What would you not miss?

I would not miss the stress, the lack of pay, readers who think media is the "enemy" and freelancers who barely have a grasp on the English language. To this day, it irks me when people (usually coaches) get adversarial or overly nervous when I introduce myself as a reporter.

On the other hand, this business is a perfect excuse to go places and see things I'd never experience otherwise. It's an opportunity to create, rather than destroy, on a daily basis. And as for the hours, I've been an insomniac since elementary school, so they don't bother me in the slightest.

 

I voted for the idiot readers, but my answer might change tomorrow. My vote was influenced by the bitchy blue-hair who called yesterday to ream me because she couldn't figure out which channel was showing the tennis tournament on her cable system. I tried every possible avenue to help her, but after striking out, I suggested she call her cable provider. Unfortunately, she has found them "less than responsive," which obviously is my fault.

Yeah, the pay and the hours are lousy, but I can live with them. We're not exactly going hungry at my house, and I have a comfortable enough schedule and great bosses who let me do a good amount of work from home, which makes a big difference.

So I have to stick with the idiot readers (not all the readers, mind you, just the idiots) for now.

 

Along those lines, I would not miss dealing with the DBag athletes and coaches who treat us like crap. I can deal with almost everything else.

 

The poorest-paid profession in the world, exacerbated by the current labor/management paradigm . . . and you should listen and heed utter management tools who spout bullshit, for what?

 

I used to try and do that.

At my first post-Navy rag, I would do that. I'd go to the games of my niece's high school team, one of the squads we reguarly covered. It was tough because I would get people coming up to me asking me about coverage of their kid. Finally, after one particularly annoying mother (her son was a kicker who couldn't routinely make a 35-yard field goal but was hoping to get a scholarship) harassed me for two solid quarters, my sister turned around and yelled, "He's NOT working today. Would you just shut up and leave him alone?"

 

I will not miss the stress. I can be in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, but if there's a rumor that some coach might be talking to some other team, I'm in my office for the rest of the meal.

I also won't miss the massive dumbing down of the section in response to circulation drops -- or any of the other flash in the pan reactionary responses. Yeah, that's what readers hated, that we were too smart.

 

For me it would be travel and hours... While I think all-local fronts are just about the most idiotic thing ever, I don't lose sleep over them since I never look at the print edition...

 

The idiot readers.
But I wouldn't miss them by much.

 

That's the biggest thing to me. Standing around like a group of total fucking douchebags for an hour while some guy with an ankle sprain eats a sandwich in the off-limits area, knowing we're all waiting for him and not giving a shit. Then saying he's not talking when he walks out.

Requesting a five-minute interview with a football coach on some mundane topic through sports information and getting a third-degree interrogation about it.

That would be the stuff I wouldn't miss.

 

Early in my career, all of the PR guys I worked with were tremendous.

Now, all of 12 years later, they're all douchebags.

 

I wouldn't miss the lack of respect from readers, non-readers, coaches, athletes, parents, team management, newspaper management, friends, family, etc. We live in an age where you must respect the janitorial staff (and rightfully so), but you can treat a journalist like gum on the bottom of a shoe.

 

Same guys? Or different guys?