What would you not miss?

That's because everyone thinks that we're "elites" who need to be taken down a peg or two. Which is what Rush, etc., tell them, and it's filtered into the culture at large.

You hear the same garbage about doctors and lawyers. Of course, we get paid about 1/5 what those guys get.

 

I wouldn't miss the hours and inconsistent days off, but the increasing what's-the-point quality would run a close second. The media have so many avenues these days, and the collective lumping of dedicated journalists with those less so can make the whole enterprise seem a little pointless and endless.

 

I got out of the business twice and was miserable both times, so I consider myself lucky to be back in and I'm very happy where I am, except I work with an editor who is incompetent and inflexible. Replace her with a professional, as her predecessor was, and there's nowhere else in the world I'd rather be.

 

Different guys... Most of the good ones retired and were replaced by guys who wake you up in the morning telling you that your news story about the player who got the DUI and beat his wife neglected to mention all of the charity work he does.

 

In whatever order:

-- Idiot bosses
-- No advancement (within or to other papers, since they're all shedding jobs)
-- Being so dependent on jockocracy for cooperation, quotes, access
-- Devaluation of writing, versus rushing information in shorty stories onto Web
-- Airports and airlines and airline travelers
-- Diminishing impact relative to TV, radio, Interwebs
-- Hours, especially sense of being "on call" 24/7 when doing beat
-- Offseasons in which you're almost never off anymore
-- Extra work demanded (blog, audio, video, Web bulletins) with no $ bump
-- Extra work demanded with no real idea if it will "save" us anyway
-- Sneaky, unethical competitors and even worse, sneaky, unethical colleagues
-- Repetition, redundacy and repeating oneself: Season after season, writing the same stories (prize rookie, aging vet, fringe guy, payroll squeeze, contract squabble)

Pay, funny enough, never has bothered me much. I learned in blue-collar family to live within my means. But if the job loses its fun, satisfaction, pride or teamwork, then the pay SUCKS!

 

I voted the hours. Like Moddy, I thought I would miss the chase -- but I think I am more or less detoxed out of it. Working from home now, in a more 9-to-5 setting, has been really refreshing to my creativity.

rb

 

On another thread along these lines, somebody once wrote that if they're going to be pissed off and miserable about work, then he/she might as well have nights and weekends off with more money.

That said, I got around the shitty hours by moving to the desk, where I'm not on call anymore. I don't mind the nights and weekends because I like hitting the pool at 11 a.m. when no one's there.

 

There is a guy in our office that makes coffee each afternoon.
I swear if I put it in my engine, I could get another 5,000 miles.
I take my cup over there, fill it up, and say, "Fuck, I wouldn't miss this."
Then, the next day, I'm like a goddamn moth to a porchlight, wandering over there mid-percolate.

 

Sirs, Madames,

I don't mind the idea of travel, just the logistics. How many freakin' hours at the airport? Six, seven and eight hour waits for connections on Euro flights. (Hell is Heathrow.) I'd love to have all that time back. Some of the driving has been bad too. Every year I have two or three drives when I'm just too tired, just too beat up (e.g. to Quebec City and back same day, better part of 15 hours total in a hard freezing rain, not counting the game and the story in between).

I would not miss press conferences.

I would not miss having to do expenses.

I would not miss having to cut a 2800-word story to 2000 words. In an hour.

Funny, I've never minded the hours.

YD&OHS, etc

 

I am very lucky not to work in some of the conditions you guys have to contend with.
My answer would be agents. As I get older, I have to grit my teeth more and more to make those phone calls. Deep down inside, I really don't give a shit how underpaid your client is at $3 million a year.
Along the same lines, I hate writing "money" stories. Not why I'm in this business.

 

...and the spellcheck.

It's camaraderie ;D