For Whom The Bell Tolls

Most companies aren't going broke. They're just making a shitpot of money...but less than before.

 

I think we can applaud Moddy's position. It's admirable. I think everyone wishes they could do that. But it's just not reality for everyone. I'll have to admit that it's tough to get a perspective on something when you haven't been in those shoes.

I can imagine that it might be difficult to leave a place where you've spent your entire life and then leave it to crumble to the ground. I imagine some managers have a desire to repair the ship. Perhaps that causes them to hang on and struggle through some difficult layoffs.

Perhaps others are just downright selfish or frightened. It might not be the macho approach. But nobody took an oath. It's only natural for people to protect themselves, too. Where one editor might be able to or willing to walk away, another guy might have been diagnosed with cancer two weeks ago. He might go home and put a gun in his mouth because he's so upset that he had to let a desker go. We just don't know.

I just don't think it's right to judge people. Not anyone. And that doesn't mean I'm not guilty of it myself. It's an easy thing to do. We're taught that. Sports journalism is all about that.

But that doesn't make it smart, acceptable or admirable. I can applaud Moddy. But I don't have to agree with him completely. Sure, in a perfect world, we'd all do that. I was a editor for a short time, and I would have walked away for another employee. But there were weeks that my wife would have slapped me across the face for even thinking of it.

Even when people come on a thread with their bitterness and showcase their jealousy and hatred, I try hard not to judge them. I might want to tear them a new asshole. I might want to paint them in a negative light. But it goes away. I understand. We all handle emotions in different ways. Stress, jealousy, anger, they're all expressed by people in different ways. Nobody is just rotten to the soul or completely selfish. Something has to trigger that.

Without compassion and compromise, we just keep falling into the abyss. I said it before, back when I was still posting under another name and making enemies over silly shit over which I have no power. And I'll say it again.

Be a soldier, brothers and sisters. Stand up and be a fucking soldier. We're on the same side of this war. I'll be damned if I'm going to stand here while we take aim at each other.

 

That was a great post, Italian_Stallion.

Really. I see your points, and would agree with everything you said, as well as with the sentiments expressed.

But to answer Joe Williams' questions:

Yes, making much more money than your subordinates, or having a golden parachute when you leave, does soften any blows -- any at all, that the higher-ups may have to give, or that they agree to take, themselves, for the good of others. It may not feel to them at the time that it does that.

Nonetheless, it's like watching someone else, someone who doesn't have a life jacket, go down with a sinking ship (literally, a sinking ship), while you cling for dear life to your vest. Sure, when it's happening, you'd be horrified, and terrified, and feel panicked and horrible for the other person.

But you'd still be glad you had the life jacket. You'd still rather it be somebody else that drowns, and not you.

So, yes, it changes everything.

The higher-ups simply are not in the same position, one of being forced to leave. And even if they decide on their own to do so, it is probably, essentially, because they can -- thanks to that very fact that they made so much more money all along, or have accumulated so much more of a severance package, or, for whatever reasons, they're unworried enough about their job prospects and the future, to be able to make such a choice.

It is that greater power of choice -- made possible because they have more available, viable and livable options -- that is usually the difference between employers/supervisors, and most of their employees.

Now, that is not necessarily wrong -- or right, either. It's just the way it is. But it allows them, even if not us, to survive.

And, right now, that's what this industry is all about: survival.

 

I couldn't agree with that more.

 

Thanks, W.T., nice perspective.

 

So here's a stupid question. Can someone who is 35 expect to find a spot before someone who is 22 and fresh from college? Because logic tells you a paper should hire the most qualified candidate. Either way, someone is left in the cold with the door shut in his/her face. Then again, both that 35- and 22-year-old might be standing out there together for a long, long time.

Oh, and I got confirmation today that my freelance gig isn't quite up yet. I'm not sure what that means. But it's bittersweet given that I know staffers who are facing an uncertain future after today's layoffs.

 

I can guarantee you with 195% certainty that the boss that let me go loved every minute of it

 

5 minutes after he fired me my roommate, who was a photog at the paper, told me he was in the office joking with the EIC.
Not a sign of guilt but a little inappropriate considering he just crushed the hopes and dreams of a young journalist

 

My guess is that he drives a red Jag to his Monday Hairclub For Men appointments and then has to record The Apprentice so he doesn't miss a second.

 

This is a guy who wears a polo that is two sizes too small with food stains on it from god knows how long ago