"I'm leaving the business": How do people react?

I got out a few months ago. My whole career had been in sports journalism until then. Pretty much across the board, everyone understood. Family was thrilled to see me get regular hours and a decent paycheck for a change. Ditto for my friends. In fact, seeing me get out encouraged one of my friends to look for a job outside of newspaper. One month later, he was out. Ex-co-workers understood as well. Several e-mailed me asking how I found my new job.

 

What kind of job did you get?

If people don't understand the state of the industry, then fuck em... People who aren't in the business think we have the greatest jobs in the world and we never have to do anything that actually resembles work.

More and more, people are seeing all of the stories about all of the companies who are cutting jobs and buying people out and they're able to understand a little better.

 

Pull out the pay slip and circle the bottom line. Then show a log of the hours you worked in the past week and highlight the small portion of those hours that are free games. That'll show 'em.

 

Cover a game on the other side of the country on Christmas as your wife and kids celebrate without you and see if it's possible not to think about quitting...

 

Bottom line, what do you care what other people think of your career choices?

 

I think because it is so much of my identity with a lot of these people that a part of me is frightened that I'll lose something in these relationships ... I know it's irrational.

 

Do what you think is right. What would Waylon Jennings do?

 

Fifth of Jack probably.

 

There you go.

 

When I left the biz I had a simple response: "It was fun for awhile, but now it's time to do something else. I've proved I can be a sports writer and now I need to be challenged in a different way."

Pretty much everyone understood. That and the 35% raise I got by moving outside the biz was pretty convincing.

 

Let me guess: Toll booth attendant?

 

Curious what you're doing now...