catchy title here
i'm the last 20 minutes of my shift at the paper.
i come in to a local paper 4 nights a week and answer the phone for the sports desk. it's not terribly exciting, tonight alone i've answered all of Zero phone calls. thursday night i'll answer 2 to 3, friday will be a few more and saturday will be about the same as thursday.
it's essentially subsidized study time. 4 hours of somewhere quiet with an internet connection. kind of like a library where you can eat and talk with out having to look over your shoulder for uptight librarians. plus, the writers are good guys when they're not on a deadline.
tonight the suburban beat reporter for WBBM came into the office and recorded a few sound bites for radio broadcast. interesting in it's rarity and for the amount of work that goes into 4 or 5 soundbites.
our big interest is local high school sports. most scores come through the fax line, and that's fine because most of it can be handed directly to the typist. basketball box scores need to be written into a form for his ease of digestion. when the phone does ring, it's merely a matter of writing the names and numbers down correctly and putting them in appropriate lines on said forms. then back to whatever activity i'm using to keep myself amused.
crosswords are popular, so is soduko. there's plenty of previous editions of the paper to raid should you complete the current challenge. plus there's a whiffle ball us clerks and the typist like to throw around. but only when the adults are gone. reading is popular due to the availability of material. but many also bring movies.
every time i talk about my job, my dad gets so excited about the fact that they don't give us computers and have us type in the scores over the phone. i tell him to stop trying to put me out of an easy job, but the question is valid.
mentally i figure it's a question of cost and complexity. they'd have to buy computers to put at our stations, train us on the software, test our typing ability, manage multiple file versions and data merges... or have us write it down, and hand it to one guy who's responsible for all the entry?
which sounds more corporate in an aging empire struggling to stay profitable and relevant way?
i come in to a local paper 4 nights a week and answer the phone for the sports desk. it's not terribly exciting, tonight alone i've answered all of Zero phone calls. thursday night i'll answer 2 to 3, friday will be a few more and saturday will be about the same as thursday.
it's essentially subsidized study time. 4 hours of somewhere quiet with an internet connection. kind of like a library where you can eat and talk with out having to look over your shoulder for uptight librarians. plus, the writers are good guys when they're not on a deadline.
tonight the suburban beat reporter for WBBM came into the office and recorded a few sound bites for radio broadcast. interesting in it's rarity and for the amount of work that goes into 4 or 5 soundbites.
our big interest is local high school sports. most scores come through the fax line, and that's fine because most of it can be handed directly to the typist. basketball box scores need to be written into a form for his ease of digestion. when the phone does ring, it's merely a matter of writing the names and numbers down correctly and putting them in appropriate lines on said forms. then back to whatever activity i'm using to keep myself amused.
crosswords are popular, so is soduko. there's plenty of previous editions of the paper to raid should you complete the current challenge. plus there's a whiffle ball us clerks and the typist like to throw around. but only when the adults are gone. reading is popular due to the availability of material. but many also bring movies.
every time i talk about my job, my dad gets so excited about the fact that they don't give us computers and have us type in the scores over the phone. i tell him to stop trying to put me out of an easy job, but the question is valid.
mentally i figure it's a question of cost and complexity. they'd have to buy computers to put at our stations, train us on the software, test our typing ability, manage multiple file versions and data merges... or have us write it down, and hand it to one guy who's responsible for all the entry?
which sounds more corporate in an aging empire struggling to stay profitable and relevant way?
posted by BG at 22:41
2 Comments:
good post today, but the post on the boys peeing picture was better. Very creative. Hmmm. I have an email to send you, but it's on my laptop and I can't access it without stealing a jump drive and transfer annoyances. Worst IT guy ever, Maybe I'll type you a message from right here! maybe not, maybe later
yeah?.. thanks.
i felt good about the tone of voice as i wrote it. and still do. i've been blogging for three years, and still have yet to find and maintain a constant 'voice.'
that's part of the reason i've started and abandoned a conference planning weblog a couple times.
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