"Mid-December Update From TMP" Topic

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what we're up to at TMP this month.

We're seeing the usual quietening of Hobby News this week – basically, most of the advertisers have announced their Christmas products already, which makes this a quiet period for TMP staff.

I've been hoping to carve out some large chunks of time to look at our forum bugs, which seem to be getting more common again. So, of course, life intervened. I ended up taking a sick day this week, and I ended up losing most of another day taking a family member to see the doctor for a surgery follow-up.

And Then…

Editor Gwen's laptop battery died. And it was raining, so she had to wait a few days before replacing it (walking in the rain with a new battery is not a good idea). But now she has the battery, and her laptop is working again. She is taking the weekend to relocate to a safer place, after getting a death threat (again).

Then Editor Dianna's laptop stopped working. Well, it sort of works, but the keyboard types extra characters for you! So she scheduled a technician, but he was a no-show. All of this while she was recovering from a dental extraction! But she's tough, and didn't miss singing at a local Christmas event. (She is often asked to sing at local gatherings.) She gave me permission to share a photo:

Editor Hebber works for us when she is not working her main job at a call center, and they tend to change her hours without warning, so we never know when she'll appear and do a bunch of work for TMP and then disappear again. Except that her computer is having problems too… if you bump it, it may shut off! Very frustrating if she's in the middle of working on a long Hobby News article…

So, with my entire staff incapacitated this week, I didn't make any progress on bug-fighting. I'm buried in work!

Some weeks are more challenging than others!

What a difficult end of the year !.

I hope it gets better….

With all due respect Bill … given the tremendous difficulties that our dear editors have … how difficult it is for them to carry out their tasks … the impossibility of an outstanding improvement in a certain time … it would not be good for you to contemplate the possibility of hiring someone from your own country? … there must be hundreds who are willing to work for TMP with capacities even higher than those currently offered … and maybe the cost would not be so high ?.

In this way … with a "local" person … the difficulties would be drastically reduced and your time to eliminate the bugs that undermine the site could be more continuous … and effective.

Yust saying….

Amicalement
Armand

Armand, are you suggesting firing our entire staff, in order to hire one part-time American worker???

No!… of course not!… I suggest a reinforcement by a local (Young and cheap?) guy/lady…

Amicalement
Armand

There's no 'extra' money to hire a local worker, especially considering minimum wage here is $9.70 USD per hour.

By comparison, according to Wikipedia – link – there really is no minimum wage in the Philippines, but in the capital of Manila the (largely unenforced!) minimum wage is $10 USD per day. Not by hour, by day. (And they work more than 8 hours per day, more than 5 days a week!)

So in theory, comparing minimum wages in the two countries, I can hire more than eight Filipino workers for the same cost as an American worker.

But it gets worse than that. An American worker with the required skills wouldn't work for minimum wage, and if I trained a minimum-wage American worker myself, he'd use the skills to get a higher paying job!

On the other hand, Filipino workers are grateful for work, loyal to their employer, eager to train, and a TMP job is better than almost any other job they could find – fewer hours, better working conditions, interesting work. (And at TMP, they get paid a lot more than $10 USD per day!)

Well regardless … Best of luck in 2018 to Bill and the whole crew … And I don't care if your staff comes from Mars, the North Pole, Atlantis, Lemuria, a mothership orbiting Earth, etc., it's all about doing a good job as in any business. I have a few complaints from time to time, but generally things work or workout.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays … in keeping with the spirit of the season …

Bill … and if you request voluntary help from any fellow member who knows something about computers and systems? … Maybe there are active members who can give you a hand at no cost … I vagely remember that the other Tango had offered their services in some time … I'm just saying.

Amicalement
Armand

…and if you request voluntary help from any fellow member who knows something about computers and systems?

I've done a lot of volunteer work. In fact, I just stepped down today from a volunteer leadership position. Volunteers are useful for many things, but not for editing Hobby News or handling advertisers.

Any room in the TMP maintenance budget to help the assistant editors obtain newer, more reliable laptops?

Any room in the TMP maintenance budget to help the assistant editors obtain newer, more reliable laptops?

It's not the laptops, it's the environment: hot, humid, with rats and bugs.

Ha !! Bugs !!

Now you know where the bugs come from …..

I vagely remember that the other Tango had offered their services in some time …

That guy was incompetent, Tango01. Full of advice… that doesn't apply to our technology. He can't tell one database type from another. Just another time waster.

Ah!… I don't know that…

I wish some Greek/Nerd on computers were here and offerd his help…

Anyway, thanks for the answers…

Amicalement
Armand

I wish some Greek/Nerd on computers were here and offerd his help…

I wish it were that easy…

On a completely unrelated note, I'm curious if Editor Hebber works at the same call center a friend of mine had to travel to to conduct trainings. I guess it's possible. After all, how many call centers are located in the Philippines?

I wish some Greek/Nerd on computers were here and offerd his help…

Why would they have to be Greek?

Because the database is all Greek to them!

After all, how many call centers are located in the Philippines?

About a billion, I think.