What's the worst thing your boss has ever made you do?

I didn't have to do it, but I had to make somebody else do it at a small-town daily, because the publisher ordered it.

"Accent your pot roast with a can of whole kernel corn from Durkee's, five cans for $1.35 at Albertson's."

Etc.

 

I had to cover a girls soccer game once.

 

My boss assigned me to cover the UFC this weekend.

Doesn't compare to any of the above, but painful nonetheless.

My e-mail box is smokin' with missives from diehard UFCers who told me to go "back" to figure skating (as if I were ever there) because I failed to evoke either the magnitude of the big winner's belt nor the "sublety and art" involved in this sport.

Watching a guy getting loaded up into an ambulance and rushed to emergency, when the "expert" beside you tells you they kept the bout going because all the blood didn't impede his vision, nor was there "any skull showing," will colour your copy a bit.

Actually, in a twisted way, I kind of enjoyed poking fun and I'm trying to be mature in responding to the e-mails. Not often you see a guy with a condom ad on his ass in the "cathedral of hockey."

 

i wonder how many of our stories could fit into the following template:

publisher X had a friend/arranged an ad/knew this guy/was fond of this business, so he made me go and cover it, then got pissed off that i didn't do Y. i eventually did Y, but by that time the publisher had moved onto another friend/ad/guy/business.

 

Reading this thread makes me think I must work for some of the best people in this industry. I've never had to do a pet project for the publisher or anything, have had sports editors that are reasonable and have done their best to get me raises, a publisher who's a former reporter and understands.

There was one time, when a city councilwoman's gymnast daughter went to school somewhere out of state and was having a good season. The councilwoman would not get off our SE's back about it, so he finally tells me to call the girl and do a story, "to get Councilwoman Mom to shut the fuck up." I understood.

Anyway, it also happens that our paper was the most profitable one in our chain last year, which isn't even sayin a lot. It's not like we're some beacon of journalistic excellence, but I don't think this is a coincidence.

 

Close this thread. We have a winner.

 

First job out of college, I accept a position halfway across the country and away from my girlfriend (now wife) covering a SEC program for a 40k paper.
The school I covered was two hours away from the paper, but we still had a decent readership for the team. Seven-plus months after I get there, I'm told the beat is getting cut and that I -- due to budget cuts -- am going to be the paper's new high school reporter if I wanted to stick around.
I accepted the position after being told by the SE that I would get the other college beat when it opened (I knew at the time it was coming open very soon -- I lived with the guy that held it).
So, about three months later, said college job comes open. I've spent three months busting my ass covering 22 high schools and a DII women's basketball program's run to the NCAA tourney, broke a couple decent stories.
I'm then told by the EE I have to "apply" for the previously mentioned college gig.
I ended up getting it, but being asked to apply for a job I was told would be mine left the palate a bit sour. I left that paper less than six months later and have been happy every day since.

 

I worked in a town where we routinely covered junior-high girl's volleyball. Twice a week there I was on the floor of the gym taking photos, keeping notes and trying not to get hit by a ball that seemed to go everywhere but over the net. Obviously it was a small daily.

 

That's horrendous... I couldn't believe it when I heard of a place that covered JV football and hoops...

 

Wow. I ask the following not to insult you, but out of real, honest curiosity: Why didn't you just say, "No. I'm not doing that."?

 

Ever tried to fill two to three pages a day in a small town with no wire service? Junior-high football, basketball and volleyball had always been covered there because we had space to fill. In the summer, we also ran daily recaps of all the youth baseball games in town. I think the only reason anybody even bought the paper was because we had so many kids in the paper on a daily basis.