World processing programs... the work of Satan himself?

I am currently banging my head against a wall trying to use a Curriculum Vitae (resume) template that I download to redo my C.V. But there is so much non-sensical formatting going on that is making it an impossible task. Anyone with me on this one? Is there a setting I can configure in Microsoft Word/Open Office that turns off all the formatting that I can't see and just creates a space when I hit space instead of shooting the cursor off to some random location on the page for no conceivable reason? It's so frustrating, using files that have been created by Microsoft Word masters that regular Joe's like me can't work with.

Also, is there an open source program I can use to edit the text of a PDF? One company in my country insists on applicants filling out a PDF instead of emailing them; but I can't effectively add my text to it, and it won't even print out properly so I can fill it in my hand; only the header and footer of the document prints!

Pulling my hair out here.