Request for help re: Margin size and bindings? 2) " Anyone can do it"

[sclarke -at- nucleus -dot- com]

Hello:

Am working on a contract producing standard operating procedures which will 
ultimately be stored online and in 3 ring binders. Can anyone tell me what 
the minimum left margin size/setting would be to accommodate the binder?

2) Tech Writing-" Anyone can do it"

I have often heard and read on lists such as this about the difficulties 
technical writers have experienced in being taken seriously within the 
organisation in which they are employed. I have heard of tech writers who 
are employed in organizations where the basic attitude is " anyone 
including the secretary' can *do* technical writing. The underlying 
assumption of that belief, of course, is that tech writers really don't 
know anything or have any sort of specialized training.  I have never 
"lived" that experience until now. In  all my previous work situations I've 
always felt I was respected, that my skills were valued and I was, 
therefore, treated with dignity. My input and my contributions were 
valued.

In this particular situation I am frustrated nearly out of my mind by the 
level of ignorance about technical writing & writers. It often appears to 
be an apparent unwillingness to even entertain the notion that I actually 
*know* anything or can *do* anything. As a consequence, everyone in the 
organisation (where I was hired to do the formatting and editing of the 
documents) who has access to a PC seems to believe that *they* are instant 
overnight technical writing experts. These are the same people who cannot 
spell, who believe that spell-checkers will effectively substitute for 
proper and thorough editing and whose grammar, if marked by a college prof 
would recieve at C- at best!

This is a fairly large documentation project (at least to me.) I am the 
lone writer there and this organization has never "had" a technical writer 
before. I nearly hit the roof and had a coronary when my immediate 
supervisor contacted me by telephone to tell me he & another wannabe tech 
writer had just finished 'tweaking' my style guide. They had decided, 
without consulting me or even asking for my input, that the page margins 
for the policies and procedures should now be: Top 1.75", Bottom: 1.75", 
Left: 3.0", Right: 2.75" on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch page!

Correct me if I wrong (math isn't my strong suit) but doesn't that leave a 
single (approximately) 2" inch column in the middle? They did this "to 
accommodate the binder and so it would be nicely centered on the page"

Can anyone help? Any suggestions on what I might do? Is this situation 
unsalvageable? Any time I've tried to educate my immediate supervisor-about 
technical writing, what's required in this documentation set and what needs 
to be done (e.g. editing and that's just one example) I've been met with a 
rebuff or dismissed as if I were bothering him with ridiculous 
trivialities.

I see this latest incident with the margins issue as a direct sabotage and 
a direct reflection of my lack of credibility within this org and with 
him.

Sara in Canada

PS Sorry for long post...just had to vent!%^&* Really want to cry.

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