Arriving to an empty building

At least a few of you get it. It's not that we WANT to do. It's our job. Deal with it or get the fuck out.

 

I know this could go around and around forever. So the main reason I will keep trying is so that no young writers who trip upon this thread get the idea that what you or Starman are suggesting is the correct way to look at it.

If you, as the writer, decide what you do or don't cover on your beat, and you make decisions based on who cooperates the most with you, chances are you are not doing your best job as a writer. And you are not servicing the readers. Because the reader matters more than the ease with which you do your job. They don't care about how the hot dogs are made.

If the readers don't care, and you don't care, then it's all one big null set. I get that. Then at some point, you'll probably get out and come back here and puff your chest and tell us how great life is now that you don't have to deal with prep sports.

But if you are assigned to cover something, I've always thought the idea has been to cover it the best you can.

 

So you gotta call every day before every game to see whether it is on as scheduled or not?

Awesome. How does splooge taste?

 

To all young writers who trip upon this thread:

Don't pursue a career in traditional print journalism. Think outside that particular box.

Seek to do more than just watch sports and spout pretty words for a print publication.

 

Part of the assignment is the time to show up. I'm not talking about rain delays or first games of a doubleheader that run long. Those can't be controlled. A schedule change can be controlled with an email, text or phone call.

If the beat writer wants to show the dedication to hang around the school for three hours until game time, more power to him. Except, as Starman noted, schools will then think it's OK not to notify them of the schedule changes. Reality is, beat writers have families, too. Are the readers going to reimburse the writer for the babysitting costs that the writer incurred so they could go cover that afternoon game? Are they, or the paper, going to reimburse the writer for the fast-food run they will now be making because instead of going home or the newsroom to eat, they now have to order something out or not eat dinner until 11 p.m.?

If the reader matters so much, I'm sure the paper will be more than happy to spring for the overtime to cover the time wasted in the afternoon, as well as give the full-blown coverage to the night game, right?

 

You're not going to like the answer ... but that's not your customer's problem. That's between you and your employer.

 

Which means it's the employer's problem then. Let's say I have four hours of work that I have to complete. Do they want to pay me to sit for three of the hours, then leave after one hour of the game? Do they want me to sit for three hours, cover the whole game and pay the overtime? Or have me come back to the office, take a three-nice brief, and fill out my four hours taking results and working on future stories?

It's up,to the paper to decide how they want to treat the reader. I'm just hired help.

 

I'm so glad you get it. Thanks for at least trying to help them understand the expectations of their job. The problem is it's a generation gap. I'm sure these guys are all much younger and think the world owes them something or they're old, tired, burned out motherfuckers that just don't give a shit any more.

Either way, they need to find a new line of work. Walmart would be a good starting place.

 

Speaking of companies who make employees work off the clock ...

 

Nevermind.

 

Oh well, whatever....

 

In MN, the coaches post their varsity schedules on the high school league site. Only problem is...most of the time they put the start time as when the JV game starts. But you never really know for sure. Fell victim to that one a few times...