Balance: Work and Family

Do you get paid a salary or by the hour?

 

Tell your editor to shove it if something breaks on your off-hours and he/she is pissed about it. If your going to take crap, expect to be given a ton of it.

 

That might be the worst piece of advice I have ever seen here. And yes, Ace, I work hourly rather than salaried. It's just the mentality I grew up with.

 

Why? If your editor doesn't have a clue what you do or when you work, that's a problem. It's not your job to cover your beat 24/7, especially if you are an hourly worker.

 

Why are you guys ripping NightHawk for wanting to do whatever it takes for him to be satisfied he's doing the best job he can?

It's not for everyone, but there's nothing wrong with it being for him.

I suspect his attitude will change as he gets older and meets someone who he cares about more than his job, but he has to come to that change on his own. No one here can foist it on him.

By the way, my way was to be the luckiest guy in journalism. Got a pro beat with limited travel early in marriage. On salary, so made up for my in-season OT with lots of offseason doing nothing. Essentially kept that type of job for my whole career.

 

I can honestly say this - at 40 hours I'm done in most weeks.

I don't give a shit what is going on, it is not my responsibility to worry about how to get shit covered after I've worked my time.

Period.

I used to be like the creator of this thread - working like a dog "for the good of the paper" but that's bullshit. If they want a better product, hire more people.

 

Actually, yeah, it is my job to cover my beat 24/7. When you have a beat, you are responsible for getting that news as quick as possible wherever and whenever it happens. If you don't, someone else will and you look bad as a result. I don't have a beat at the moment, but when I do, it certainly is my job to cover it 24/7.

BB, you might be right. Maybe things will change. Maybe they won't. Nobody knows what the future holds. It's possible I find someone who I'm willing to sacrifice for, and it's also possible that I just stay single for life and keep doing what I'm doing. I'm perfectly fine with both possibilities.

 

I have always been efficient at work. Obsessively so. But it took me about 15 years and lots of self-inflicted bullshit to apply those same time-management skills to my personal life.

I understand Nighthawk's attitude. I was him for a lot of years. But as Sonner mentioned, shit changes as you get older. Approaching 40, I still take just as much pride in my work as I did in my 20s. Probably more because I'm much better at it. But I've learned how to pour everything into my work when I'm working, and completely shift that focus when I'm not. If you can't channel a Type A personality -- and that's a lifelong challenge, IMO, -- it will destroy you on any number of levels. Nighthawk, next time you're sitting in the office in the middle of the night, hours after everyone else has left, stop and think about what you're doing. Just think about it.

 

I have thought about it, multiple times. The reality is, at this point in my life, there's nothing I'd rather be doing and nothing I'd do differently. I mean, they're actually paying me to write about sports. If the tradeoff is that I have to work 15 or 20 hours extra a week, man, I still hit the jackpot.

 

If you're fine with that, more power to ya. But if you ever want more out of life than what work can give you, you're going to have to learn to adjust. Good luck down the road.

 

Plus you get to screw over co-workers who like to get paid for their hard work and don't consider work a 24/7 endeavor.

As for the original question, the worst decision I've made in my nine years of marriage is not attending my mother-in-law's funeral. We were traveling to Arizona for my brother's wedding when we got a call in the middle of Wyoming that she was admitted to the hospital. We stayed in Colorado one extra day to visit her, and she died a few days later while we were in Arizona. After a week off, I felt like I had a duty to return, which wasn't helped by the SE's comment that sometimes you have to just work. What did that get me? Nothing but angst. When you're writing four stories and designing six pages by yourself, what is the business really giving you?

peacer84 has been on my case in other threads, but ask him why he really left Dickinson. It's not for the reasons he's stated. I've been called bitter. It's an apt description.

 

Because 1. He's screwing over all his other co-workers by working unpaid OT. and 2. Some day, he's going to look back at his life. Is he going to want to say "Wow, what great fun it was to cover that prep game with a bunch of kids who didn't know or care who the hell I am?" or "Wow, what great fun I had with my family and friends?"

As far as looking bad on the beat, the days of scoops are over with the Internet. No one gives a shit who had a story first anymore. And if management is that concerned, then they should be willing to invest. Money. Put up or shut up.

And Nighthawk, you still can write about sports. Just write 40 hours worth of it, not 60. If you have that much energy, then get a second job, either in freelance, or at your local Wal-Mart. Right now, you are not benefiting from working the extra 20 hours. By freelancing, you get the clips, and the money. By Wal-Mart, at least you get a little bit of money. Now, you're getting nothing.