Getting screwed over by bosses ... how to deal?

The worst thing about this to me is the fact that she never has consecutive days off. That, to me, is total crap. I don't care how small/short-staffed a place is, not giving people days off in a row is awful.

If I was her, I would ask if it is possible for her to get consecutive days off in return.

 

For years, I had Sunday's and Wednesday's off. Couldn't take Sunday and Monday off -- ever. Was the bosses bowling night, you see, and even the night my car blew its engine didn't matter.

 

this sounds like a bullshit situation all-around, and it's another reason journalism is becoming full of fail.

joew, i agree with you, dues-paying is a necessary evil. but in the old days, at the end of the rainbow, were things that much better? (you seem a fair bit older than i am, so you can answer that question more accurately.)

 

Unfortunantly, I don't see any recourse she has, other than quitting. But I wouldn't take any BS if management tried anything else (forced unpaid OT, for example). I'm guessing she's at a small paper that, judging by the way it's run, isn't a very highly paid gig. Worse comes to worse, she finds something else while looking for the next job.

 

Slappy, that is total crap. If you couldn't take Sunday and Monday, then you should have gotten Tuesday and Wednesday.

For a boss to not find a way to give employees consecutive days off -- especially employees who work nights -- is total crap. We give away too much in this biz as is without even considering the pay. The least a boss can do is find a way for their employees to be able to get a two-day break. That's probably good for everyone involved.

 

http://www.journalismjobs.com/

Besides that, I'd go into the news editor's office (or the EE's if the NE is a spineless buffoon) and outline my objections to the moves, especially without consulting me on the changes.

But I'd definitely polish up and send out that updated resume.

 

Depends. Only a lucky few ever found a pot o' gold at the end of their rainbow. But usually, moving up the ladder paper by paper meant something was improving -- either your pay or your profile or your skills -- and that made it seem worthwhile. Now you can go from hyperlocal for a 20K daily to hyperlocal for a 190K daily, the bosses aren't any better, your hours aren't any better and whatever raise you got when you walked in the door might be the only raise you ever get. And you're getting older by the year, which makes your job security worse and the lack of it less tolerable.

Now you get to the end of the rainbow and find last week's overflowing bed pan.

 

Ain't that the truth. Sometimes, I think the smallest paper I worked for was the least dysfunctional.

 

I worked at one joint for almost three years, and I never got consecutive days off. Not once. At one point, I worked 111 days in a row.

 

My boss at my first full-time gig made a big show of giving everyone two days in a row off. He wasn't the best boss I ever had, but at every paper I worked at after that I made a point of requesting two days off in a row and I got it 99.9 percent of the time (when I had two days off in a week). However, it wasn't until my last paper that I got the same two days off consistently.

 

Starman,

If you never got consecutive days off in three years, you had a horrible boss.

Everyone needs to have a break.

There are clearly times when things are busy and people need to work extra and power through, but it shouldn't be the rule. You're an employee, not a robot.

 

It appears Starman Justice is all talk. I wouldn't settle for that shit.