Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Changes

As you can see, the name of the blog has changed. My official employment with Eisenbrauns is now over—fourteen months after leaving Indiana. Not that I've done much since January anyway. In fact, in the whole of June-September, I only worked two hours and twenty minutes for them!

Now that I'm no longer employed by Eisenbrauns, I can share a story that I've wanted to share since it happened...get ready for some juicy gossip. NOT! This story reveals the character of Eisenbrauns as a company, and especially Jim as a person of integrity.

Last fall (2012), right around this time, I believe, a book went to press (I don't recall the title). I was reading through the PDF when I came across what looked like a lacuna; it appeared that a Hebrew word had dropped out of the text. The Hebrew was essential to the argument that was being made, so it wasn't a minor issue. This was on a Saturday morning.

I immediately sent Jim an e-mail, pointing out the possible error. I figured that maybe the book was still at the point where the press could make the correction before the book was printed. Jim responded within an hour or so, confirming my observation. He made the correction to the PDF and forwarded it to the press. Because it was a weekend, nothing more could be done until Monday.

Monday revealed that the book was already printed, but not yet bound. A choice had to be made. The book could be bound, as is, with the error. Or, at the cost of an additional 10%, that particular signature could be reprinted. It would also delay the delivery of the book—which also had repercussions for the cash flow. Tough decision; 10% may not sound like much, but on short-run academic books, that's very significant.

As you probably guessed (at least if you know anything about the quality of Eisenbrauns' books), Jim decided to reprint the signature and eat the cost...

That's just one of the many reasons I enjoyed working for Eisenbrauns for 10 years.

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