KC Star lays off "about 50"

One thing I'm taking more and more from these threads these days: A lot of you must have had a streak of really shitty managers over the years.

I'm all for the front-line people, but if there weren't good managers going to those meetings and keeping things organized and doing the budgets and a lot of the boring grunt work when they'd probably rather be writing or whatever, the front-line people would be in a lot more trouble, not less.

A newspaper can't start with a top layer of writers and copy editors. Somebody's got to be running the show, thankless as that task can be sometimes.

Maybe I was just lucky with a series of many good bosses -- yes, mixed in with some bad ones.

 

Am guessing it will be a scripps paper, not sure which...

 

My personal record, strictly in terms of SEs, has been 3-3-3. That is, three good ones, three bad ones and three meh ones. (My record so my definitions of good, bad and meh, I completely acknowledge.)

Still, three good ones out of nine total is a disappointing percentage. Funny, but the three good ones were front-loaded in the first third of my career thus far (before I became a know-it-all, maybe). Two of the three bad ones prompted me to change jobs with great determination and speed.

 

My first one wasn't because of a good or bad boss - simply a chance to go home.

The next two were horrendous supervisors - one in each case, not the bunch as a whole. The last two were out of my hands - the moves were family-related and zero to do with me. That stinks because management at my last two stops was pretty good.

Now? Don't even freaking ask.

 

I've had six sports editors.

One gave me my first job and was out the door before I could blink.

One is considered one of the top SEs around, but I didn't trust the guy as far as I could throw him. Nice guy though and has done really well for himself.

One was a complete pain in the ass to work for, but he always had our backs and I respected the hell out of him for that.

One (another big shot in the business) wouldn't even return calls from his writers. I would call him and he would have one of the deputies call me back. He was like that with everyone on staff with the exception of the lead columnist. I worked for him for almost two years and I'm not convinced he would know who I was if I ran into him. He's at the top of the business and was a complete and royal turd.

One was the nicest guy in the world, but would throw anyone under the bus if management had any issues with them.

I'll be PC and not make any comment about the most recent one. ;D

 

i had three SEs before i took the last one's place. in order:

1. great guy, competant.
2. great guy, competant.
3. total fucking tool.

 

Tell me, were they "competant" enough to know how to spell competent?

 

nope. but they taught me how to spell "bite me" correctly.

 

Frostbite Falls goal scored by No. 1, Bullwinkle....

 

slappy, they also taught me how to spell "suck it."

 

. . . assisted by Squirrel, Rocket J. . . .

 

Professional courtesy? No, the sharks just don't want to deal with the bad taste and a queasy stomach ...