soften the blow

my dad likes to collect and share information.

he reads something, he clips the article and has it photocopied.

he thinks of something, he asks me to google it and "print three copies."

he writes something (an article, a letter, a speech, a prayer, a list, labels, captions), he asks me to encode it and "print three copies," sometimes five, sometimes ten, one time thirty.

i've been his typist from the time we first had a desktop which was in the late '80s.  that time, even things his secretary is supposed to be the one typing at the office he'd ask me to encode at home on the computer.

and he wants everything final.  no drafts for him, at least supposedly.  (uhm, there's a speed difference printing fast draft, normal quality and best quality, remember?)  actually however, everything is draft for him.  don't make the mistake of giving him his document in the morning.  you'll end up doing it the whole day.  revisions keep on entering his mind every time he gets a printout.  it's a test of patience and endurance.  i've used up printer ribbons before, ink now and even a ream of paper printing revisions of the same document!  the waste of time and resources makes me cringe.  but hey, you gotta indulge your dad.  or should you?

an aunt was relating to us when she retired she had so many things she wanted to do but she didn't have staff anymore.  so she started asking her daughter to do stuff for her.  well, my cousin eventually told her, "you should get an assistant, mom."

and my aunt realized it is just fair that she should so she did!  the same daughter but with billing hours...  ; p

now i don't intend to start billing my dad.  i think, however, i've started to show fatigue for his typing requirements.  yesterday, he told me he's making this book.  he wanted me to type this, this, this and that and that, too.  i couldn't hide the dismay on my face.  anyway, i took the doc but didn't work on it yet.

a while later, my dad tells me not to proceed anymore.  he chose just one and told me to type just that.  ok.

then today, he calls me again and hands me another one to type.

wahaha...  i have a feeling i'll be typing that book on installment.

clever...  ; p