Media General goes to furloughs

Truer than you know ... when Ford brought out the second generation of its small SUV, it switched from disc brakes to drum brakes at the rear wheels because drum brakes are cheaper. They're also less effective.

Most of the domestic small cars have drum brakes to shave a few pennies off the price of building the car.

 

That's not the only idea he's lacking.

 

You are wrong on that front. I do know how hard it is to be a real manager in that scenario.
I think we've gotten a little off track so I hope this straighten things out without egos getting bruised.
When your hands are tied, you do the BEST with what you have. If your best isn't good enough, then so be it.
You can't worry about about things you can't control and the furloughs are something you can't control. If something doesn't get covered, it doesn't get covered. Higher ups want to know why, you show them why.

 

The hell they aren't that clueless. The people in charge don't know anything substantive about the newsgathering process; they don't care about how painful labor is so long as the baby gets born.

If somebody put me on furlough for 4 days during busy season (with the standard two days off thrown in, I assume), I'd take the terms literally and leave town. The Bahamas are cheap and plentiful. "You want me? Come find me. I'm on a Bahama. See if you can figure out which one."

 

Our ASE is on furlough in late March. Only he and I know how to paginate the entire section (the SE is learning but won't be up to speed until summer. Long story).

When the ASE is on furlough, I think it would be interesting if I have some kind of family emergency. Given my son's medical history, you never know.

 

It got off track because others misunderstood where I was coming from and instead of reading thought it was best to react with an overblown ego. The insults pretty much proved that.
The bottom line is, you do your best with what you have. That's all I've been saying.
In Media General scenario, the pieces have been taken away from the puzzle. They have to work with what they have and hope for the best.
It's what the business has become now, unfortunately.

 

Absolutely. Fucking. Positively. Undoubtedly.

This isn't puffing my chest (not taking a dig at you Mod, just sayin'). I am not working on my furlough day. I am not checking my e-mail. I will refuse to answer my phone if the call is from work. And if they want to fire me? Great. Just fucking end this charade now. I've had it. Everyone reaches a snapping point. That's it. Of course, I'd love to see how a termination for "not working on the day that he's not allowed to work according to labor law" holds up in a court. That would be fun.

I'm not working for free. I refuse. Our sports department is done. We've gone from eight people to five in the last eight months. And now, during the busiest season of the year, we're going to lose a MANDATED 20 days of work hours. Goddamn right shit won't get covered. Maybe people will be pissed off that the state high school basketball tournaments will be covered with phoners. Or that we don't staff anything that involves our three local universities. Or maybe our readers have already given up. I wouldn't blame them. Our product is garbage because we've picked the bone clean. Not enough staffing. No commitment from management. Just writers and editors who used to give a shit that can't any more, because we're too weak to fight it.

 

I wish I had the answer to getting it done with less. I'd be rich beyond rich. I don't and I'm not trying to post-pad.
Play, I have really learned as a manager that you can't worry about stuff you can't control. Cover what you can and get the paper out on time. There's really no trick to it other than that. Obviously, the MG people have big problem to overcome.

 

I don't blame you one bit Cosmo.
Which is why I said there isn't anything to stand for. Your hands are tied. The only thing you can do is try to stay alive by giving the higher ups what they want while at the same time doing your job to the best of your ability.