Friday, September 4, 2009

Do Not Work For Sheep Meadow Press

In all likelihood Stanley won't be running the press for very much longer, but in an attempt to help anyone who might cross his path before he gives it up, I am posting this. Stanley Moss is a terrible, terrible boss. For this reason he runs through assistants and is thus looking for new ones pretty frequently (several times a year for the same job). He advertises for everything from experienced editors to executive assistants, but they all do the same thing; run the day-to-day operations of the press while fulfilling his every other demand, from chauffering to picking up medicine for his dogs (who get better healthcare than you ever will with the 2K a year he gives you to find your own), to abetting his constant rewriting of and obsession with his own poems. He will probably do his charming schtick before hiring you, seem interested in you, seem to value you as a person. He will most certainly lie about why he needs someone new on such short notice. Maybe he will even offer a few compliments or dinners the first few days--and even throughout your stay. He is nothing if not mercurial. But the bad periods will certainly overwhelm any good ones. He is simply unbearable to work with--illogical, ignorant, moody, egotistical beyond belief, sadistic, and just all around mean. I don't think he sees his assistants as fully human. Please heed this advice and avoid him at all costs. He's been feeding off naive young people for too long. He is completely lost without his minions--cannot so much as check an email--and he doesn't deserve their help.