Being a team player in the web department of a large corporate body requires one to simply suck up and do certain distasteful things.
Such as writing the error messages that will appear on user’s screens when their online booking payment fails. It’s the stuff we all love to read. The words are so compelling I think they should replace the text on those little white sweets that say “Be mine” or “You’re sweet”. In our hearts of hearts, we’re just gagging to hear the words: “Sorry, your payment failed. Please verify your card details and try again. If the problem persists, please check with your bank or card issuer”. Go on, admit it makes you weak at the knees.
The best part about getting to write such Pulitzer worthy schpeels is learning to decipher the developer’s phraseology and then turn it into something accessible to the common man.
“THERE HAS BEEN AN ERROR <#>No. 37868!>!?!!!” can be softened with the less offensive “Sorry, the online booking service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Apologies for the inconvenience”.
“Please Enter All details for Kin Contact Section, &! OnRecord will not be acceptable !!” That’s a corker. No idea about that one.
I’ve spent the last two days trawling through pages and pages of fucked up IT jargon and trying to put it across in a way that is pleasing to the English-speaking eye. It’s insanely stimulating.
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2 comments:
Don't you just love when what you have studied, totally helps you with the delicate aspects of your job...
There's nothing like putting the right colours in the right place to make you feel as if you've achieved something!
by god dubai you're right. i feel i was born for this.
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