Does this sound fun?

Beat writer for indoor football team that is playing for the championship in a week. Newspaper decides that it will staff the game, which is about 9 hours away. Plan is to leave early AM Saturday to drive up there, covering the game, write a gamer, sleep, and drive back the next day. I will probably have to write another piece for Monday's edition because the game will end probably 20 minutes before deadline. Should I look forward to this trip??

 

Hell no you shouldn't be excited. That sucks.

 

Hell yes you should be excited. You might make a few bucks on the mileage.

 

I am taking a company car -- no mileage, thank God

 

Do those hours in the car mean you work less that week? I dunno if it's an industry standard, but for my paper, you put in 40 hours, including games and travel. So if a game is an hour away and starts at 6, you show up to the office at 3, prepare, drive to the game, cover the game, drive back, write it, and leave by 11. Plus take scores from coaches if there were any other games that night.

Mileage is sweet, though I drive a hybrid. $0.23 per mile, which is definitely lowballed, but still comes out to about $9 a gallon for the mileage I put in it.

 

i love a good road trip and actually didn't mind this type of assignment

bunch of CDs, shades, a cooler full of pepsi and a couple sandwiches, and let's ride

 

It really depends on where you are going sometimes. I like good road trips myself. I do a little research on the town, find a good eatin' place and pick up a copy of the local newspaper.

Also, it depends on if you like the sport. One thing I hated was traveling 5+ hours to cover a Class 3A High School softball playoff game. Two teams dominated by pitchers, final score 1-0 in 13 innings. Three total baserunner. And a five+ hour drive home.
But indoor football I'd do.

 

FYI, if you drive to an event, the company is supposed to pay you the hours you spend driving.

 

Ace, I had an editor try to tell me otherwise many years ago.

He said driving was not company time. I told him if I was going to or returning from a game, it most certainly was company time. He continued to disagree and then tried to say we could claim hours or mileage, but not both.

I told him next time we had a weekend college game, I would just stay another night in said college town and return Monday instead of Sunday. If Monday was my regular day to work then it would be the travel day.

He changed his mind.

 

Yeah, sometimes the editors need a reminder that travel is on company time. You don't magically get to and from an event.
I had to remind my editor of that once when I was sent to cover an 8p.m. game 7 hours away, and was scheduled for a desk shift the next day. Was an hour late to the desk shift (only because on the trip home got stuck behind a wreck) and at the end of the week he was trying to figure out why I had listed 15 hours worked on the return day on my time card. "Well, as much as I tried to make a wish and get back to town, it didn't happen, so I had to spend seven hours on the road then another eight in the office."