LaGrange, Ga. sports writer

I'm not saying I'd do this. I have a sense of loyalty for someone giving me a chance. But there's a reason we don't sign contracts. We're all free agents.

and someone said this earlier, LaGrange isn't exactly close to Atlanta. Probably about an hour and a half. Auburn is about 20-30 minutes down the road. Columbus is close. That's pretty much going to be it for life outside of LaGrange.

 

Oooh, poor wittle newspaper, getting left out in the rain. Here's the god's honest truth about your career: Nobody is going to take care of it for you. It's on you. If that means dumping your recently accepted job in favor of one that suits you better, then that's what you have to do. You don't owe the newspaper anything but the work they're paying you to do, and that's only so long as you're accepting their checks. They certainly would have no compunction whatsoever in throwing you out on your ass if they so choose. Beyond that, you're doing nobody any favors staying in a place where you know you're not happy.

This, by the way, is a comment on the biz in general and is absolutely not intended as a slap at Eck, whom I know and respect, despite his obvious expression of frustration here.

 

i'm with the eck on this one -- pretty shitty to start and then bolt after such a short time. you have second thoughts and bolt before you start, that's a little different. to leave for a job outside the business after five weeks means that you probably had no interest in writing anyway and just needed a job.
I guess the gist of most people here is that it's OK to screw over the guy that hired you. nice.

 

Don't take it personally or anything. :

Last I checked, Eck didn't sign the kid's check -- the paper did.

The company, which will go out of its way to screw you faster than you can drop trou, doesn't deserve jack.

Am I condoning leaving a gig after three weeks? No.

But your example is flawed. First, he's moving to a related field. Second, he'll still be writing plenty, in between fetching us hacks coffee and compiling tackle stats. Third, maybe he had a realization the first day he was there.

Would you rather see him stay there, hate the place then later go postal?

When is a "good" time for him to quit? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Halloween?

 

I guess I was always taught that you don't jump ship after being somewhere a month. You give it a few months to see if you really like it or not, not 4-5 weeks. Once you're hired, why would you immedately start looking for another job anyways?

 

If someone from a publication twice the size of yours found you and said "we'll pay you twice as much," would you turn it down?

 

I was looking for a new job before I even STARTED my first job.

 

I have no problem with someone leaving after five weeks, five months or five years. I left my last job after five months, and I knew I was leaving them hanging. However, the person leaving here did not give any notice. He informed me by phone in the morning he was leaving, and that night he told me via email he wasn't coming back. That simply should not happen. Period.

 

Mike Cameron's from LaGrange, right?

That's all I got.

 

I haven't been at the paper I'm at for five weeks. I've been here a few years now. There's a difference. Besides, the two people that left our paper didn't move on to "bigger and better things." One got out of the business and the other went to a smaller paper.

 

Yes, he is. So was the guy with the Reds who was killed a couple years ago, IIRC

 

Two wrongs don't make a right Eck. You should not air personnel matters on the net. Period. You could've handled it any number of ways but to do what you are doing is not professional and vindictive. As an administrator, you should know better.