Who do you know?

Now here is an interesting scenario…. my parents were visiting us for a couple weeks, they are from MO and we are in AZ.  The second after my mom says hello she hands me an invoice.  Yes, my mother works for us as a flatter (actually my dad does too.)

After she tells me she prefers cash she says “isn’t this handy, who else personally delivers their invoices?”

Me, Mom & Mandy (the dog.)

That made me stop and think about something I’ve never really considered before. I could walk into a bar, sit down next to a stranger and have no idea if they worked for me or not.  In our virtual world of comics you don’t have to know–I mean literally know–your employees.

Think about how weird that would have been say 20-50 years ago.  Try telling your grandfather that you pay someone you’ve never met and you trust them to do the work you ask of them and not steal any of the ideas.  Pretty trustworthy business after all.

Now, of course I know some of our employees personally.  Some of them worked in an actual office with us at one time or another.  I also, of course, recognize my parents when I see them.  But what about the rest.  There are a few colorist and many flatters that I feel like I know but I could never pick them out of a line up.  I know their kids names and where they vacation and what they do for fun but I don’t know their hair color (unless they have a good picture on FB.)

We have a few local employees, but most are far away, let me think a minute…. CA, TX, OK, UT, MT, CO, NE, MO, ME, IL, NY, NJ, MI as well as Canada & Spain.  I might have missed a couple, those are just off the top of my head.  See I know the people I just don’t know what they look like.  What other job can you say that about?

It used to be you had to go on an interview, meet the boss, your supervisor, the secretary and whoever else to make sure everyone was a good fit.  Even if you traveled a lot for work or now-a-days if you telecommute you usually have to go into the office at least occasionally.  Not us, nope we don’t even have a real office anymore.  It’s cheaper to not know your employees.  Weird.

This makes me think of another weirdness in our industry… we can’t recognize our heroes and peers.  One of the most frustrating things is to go to a Con all set for a meeting with someone you’ve talked to thousands of times via phone & email, then realize they are probably standing next to you and you don’t know it.  So, then you have to look like an idiot and say, um, are you my editor, artist, etc.  Same for artists we love, sure you see the super big names in Wizard or on-line but some of our favorite creators you wouldn’t recognize or you only see them once a year at a Con.  It’s hard to be famous when your fans can’t spot you in the crowd.

Sure Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace all help with that, you can get a much better glimpse of your idols than you ever could before. (Side Note: You should follow Ethan van Sciver on FB if you can, the guys is hilarious & super creative!) But is that the same as say “knowing, loving, & following” an actor or musician?  I mean I know whether or not Brittney wears underwear and if Heidi Montag has fake boobs (not that I care about either of those things.) How can I respect (wink) my comic heroes if I don’t know what they look like…much less what their underwear looks like!

So, I ask you how important is it to know who you know?  Have we lost the personal touch and if we have does it really matter?  Is this blog just a good a discussion as a group of us sitting around over a beer and talking about art?

Kristy Miller

VP, Development

Hi-Fi Design