Sports Reporter, Sun-Sentinel

That sums it up better than my long-ass post.
But I just don't think I could trust someone who handles business that way. Especially when it comes to friends.

 

Been enjoying this thread. I'm still not quite sure how either the S-S or the editors who referred this guy have been "harmed." my guess is the paper has dozens of other good applicants who would love to take that job, so the paper will be fine.

As for the two who vouched for him, what do we really feel will happen to them? Maybe they won't get to have a strong voice on hires in the future. Big deal. If they keep their jobs and are respected for their work, I don't think anyone holds it against them if their friends are flaky.

Oh, and the text message thing was bad.

 

I actually don't think anybody's been harmed, exactly. Once somebody leaves a job, they're gone, and life goes on, and, as likely as not, you'll never see those people again, anyway, and nothing really matters.

People do back out of jobs. People do look out for themselves, and they probably should do so.

But there is still something not right about this.

What I just can't get over is how somebody would even seek to move around, let alone be able to do it, so much, within a year. And have it all turn out to be good and career-advancing for them.

It really is incredible, and, heretofore, was pretty much unthinkable -- not so much because of any principles, or whatever, but because...well, it just didn't/doesn't happen. I mean, how much good luck/fortune can one person have?

Don't tell me it just shows how talented Dunne is. Given the brevity of his stays at his previous stops, how many stories, relatively speaking, did he even write for any of them? Honestly, how great of a job could he have really done for any of them, given the short-lived stays?

Yes, I guess it really is a different era, that's all. But, if things like staying at one place, at least for a little while, and things like loyalty, to somebody, and something bigger than yourself, and things like the idea of truly excelling, at whatever you do, in each step along the way don't matter, and have some influence, staying power, or meaning, well, then, what does?

Oh, yeah. That's right. Nothing.

In a nutshell, this is what I consider to be much of the problem with a lot of people, and with the world these days.

If you ever ask yourself, "What is wrong with people?" and "What is wrong with this world?," I'd say that the growing manifestations of this is exactly the answer.

Nothing matters to people, and nobody cares, or sees anything wrong with anything.

 

I don't know if blaming the victim is right in this situation. Tim felt Tyler was the right candidate for this position, and he must've had some reason for doing so. Tim's an excellent judge of talent. I'm not sure what Tyler's situation was elsewhere, but he left a part-time gig in Buffalo. Can't fault him for wanting out of that as soon as a full-time gig opened up elsewhere.

 

Buffalo was part time? One might also ask why someone dipped out of a full time job to go part-time.

Also, very good point playthrough. Shops have to facilitate this brand of job jumping. And dkphxf, it seems silly to call a newspaper like this a victim. They still have a mess of candidates, and chose a very young one with an inconsistent history. Maybe there is a good explanation (some issue forced him to come home to the part time job, wanted to move back to full time), but sometimes a risky application is just that.

 

This, exactly, is part of the point I've been trying to make about this situation, in my worse, longer-winded way...

 

I've got one word for this whole situation: karma. Let's not forget this is the same company that during layoffs flat-out just told some people not to come back right at the end of their shift. I'm talking about major players there who had been at the company for 20 years or more. And this is the same company that also wouldn't even let some of those employees pack up their shit. They were escorted away from their desk and not allowed to return. So if Dunne indeed backed out via text message, that's just the fuck you (a small fuck you, but a fuck you nonetheless) the Sentinel deserved after how they fucked all of those people. And if I sound bitter, it's because I am after being a layoff victim myself. Although at least the place that laid me off had the decency to come up to me at the beginning of the day and tell me in as nice a way as possible. So bravo, Tyler Dunne. And fuck you, Sun-Sentinel (yes, I still use the hyphen because that's the way it should be!).

 

I'm sorry for your pain over the layoffs, especially your own, Harry. There are many on here who know all about such things, and worse.

What a company does, however, shouldn't change what we, as individual people should do...at least not if we're to do the right things. Two wrongs don't make a right, and all that...

It's what can make us better than any company we for which we ever work.

 

The guy was in Fayetteville. You ever been to Fayetteville? He's from New York. You ever feel like being closer to home? Particularly if you believe or maybe even have been led to believe a part-time job will turn into a full-time job?

Honestly - what is so hard about this to understand? Is the amount of time one spends flogging himself in anonymity a direct reflection of his character? Tyler has a shit load of writing ability. He's a great people person. Sports editors at successively larger papers realized those abilities are far rarer than polish or experience. They chose to hire Tyler. They just happened to all do so in a short period of time.

What about that is so hard to understand? For sure, in this climate, it's a bit of a fluke that two decent jobs were open at the same time. Otherwise, what is so puzzling? Go read his stuff. Give him a call and talk to him on the phone. You won't be puzzled. You might even pick up a thing or two.

As for the change-in-course from Fort Lauderdale to Milwaukee. . .

If you really think learning from one of the best NFL beat teams in the country is less desirable than covering high school sports in Florida, that's fine. You can make that argument. It's cold in Milwaukee.

But don't act like someone is a devious flake for choosing the type of job that might not come open for him again in years just because it was offered to him a week after he had accepted a less desirable job.

And really, to whoever said, "Shops facilitate this sort of job-hopping," just stop. How about this: Shops FORCE this sort of job-hopping because they have cut so many positions that kids like Tyler have no idea when something like a job covering the Packers will present itself again. Back in the day, maybe Tyler would have seen a preps job at the Sun-Sentinel as the perfect start to a long and rewarding career in the South Florida media, one that would take him from covering high schools to maybe covering the University of Florida or Florida State before an NFL job. But guess what? About half of the Florida and Florida State beats have been eliminated over the past couple of years because companies like Tribune decide it makes business sense to eliminate them. Which is fine. Maybe Orlando and South Florida don't each need a UF beat writer. But fewer jobs mean fewer opportunities. And that means that when an opportunity does come around, there's a good chance a reporter/writer is going to feel compelled to seize it.

Maybe, just maybe, the law of scarcity plays a bigger role in "job-hopping" than poor, poor sports editors who just can't keep themselves from enabling a manipulative youngster.

Besides, unless Tyler signed some sort of contract, he did not go back on his word. His word was: I accept your job offer. His next word was: I no longer accept your job offer. Would you rather him have spent a couple weeks on the job and then resigned to go to Milwaukee for the sake of semantics? Unless he promised to work for them for any set length of time, then I don't see how he broke his word. And if he did make such a promise, then it should have been in writing. And if whoever had his back inside the Sentinel feels hurt, well, you shouldn't. Because you both work for a corporation that could can your ass next week. And if Tyler feels like he is in a better situation than that, then you should be happy for him.

Either way, how the hell did any of this hurt the Sun-Sentinel? Couple hundred bucks for the flight to the interview? 50 bucks for meals? An extra trip down I-4/I-95? More than likely, it is just a matter of hurt feelings. Just realize the corporate suits above you helped make the bed in which you currently lie.

 

Lie? Lay? I can never get that one.

 

Lie. Lay usually requires a direct object in the sentence -- "You lay down the book" or "Lay out the mat," meaning you do something to the object. Lie is for items that are capable of reclining on a sofa or bed or something.