Dear dimwit on the phone

For those that need it, and it's a great resources, most games on TV are listed pretty early in the week via 506sports.com (used to be the506.com)

 

Easy there, pressboxer.

Don't want SnarkShark on you for this.

 

We ran a photo of a kid from Local High jacking up a kid from Podunk High, with the player's helmet nearly getting popped off. In all honesty, it was a great photo, so we put it on our Twitter feed. Well, a student from Local High has a Twitter handle that pumps up the football team, so he retweets it and it gets retweeted about 20 times or so.

It finds its way back to the kid getting jacked up, and more importantly, his insane sister, who calls us saying that her brother is getting bullied because of the photo. I never actually got the chance to talk to her, because our editorial assistant took care of it (thankfully). Then again, I'm not sure what I would have told her had I gotten that chance. For starters, she's not a subscriber, and she's from a town outside of our reach, so I'm not exactly worried about a "I'm canceling my subscription" threat.

Secondly, I'm afraid I would have told her that her brother likely would be much more embarrassed that you're calling the newspaper fighting his battles for him. She really just wanted to hear us apologize for the photo because she kept saying, "How would you feel?" Ultimately, though, I would have told her to contact the school and tell them a student from Local High is bullying your brother over the internet and that they need to do something about it.

This goes to show that 1) Kids are pussies these days, 2) I'm happy I didn't grow up in this time and 3) I'm not about to take blame for simply doing what we do, which is report the news, good and bad.

 

Is the photographer, editor or paginator's contact information listed with the story? I'd guess not.

How, exactly, is the reader supposed to know how to reach those people -- or, in the case of the specific deskers involved, even their names -- without contacting you first?

I'm sorry the reader got annoyed with you… but you're the only direct line available. I hope you were able to supply her with the proper contacts.

 

Holy crap. Are we going to shame people into not posting how they handled these situations now?
This thread is about the morons we deal with...not HOW we deal with morons.

 

I remember a couple years ago, I got a clipping from a reader saying why our TV listings couldn't be as good as those at the paper in his winter home. Our circ is in the four digits. The clipping was from The Arizona Republic.

 

I can't think of a single other place where an editor's or photographer's phone number would be. Can you?

 

Got to it before I could. I would hope you could pass on the information of who she should contact or use that transfer button on your phone.

 

Maybe it should be on how to deal with morons, so you don't have to deal with morons any more. Maybe, if you inform the morons about how things work, they won't waste your precious time any more.

 

What's it like living in Candyland?
If you think you can rid the land of dimwits to help fill this thread, I want the drugs you are on.

 

No shame was intended, and I apologize if anyone was offended by my post.

I don't believe a reader who used the contact information provided with a story to ask about a photo included with the same story would be a "dimwit on the phone." If the photographer, editor, or paginator's contact info was also there, then the reader is indeed a dimwit.

That's not the case at my paper.

In general, I'd much rather a reader, dimwitted or not, called me than the overall SE anyway. He's not likely to know what s/he is talking about, if he responds at all.

 

I think some ya'll takin' this thread to seriously.

This site is like going to a local bar and talking with your buds or just the others folks saddled up to the bar.

You tell stories, you vent, you make shit up. You yell, you commiserate, and you make comments about things that you would never make in front of, say to your preacher or your mom.

This thread is about people we come across in our work that make you stop and go "Really?! You just asked me that?" Then you come on here and share the story. Sure, if you want to add how you fixed the situation, fine...but I don't need to know the end result (some obviously do).