i don't care

It's different for SEs, Tomas. You're right about that.

But as an individual worker-bee, whether a writer or desker or something else, you can only do so much. But you can still take pride in your own work -- THAT'S only bastardized if you let it.

 

you've got it backwards. we provide ourselves with the reasons to keep going. we have to. there sure aren't many built in.

the crap pile is so high on the other side of the scale, yes, it's becoming harder to keep up. doesn't mean you can't do it. doesn't mean you don't man up.

but it is not fun to know that when you're manning up, sucking it up, doing as much with far less, some higher-up is benefitting most from your own self motivation, not you.

 

I love this place (SportsJournalists.com). I really do. But what is, uh, difficult sometimes is that I DO still have this love for my job, a passion for what I do, and I feel like I'm some sort of idiot savant for it. (Some of you may even drop the "savant.")

SHOULD I wonder about myself because I sit at my laptop some afternoons and search college rosters for local athletes? Because if I DIDN'T do that, I'd miss it. If I were to retire tomorrow, I'd miss it. If I'm on vacation for two weeks, I miss not doing any crucial pages in my section.

 

Funny you say that. The other day, I was in that massive Northwest terminal at the airport in Detroit. My dad was looking for print ads from local banks (long story), so I figured I'd be able to find some papers for him from different cities, or at least Detroit, in that place.
I walked 2/3 of the length of that terminal, which is so big they run a train across it. I saw one Wall Street Journal on a seat. One. That's it, no other papers in an enormous airline hub. And precious few people reading one. They don't even have recycling bins there.

 

Ehh. That's why it's called "work."

Get out of journalism and you'll find the same thing in other lines of work. It takes a lot to get ahead in this game, and most of us never will. There will always be "higher-ups," there will always be some kind of "manning up" grunt work that you have to force yourself to do, for no benefit of your own.

You have to find the motivation within yourself. You have to find the meaning in it, for you. That's called "life."

 

funny how "life" seemed a lot better when the work of many was not being done by so few. it's not a crime to notice that and make a relevant statement about it.

that's not why it's called work. it's called work because you do it and you get paid. and take away the fun from this job, and there isn't much other incentive.

don't get me wrong. i DO care. i care a lot about what i do and what's it's worth to me. i'm not in the leaving-the-biz line.

but facts are facts. morale is down across the board in a lot of american industries. i have a feeling it has little to do with any one soul's personal ability to stay self-motivated.

 

look, i understand what you guys are saying.

still, shit just sucks sometimes. i can vibe with tom.

but since i know nobody likes to hear complaining, i'll shut it now.

 

buck - you're at 70 percent. does that not impede your ability to do good work?

shots - you are a difficult human being.

 

No, babe, I'm hard.

 

you're such a tease.

 

I wouldn't say I don't care, but I care a lot less than I did a year ago. Not about my job, I still bust my ass every day, and I'm passionate about what I do.

But if it doesn't directly affect me, I no longer care. News has a fuckup on A1 that needs fixing? Great, call their asses back in and have them fix it. I'm busy.

I'm sure when I see who gets whacked (and who doesn't) in our upcoming layoffs, I'll care even less.

 

foaf - i'm not saying i won't do my job to the best of my ability, because i will. i'm too narcissistic not to. but i just don't care about the profession any longer. you only can love something that doesn't love you back for so long.