Almost to the breaking point

I'm actually the opposite, I have to tell my editor to stop worrying about my workload because I can handle it. If I were in my 30s with a family, maybe I'd feel overworked, but I'm 22. It's not like I have anything else I could be doing.

 

That's the problem. There are plenty of people who have other things to do with their lives besides work. Married guys have no chance in this business because the bosses don't think they work hard enough, but some single guys have nothing better going on in their lives during their off hours.

 

I'd bet some of the single SportsJournalists.com guys would go out on a date, but apparently there aren't any women in the world hot enough.

They might as well work, Stitch.

 

That's true. It's why I'm probably going to end up choosing between this or a family at some point in my life. I've seen too many people struggle to make it work, and I doubt my ability to still do this job well in that situation. Luckily, that's not a choice I'll have to make for a while, or possibly ever.

 

You're right. You'll never have to make that choice if all you ever do is work.

Just fair warning. Don't be like a lot of us, who did what you're doing, then reached middle age, had no other family and no other life, and then, when we were kicked to the curb, usually also in middle age, ended up with no life at all.

It's easy to say what you're saying when you're 22. When you're 42 or 52 but still needing to work, you'll have a different perspective and just be regretting your devotion and wondering, 'What was it all for?'

That saying about deathbeds and how nobody ever looks back and says they wished they would have worked more is very true.

 

The one thing I hate is that the stress carries over to my off hours. Can't actually enjoy myself and my family. A few people care about the product, but some just care enough to bitch about it.

I wouldn't mind doing freelance PR work, but the mom-and-pops, or even mid-sized businesses, don't seem to care if most of their written correspondence is filled with errors.

 

I agree with you, but not really. Those who get kicked to the curb with no life, can adjust. Prior to that, what choice do they have? I guess go back to school. Those of us with families have already blown it in many cases with our kids and wife pissed at our career choice.

 

Well, if journalism busts, I'm good enough at making desserts that I can work in or open a bakery, so I'm good there. The day this stops being fun for me is the day I leave it. Right now, I'm having too much fun to stop.

 

The big networks don't care either. I work at a well-known cable television network throughout the day (as a paper pusher) and am constantly identifying errors. If it's not a run-on sentence from someone high in the legal department, it's a terrible press release, poorly-written poster, and/or a sloppy programming synopsis blasted out to all departments.

I've expressed my aggravation with these errors to the VP of my department, and it's ignored. He knows my journalism work and knows I'm more than capable of taking a copy editor role, but no one here cares. And then they wonder why the competitors are kicking our asses.

 

I'm fantastic at eating them, so keep me in the loop.

 

Feeling a lot better this week, but the boss is gone as well. Same thoughts on the workload, though. I don't mind working hard, but why should one or two people work hard when several others could do just a little more to lighten the load?