I admit it. I ...

Is this what the comic book nerds call a retcon, or would it be a reboot?

 

I once ended up on the prominent-person-dies or regular-person-dies-in-spectacle obituary beat for a few months. Nothing like calling grieving relatives for comment the day their loved one dies.

The worst was trying to get comments from parents whose kids just died. That was a thousand times worse than anything I saw on the police beat.

 

am sometimes a bad father.

(At least according to my wife.)

 

Yes I hate it, but texting makes it a lot better for me. I feel I'm much less intrusive if I text first (and explain who I am if it's a cold call to someone I don't already know) and ask if it's a good time to talk.

However on some breaking news stories (most recently a the hire of a football coach at our biggest school) where my concern fades and I blow up every possible phone number I have/can find.

 

Should have learned from Doggie Daddy.

 

... always thought the lyric in "Take It Easy" was, "Looking for a lover who won't blow my brother."

 

Glad I'm not alone in feeling that way. Most of the time when I make those calls, I'm sitting there praying it'll go to voice mail so I can leave a message and they can call me back when they're in a mood to talk. One of the reasons I'm thankful for the rise of text messaging.

 

I definitely thought I was alone in this. It's kind of an integral part of the job to cold call sources, yet I was never terribly comfortable with it. Of course, I hate talking on the phone with pretty much anyone.

 

She's so hard to find.

 

As an aside ....

If you ever look for a job outside this industry, this is a really good skill to point out. Virtually any position requires you to communicate with other departments or customers or executives and you can say that you did this routinely as a reporter/editor.

If the job requires presenting to executives or leaders, you can say that you often called business owners, CEOs, athletes, etc. to interview them and present their side.

Really good skill to highlight.

 

I hated this, too. It got easier over time, but that was always the worst part of the job for me.

 

One summer when I was in college, I spent two weeks working for a telemarketing firm (one week of which was spent on jury duty and looking for another job). It was awful and I hated it. It's the only job I've ever quit specifically for that reason.
Looking back, though, I'm glad I did it. Even that brief period of time was enough to teach me the basics of how to navigate through phone systems and receptionists, and helped with some shyness issues. It was really valuable experience for a reporter. Journalism schools should require it as part of their curriculum.