Friday night press box

don't know about mcdonald's, but most starbucks other than those right smack in a downtown close at 10 pm, which is generally too late if you're up against deadline

they do have free wireless now though. you just have to register a starbucks card

 

bluetooth adapter. cell phone enabled with bluetooth. life is good.

hell, with some computers you don't need a bluetooth adapter.

 

I always look for hotels with free wifi. Many have it now and most will let you use their lobby to file so you're not sitting in your car.

 

This treatment is pretty common in my experience. Those guys just want to go home.

With wi-fi and everything these days, can't you find a wireless nearby and write from a coffee shop or something and not bother with these jerks?

Why let these clods jerk you around?

I used to file from one school in the middle of nowhere at a closed gas station that had a pay phone with a lightbulb hanging over it. I would type in my car and send from the phone.

 

I second the hotel lobby. I've never had an issue and it is a perfectly quiet place to work. I'll never stick around those boxes after games again.

 

Is that your choice?

I know my past bosses would have sent me if they felt they had to.

 

Ace, ever get locked in behind a chain-link fence.

I had to jump over one while dealing with a 1980s-vintage portable.

 

Amazed this has yet to be mentioned.

If you are getting into conflagrations with administrators, worrying about how to jump a fence, how to escape a locked building, etc., you're obviously trying to go the extra mile for your job and it's not working out. So finish up in your car, pick up your cell phone and dictate.

Given all you've tried to go through to send in your story, is it really that ridiculous to ask someone to pick up a phone and type on a keyboard for 10 minutes?

If your paper has kids in to take calls, then no one should even mind that much if you dictate. And even if you have to dictate to a desker and he/she is a real ass about it, they're still going to take it rather than be left with a big hole on their page at 10:30 p.m. on Friday.

Dictating isn't fun for anyone, but sometimes it gets the copy on the page faster than anything else, and depending on where you work geographically, sometimes it's simply the only option.