And another one bites the dust ... oh, wait

Yep, Rhody, keep looking forward. Remind yourself that a-holes like that aren't worth working for and that there are better people and places out there.

 

Rhody, I wouldn't have thought a thing of this thread a few months ago, but I did see your very fine and thorough work on that story a few weeks ago.

You're a damn good reporter. You got skillz. I don't think you should get out of it. In fact, maybe you should be thinking a little bigger, crazy as that may sound. How about stringing for cbssports.com, espn.com, whatever-it-is-NBC-and-fox-are-doing-these-days.com, yahoo, etc. ?

The only thing I might say is take a hard, honest look at yourself, how you are to work with, your communication with your superiors, etc, and ask yourself if there's a way to improve. Sometimes good reporters do have to compromise journalistic principles, or rather, hold their noses as "the company" does something they just know is wrong. It's a fine line, because you MUST keep your edge, which I can see you have.

Good luck, sir.

 

Rhody's a pain in the ass to work with. Kidding, of course ... Kind of. He's real good people and this just plain sucks to hear. I don't have any words of wisdom like most others on here have. I find it odd to hear you speak of driving from the center of your state to the southern part of your state as being way out of your way. Driving 30 minutes would get me halfway to work ;D

Best of luck to you, Mrs. Rhody and the little one.

 

Sorry to hear this. Shameful the way it was handled. Sounds you handled it a hell of a lot better than I would have. Also sounds like -- considering your job description and your salary -- you'll wind up better off away from these bastards.

Best of luck.

 

I'm like most folks here, I only know Rhody from here. But if this is as stated, it totally sucks. And if it isn't, it still totally sucks!

 

Let me change direction and offer congratulations on being set free. When I got off the Titanic, it was more or less my choice. I worked at shit place for shitty people for shit pay for 19 years, but I stayed because I liked what I did, was good at it and was for the most part left alone to do my job. Things got progressively worse for the last couple of years until I finally had enough. The starting salary at my new gig is a $6K raise over the most I ever made in the newspaper business, and there are guaranteed annual raises. The last raise I got in the newspaper business was five years before I left, but I did get a pay cut in that time. I don't work nights or weekends. I'm sitting here now at home because it snowed. This is actually the third straight week I've had a four-day work week because of weather and holidays. I still get my sports writing kicks covering stuff for the next paper over, picking and choosing what I want to cover.

Absorb the frustration of the situation and turn it into a positive. Let freedom ring.

 

From what Rhody and Shiez describe of this paper, it would behoove anybody applying to work there to ask their potential bosses some very hard questions about communication and how they treat their employees before signing on.

 

What's a tactful way to do this? After a long career in newspapers, I'm usually very qualified for the jobs for which I interview. But what are the good questions to ask, during the interview process, to determine if a company and its management behavior are good, average or bad?

Good post by Shoeless Joe. I had the same experiences.

 

Rhody, you seem like a good guy, and I'm sorry this happened to you, but Shoeless Joe is right.

You were being taken advantage of. I know you liked your job. You were good at it, and you were able to implement positive changes that made the product better. That's always going to make you feel good. (I did the same thing at a job once, only to realize the bosses really don't care.)

But, you deserve, and are capable of making well more than $12.50 an hour.

 

I think there's ways you can do it. What I might try, since I'm this kind of person, is when they ask the inevitable "what do you see as your strengths" question, answer it with "I will sometimes say no if I'm asked to do something that I feel will be impossible."

I actually had someone flag that up as a positive on a performance review once, and it's still something that I do. I'll bust my ass for you, and I'll bend over backwards, but I can't do the impossible, and I'll tell you when something's impossible.

Tell em that, and their reaction should answer your question.

 

Luggy,
Loved this part of your post.
I disagreed my bosses a lot. But the disagreements were never about the work. The disagreements were about the things an editor should have been handling and telling us, so when we told the editor how stupid those decisions were, he/she would smile and say "yeah I know, but that's what they want" and then we move on. Instead, with no editor, I was the one telling the bosses how stupid some of the decisions (i.e. telling us to do all our work at the home office even if game is located next to satellite office) were.
My one biggest regret is not having worked with a competent SE in my time at the paper. We never had one because he quit in my second month there. Then everything was up to me and my co-workers to figure out.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to work with an editor who has as much passion for this effed up profession as I do.

Good news from my camp is I have the best friends in the world. My buddy called me the night I got fired; his girlfriend is doing something in medical sales and she's getting a promotion. They need someone to do her job, which she and my buddy said is perfect for me. It's basically delivering equipment to teams, athletes, colleges, etc.; the pay is literally twice as much as I made at the paper, there's benefits, a cell phone stipend and mileage - and not 32 cents a mile either.
If it were to work out, I'd be a 9-5er, but I could still get my fix stringing at night and the weekends.

Thanks to y'all for all the kind words on the thread, the PMs and everything else. This place has always been amazing in times of need.
I just need to get hired soon so I can contributed on the Dimwit on the Phone thread again ...

 

Wishing you all the best. I hope that job works out for you.