ink to the printed matter, such as the offset printing machine (OffsetMachine).Printing principleAccording to the principle that the printed portion and the non-printed portion of the printing plate are printed during the printing process, it can be classified into two types: physical printing and chemical printing.Physical printing, the ink is completely a kind of stacked load in the printed part, and the non-printed part is low concave or convex, which is different from the height of the printed part and can not be stained with ink, so that it is blank, so the printed part is printed. The ink is transferred to the printed matter and is only a physical mechanical action. Generally, letterpress printing, gravure printing, stencil printing, dry lithography, etc. are all physical printing (printing surface is higher or lower than non-printing surface).Chemical printing, the non-printed part of the printing plate (non-printing surface) is not stained with ink, not by the concave, convex, or occluded part of the printing plate, but due to chemical action, it produces a film that absorbs water and rejects ink. By the way. Of course, the printed part (printing surface) absorbs ink and water, and the non-printed part absorbs water and rejects ink. Water and oil reciprocate each other, which is still a physical phenomenon. However, in the printing process, the non-printed part must be continuously added to absorb water. The film of ink is chemically printed. The printing of the lithographic rubber printing press belongs to this category. In the solution of the water tank, it is necessary to add a class of materials and a gel material to supply the mucus layer of the carboxyl group to the source to keep the non-printing surface of the printing plate from being contaminated by grease.Printing colorAccording to the color of the printed matter, it can be divided into two types: monochrome printing and multi-color printing.Monochrome printing is not limited to black ones, and those who display prints in one color are all. Poly Color Printing is divided into three categories: Casing Method, Register Method, and Multi-color Method.For the color-increasing method, in the double-line range of the monochrome image, another color is added to make it clear and vivid, so as to facilitate reading. In general, the printing of children’s books is mostly used; the color-collecting methods are independent of each other, do not overlap each other, and there is no color edge line, which is printed on the printed matter in turn. Generally, the printing of line tables, commodity wrapping papers, and topography is used.Multi-color printing, according to the Additive Color Mixing Process, the natural color original is decomposed into a primary color separation plate, and then the Subtractive Color Mixing Process is used to reprint the original color plate on the same print. In terms of material, the natural color prints of the Bi Xiao manuscript are also different due to the difference in the overlapping area of ​​the primary colors. All color prints, except for a few of the color-increasing methods and color-collection methods, are all printed by the complex color method.Print useDue to the variety of printing business, the use is different. Such as book printing, news printing, advertising printing, banknote printing, map printing, stationery printing, special printing and so on.Book and magazine printing, in the past used letterpress printing. In recent years, more lithographic printing has been used.News printing, in the past to use the letterpress rotary printing, because of its rapid and large print volume. Recently, in order to meet the needs of color, it is changed to lithographic or gravure rotary printing.Advertising printing, including color pictures, pictorials, posters, etc., mostly use lithography, and may also use letterpress, gravure or stencil printing.The printing of banknotes and other securities is mainly based on gravure printing. It must also be supported by letterpress and lithography. Photographic printing is suitable for map printing. Because of its large size, high precision, more color, less printing, and the original is mostly monochrome. Stationery printing, such as envelopes, letterheads, invitations, business cards, books, workbooks, etc., must be low-cost, large-volume printing, so the quality is second, so the majority of the letterpress printing is a priority.Packaging and printing, such as all kinds of alkali beet and vegetable foods, candy, biscuits, candied fruit, corrugated boxes used in various types of packaging, and wallpapers for room decoration, etc., are mostly gravure printing.Special printing, such as bottles, bronzing, embossing, hoses, electronics, circuits, stickers, tickets, foil.Printing plateAccording to the different plates used in the printing plate, there are wood plate, stone plate, zinc plate (aluminum plate), aluminum plate, copper plate, nickel plate, steel plate, glass plate, stone plate, magnesium plate, plated multi-layer plate, paper plate. , nylon version, plastic version, rubber version, etc.Wood, stone, glass, etc., can not be used for flat bed printing because it can not be changed. Copper plate and steel plate are mostly used for gravure printing. The rest is for lithographic or rotary presses.The alloy plate type is a paper-type lead plate cast by aluminum, bismuth or tin alloy solution or cast into a movable type layout. There are magnesium, aluminum alloy Miraco version, and copper, nickel, alloy Monni metal plate and so on.The multi-layer metal version has a three-layer metal plate with a chrome-plated copper bottom and a chrome-plated copper steel bottom (even with stainless steel).Due to the different plates, the printing presses, printing inks, printing techniques and printing effects are also different.Printed materialAccording to the material to be printed, there are paper printing, white iron printing, plastic printing, textile printing, wood printing, glass printing and so on. Paper printing is the mainstream of printed matter, accounting for about 95%. It can be applied to both letterpress, lithographic, gravure and stencil.The printed materials other than paper are mostly printed.Print layoutAccording to the printing layout, printing can be divided into four categories: letterpress printing, lithography, gravure printing and stencil printing.The history of letterpress printing is the oldest and most popular. The image of the layout and the convex part of the text accept the ink. The recessed part does not accept the ink. When the plate is pressed against the paper, the ink is printed on the paper. The printing plates mainly include: movable type, lead type, zinc plate, copper plate, photosensitive resin plate and the like. Some books, bills, envelopes, business cards, etc. still use letterpress printing; special processing such as bronzing, silver, embossing, etc., also generally use letterpress printing.Lithography is currently the most common and widely used printing method. The image and the non-image are on the same plane. The principle that the water and the ink are mutually exclusive is used. The image accepts that the ink does not accept water, and the non-image part is opposite. The printing process uses an indirect method. The image is printed on the blanket cylinder first, and the image is reversed, and the image on the blanket cylinder is transferred to the paper. This printing method can be used for catalogues, pictorial advertisements, calendars, etc.Gravure is the opposite of the principle of letterpress printing. The text and image are concave and below the layout, and the concave portion carries the ink. The shade of the print is related to the depth of the recess, and the depth is thicker and shallower. Due to the difference in the inks printed by the gravure, the printed lines have a convex feeling. Coins, stamps, securities, etc. are all gravure printed. Gravure printing is also suitable for printing on plastic film and silk. The cost is high due to the long plate making time of the gravure printing and the complicated process.The stencil printing is also called screen printing. If you have seen the teacher’s engraved wax printing sheet in elementary school, then you can better understand this printing method. Using screens, stencils, etc. of crepe, metal and synthetic materials as the printing plate, the graphic part is hollowed out into fine holes, the non-image parts are protected by the printing material, the printing plate is closely attached to the printing substrate, and the squeegee or the ink roller is used. The ink penetrates onto the substrate. Screen printing can be printed not only on flat substrates but also on curved substrates, with bright colors and long-lasting. Suitable for printing labels, handbags, T-shirts, plastic products, glass, metal utensils, etc. According to the printing production process, there are direct printing and indirect printing.

Well, I didn’t quite get fired, but I got one serious, formal write-up, and my manager, the head of HR, tried to write me up for something else, and she ended up looking really, really stupid.But still, it was obvious I needed to get out of there, and grad school was what to do next. It was already April or so, thus most schools would not accept me. But I got an excellent GRE score, and blasted that score out to maybe 50 schools with rush/priority or whatever the option was called. Eventually I found a decent (in the top 25 or so) program that had rolling admissions.Anyway, back to the job. It was the HR department. It was my first “real” job after I got my BA. Occasionally I noticed old (at least 5yrs old) org charts indicating that HR once had had a VP and Sr. VP, but when I was hired, Manager was as high as it went, and she reported directly to the President. I think she got her BA at a very mediocre-to-bad place, since she had no formal learning about HR. The lightbulbs got changed, and she was checking in on staff whether they were an improvement to our working conditions. I made some off-hand joke about the Hawthorne Effect. She didn’t get it even after I explained it to her.We were a good sized credit union, Federally insured, of course, and had some sort of special relationship with the military because we had branches in some odd places just so a military base could have a financial institution. Well, an African-American disgruntled applicant (or pre-disgruntled person, since she actually never applied in the end) wanted to see our Affirmative Action Plan. The manager never actually spoke with the disgruntled person; rather, I, the youngest and least senior member of the department (and also the only male) had to shuttle back and forth from the Manager’s office to the front desk, repeating lame variants on “Well, it’s a secured document,” “We do not have access to it at the moment” and excuses like that. Eventually the disgruntled lady left in a huff. I was the worst possible person to be trying to calm her down, because of my skin-color (I’m white), gender (I’m male. While I am far from intimidating, and really tried to keep the situation low-key and collaborative, using a male is more likely to bring about escalation of conflict even in an office setting. My age didn’t help (many people consider it insulting to be forced to deal with an a person who is inexperienced, powerless, and likely somewhat incompetent due to their lack of experience. All these issues were exacerbated by the fact that the Manager’s office was right in plain sight about fifteen feet behind the front desk and I kept going back to her office for advice/support.Many of you may not know much about required Federal filings in the US, but Annual EEO-1 reports are required if a business meets any requirement listed below:We were more than large enough >500 to require one just based on the simple number of employees, regardless of anything else.We were a financial institution, almost all of which must file. We met all three of the possible criteria for filing. If you even meet one of the criteria, you must file (besides the # employees issue by itself).Held Federal Contracts >$50,000. It’s remotely possible that I’m wrong about this one, but with our branches on bases, I’m pretty sure we had *some* dealings with the Feds, even just “who will pay to resurface the parking lot” or other minor stuff that could exceed $50,000 pretty easily if you add them up/Federal Depository in any amount. I am almost certain we handled direct deposit for military members on several bases in AK and WA, and the Philippines until Pinatubo erupted.Again it’s possible I’m wrong, but I think we handled savings bonds and Notes.So. We should have been filing annually. They’re not fun, but not terrible either. The manager didn’t do them because she had no idea what they were or that we needed to file them. We also needed an Affirmative Action plan, updated annually. This was the report the disgruntled lady wanted to see, and while the EEO-1 is considered confidential, disgruntled lady had a Federally mandated legal right to read our Affirmative Action plan. But there was no such plan to read and we hadn’t been one for years. . .Anyway, I did not get in trouble for that one, although my manager was not happy when afterward I pulled one of her BLR binders and showed her the requirements for EEO-1 and Affirmative Action (BLR binders documented every HR-related law or regulation. They came in print and provided extensive commentaries/explanations/clarifications. Once a month, a packet would arrive for updating the binders. Those binders took up a *lot* of shelf space.).The reason I was able to easily pull out exactly the right binder and go to the right section was that I was enrolled in an HR class that was part of the MPA program at the University and had studied the issues surrounding discrimination, Affirmative Action, and sexual harassment recently. With her permission I used the BLR binders as a resource (if you’re curious, an MPA is a lot like and MBA, but is meant for non-profits and government workers). Anyway, I filed the required paperwork for tuition reimbursement once I had my grade in hand. The main requirement for reimbursement was that the class(es) you were taking needed to be related to your current job. Guess who oversaw the reimbursement program? My manager, of course (ultimately the President signed the paperwork, but she decided which which ones were worthy of his signature). My reimbursement denied of course. Recently I had gotten a small promotion for handling Employee Benefits instead of screening job applicants. I still had the same co-workers, same horrible boss, and only moved to a desk about ten feet away from my old one. She explained to me that benefits were more of a payroll issue than an HR issue, and since I was no longer an truly an HR worker, the class was not related to my job.Oh, two really nasty situations arose while I was doing benefits.We had a recently hired teller who became pregnant (she probably had 90 days on the job, since that’s when health insurance and such kicked in). My manager was dedicated to proving the pregnancy was a pre-existing condition. Evil. And the manager handled it like the disgruntled lady.The other benefits nastiness involved our retirement plan. *now* I understand Annuities vs defined benefit vs defined contribution, but back then I didn’t know much of anything about retirement plans. We had a defined-benefit plan. One day a fairly high ranking employee called me to ask about a lump sum immediately vs. letting his money ride (I don’t know how he could pull out his retirement money and keep working, but somehow he could. (I think it had to do with being the director/CEO/President of a company that was technically separate but wholly owned by the credit union). Anyway, he was concerned that his lump sum value might shrink soon. I discussed it with my manager,and she didn’t seem to know much either. When I told her that he was insisting on a solid answer ASAP, she finally gave me a definitive answer: your retirement funds will never decrease. The plan provides defined benefits, so the value is not affected by the stock market. Your benefits just keep growing while you are working and will never go down. I called the man back, and while he didn’t seem entirely convinced (my utter ignorance and confusion in the previous call probably didn’t help).A little while later, probably after a month had passed, I heard from him again. He was absolutely fuming and ready to sue. Apparently the value of the lump sum *had* decreased, and by a large enough amount to make him extremely angry. My boss was out, so I directly called up the company that managed the plan.I didn’t know how lump sums vs annuities vs regular defined benefit plans worked, having had no exposure to retirement products at the tender age of 20 (I actually did already understand in a basic sense how defined contribution plans because they are basically just investing with pre-tax dollars and maybe a match from your employer). Anyway, the kind and patient representative of the company that managed our retirement plan explained that a lump sum was calculated based on the total amount of money you would expect to receive from the plan if you lived your full predicted lifespan, adjusted for assumptions about what investments would yield during that period. If investments in general were doing well and were expected to continue to do well, a lump sum might go up, but if investments were doing poorly and expected to do so in the future, a lump sum could go down. Or perhaps they pegged the yield to the prime rate or treasury bonds. In any case, the expectation of return on investment the company used for calculating lump sums had gone down bit, thus causing the amount of a lump sum to go down. BTW — this was 1993 or ‘94. I think that the company used some sort of rolling average, and they had just included the 1990 recession in the years they were using. Or maybe it went down for some other reason.In any case, I managed to regained the trust of the person who had lost money. I confessed my ignorance and apologized for any harm that came from it, and basically told him what had just been explained to me. He already understood the issues, since he paid attention to his statements and understood retirement plans, but at least now we were on the same page. With the boss out of the office, I couldn’t do anything to solve the problem but we would see once she returned.When she returned to the office, she blamed the whole thing on my having overstepped my bounds and made promises on behalf of the organization that I was not authorized to make (going back to her statement that “Your benefits will never decrease,” etc., only now, she said that I had made up the erroneous statements on my own). Luckily, I did not get written up or fired. I think it was because I knew that the lump sum guy had been made whole using funds from the Credit Union (not the retirement plan), and that a VP or above had back-dated the check to make the amount match what it would have been in an alternate universe. I’m not sure exactly whether they committed a crime or not, but the manager wanted to keep it hush-hush, so she did not retaliate. At least not immediately.Shortly thereafter, I was written up for violating company policy and state labor law. I was accused of arriving early, sometimes taking lunches more brief than allowed, and also, I sometimes worked late to complete a task. I probably showed up ten minutes early every day because the penalties for tardiness could quickly lead to termination. I admittedly had the habit of failing to use my last five minutes at lunch. Staying late could vary, but I usually left and 5:00 and if the task was going to take more than 20 minutes or so, I’d just leave the work to be completed the next day. By engaging in this unauthorized behavior, I was creating a dangerous legal liability for the Credit Union. I might be keeping track of my extra work time, planning to sue for failure to pay me for the extra work, and also attempt to gain a punitive award. I thought it was a very, very strange accusation, but I was clearly guilty of the behavior she had documented.So: one strike. Two more write ups meant termination.The next attempt to write me up was based on the accusation that I had misrepresented my access to the Credit Union President while conversing with one of our branch managers. I did have a conversation with that manager regarding a Tuition Reimbursement taking longer to process than she had expected. I told her something along the lines that the forms for that program needed to be signed by the President, and due to busy schedules, apparently my Manager had not had an opportunity to meet with him recently.My Manager accused me of having told the Branch Manager that *I* had not had an opportunity to meet with the President lately. The hierarchy was very rigid; only once in three years was I allowed enter the top floor where the executives were, and that was just to quickly drop something off with the receptionist on my Manager’s behalf. So meeting with the President would be absurd for somebody of my stature. While my Manager was preparing my formal reprimand, I asked if we could call that Branch Manager and get her recollection of the conversation. My Manager was convinced enough about what she had heard that she agreed. It would just be more damning proof of my having said what she had overheard.We called, and the Branch manager could not recall the conversation in complete detail because it was such a routine non-event, but she was certain she would have remembered if I had claimed to be having meetings with the President. So it was my memory and the memory of the Branch Manager against my Manager’s memory. I had narrowly avoided my second formal write-up.After that incident, the Manager and I experienced levels of defensiveness and hatred that I never knew existed. I had generally been rather obsequious and deferential if it looked like her anger and hatred of others was likely to surface. After my “win” from the Branch Manager backing up my side of the story, those who knew about the conflict were glad. She had always been erratic and sometimes just made no sense, but this was the first time (as far as I knew) she had been called on her bullshit and had her power and judgement questioned.Now, I just didn’t care. I spent much of an entire week attempting to get our magical new Laser Printer (bye bye, dot matrix!) to communicate with our mainframe accounts and the terrible, horrible software we used for managing some of our information about employees (the bulk of the information was still stored as hard copy in about 15–20 filing cabinets).I did it! The mainframe could print to the Laser Printer. Much of my time had been spent typing letters notifying individuals about significant changes to their benefits (gaining health insurance after 90 days, bumping up to the next level of the defined benefit plan after ten years, COBRA eligibility upon termination, etc., etc., etc.) Many different events, each with a separate report from the mainframe. I didn’t need to type the whole letter; we had the various notifications created by a printing company on CU letterhead, so I generally just needed to type their name, one or more dates, and maybe a little more for some of the letters. Anyway, once I had it going, I started with the most common notifications and worked my way through the different types of letter. It was a *very* annoying and error-prone job to get the mainframe to put the names and dates and such in the proper parts of the letter, but it was possible, and a lot more fun than typing them. In addition, it really ticked off the Manager. IT staff had connected only her terminal to the Laser Printer. But they set it up in a communal area surrounded by our staff. When she finally noticed what I was doing, she was angry, but the staff were glad to be able to get away from the dot matrix, and were looking forward to automating processes like I was doing. It was such an obvious improvement to the speed, accuracy, and appearance of our work that she backed off, which had seldom, if ever, happened before. I suspect that word of her going loony-bird about meetings with the President had made its way to the executive suite and she may have been told to calm down or something. Or, she was just having an unusually nice day. I dunno.About a week later, I was accepted to grad school. There was still time to participate in the summer construction-and-related-activities boom that happened each year in Alaska. So I left the Credit Union, planning to get the highest paying job possible for the Summer. Thus, I became trained in hazardous waste labor and earned more money in ten weeks than I would earn at the Credit Union in a year. Then my life really began, upon entering grad school.If you made it this far, great! Thanks for paying atten for so long to a relatively uneventful story.That manager was a vicious person who was probably in HR precisely because her position allowed her to be a bully as an adult. The pre-existing condition issue for the pregnant teller, was just one little event out of many. There was a young married couple in the building; she worked in the branch doing something more than a Teller but less than a Loan Officer or Management. Member services Rep, I think. He worked as a groundskeeper mowin the grass and such at first, but it turned out he actually was educated, intelligent, and diligent, so he moved to a much better position in Real Estate. A move that dramatic was practically unheard of. The birth announcement about their first child was proudly communicated to the whole organization by somebody important. If that was on a Monday, then fast-forward to Wednesday, two days later. She fired the husband for his third tardy of the year, just two days after we celebrated his child’s birth. He was not very tardy, less than five minutes I believe. The Manager in Real estate didn’t want him fired, and I believe it was that manager who brought the absurd situation to the attention of somebody on the Executive floor. The new father’s termination was rescinded the same week it occured.In another brazenly cruel situation, HR had an employee foisted upon us from Insurance. Our new co-worker had apparently worked in insurance for much of her life, but was new to the Credit Union. She had been working in Insurance for perhaps a month before she was moved to HR. It was soon apparent why the Insurance department had wanted her gone. She was probably in her mid-to-late 60’s, and I suspect that she had been a rather odd character for her whole life; her quirks were probably not due to her age. She was one of the kindest, warmest, most loving people I had ever met, but she simply could not think on her feet and get complex tasks accomplished. She wasn’t particularly useful, but she made a decent receptionist (she loved to smile and greet people coming through the door.) She could take messages just fine, and efficiently operated the receptionist phone with multiple lines to forward calls. I never did understand how to work that device very well. apart from being friendly and greeting people, we would occasionally assign her simple tasks, such as stuffing a bunch of envelopes or alphabetizing 1000 job applications. She was rather slow, and sometimes got hung up by minor complications that most of us could simply work around. So: not a fast and efficient employee, but a wonderful person who was able to contribute to the organization, just not by doing complex tasks. Attacks began. First, our Manager forbade her to have a water bottle or snacks at work. The lady countered with a note from her doctor that declared that she needed water and snacks available at all times; might have been diabetes I dunno for sure.This is the longest post I have ever created, and is one of the few with any type of narrative. Please comment about what you thought. Good, bad, boring, enjoyable, painful, whatever!