LaGrange, Ga. sports writer

BULLSHIT!
It was a personnel matter. The kid left and will probably make more money as an SID than in journalism. Kevin had no right to put his comments on the net and should be reprimanded for it.
That being said, LaGrange is a good spot for someone.

 

How close is LaGrange to Augusta? Apparently if you caddy at National 12 times in a year they let you go out on caddy day.

 

LaGrange and Augusta are barely in the same time zone (literally). Good deal at National, though. Wonder how I'd look in one of those white jumpers?

 

As boots said, you keep that to yourself.

Say you took another gig, Bamadog, and after three weeks you got an offer for a better salary and some better hours. Are you telling me you would fall on your own petard solely because some for-profit entity would be short manpower?

Or say you took a gig and after three weeks realized you did not like the place. Maybe the newsroom was filthy, maybe the ME never showered, maybe co-workers gave you wedgies after work every day -- I don't care what the reason is, but maybe you just didn't like it. Would you sacrifice your personal happiness solely so a corporation could go on without experiencing a bump in the road?

I've been in situations such as my second scenario before, and I'd say that the kid who was there "a whopping five weeks" made the right call to get out, if he was unhappy. He also made the right call to get out if he got offered more cash, because loyalty ain't a common element in this business.

 

I left the job this summer to become a teacher, but Kevin is a great guy to work for. He does a large part of the layout, so you really get a lot of time to write. There are far worse places to work. If you have any questions just PM me.

 

As someone who has been at a few different gigs over the past few years, you've got a point. And the answer is no, if I didn't like a place, I'd run. But I've been able to avoid that because I've learned through painful experience that you've got to do your homework (cost of living, can I even find a place, the reputation of the editor and publisher, etc. etc.) before you decide to even interview.

And you're right about loyalty. When a corporation will pay you X amount of dollars, you then show that you're worth more than X and deserve Z, yet are rejected on getting Z because "dollars are tight," yet when you leave, they give Z to the new guy who isn't worth a damn, it's proof they sure as hell aren't loyal to you. So nor should you be in return.

My objection was not so much dogging the kid, or making a value judgement about Kevin mentioning that fact (he is the No. 1 in a two-man shop), but really trying to build up what is a great gig. LG is a great town and I have no problem recommending that job or working for Kevin at all.

 

Didn't mean to jump down your throat earlier, either.

You are right -- someone should do their homework before getting themselves in a situation. I've done my homework before and ignored some pretty sound advice from people here, as well as following their hunches -- no one is foolproof.

 

Meh. LaGrange is a decent town, better than some to be sure, but I don't know that I'd call it a great town. It's nearish to Atlanta, but not close enough to pop over after work on a Friday night. It's probably closer to Columbus, and Columbus sucks.

 

I don't blame Eck at all for mentioning somebody left after five weeks. I'm just amazed he got another job. A five-week gig doesn't look good on a resume.

 

I don't know the situation at LaGrange, but at the paper I work for we've had two people in the last three months leave after working less than a month. Both people applied for our paper and another job at the same time. We offered them the job first, they took it, and then a month later got offered another job and left. Now that's shitty.

 

If the second job was better/paid better, I'd say that's perfectly reasonable.

 

Just curious, what would you do if you were in their shoes?

Scenarios like what you discuss, while not ideal, happen a lot more in this business than you think.