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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 20:32:54 GMT
I was laid off in 2009, and one of the happiest days of my life was when I realized the fact that Gannett didn’t give a shit about quality had no bearing on the great work I did in that career. I was fortunate enough to accomplish an awful lot in my time as a journalist, and make it to a pretty high-level destination. And I worked my ass off to do so. Now, I do my job and do it well, and take advantage of whatever professional development opportunities are available, but my heart and soul goes to my family. I listened to some bad advice when I was laid off and it may have somewhat prevented me from going back to Gannett. My cousin called up posing as my lawyer (he is a lawyer) and got me a considerably higher severance package than what they were offering. I got an extra three months of healthy care and an additional six weeks of pay. He also got them to give it all to me in a lump sum, which allowed me to collect unemployment sooner... He used my "comp time" as leverage, but I ended up getting 6 months of pay after only being there five years. What he did helped immensely financially, but it may have also prevented me getting hired back. In hindsight, I'm glad, because I would have missed so much time with my kids if I was still covering the NFL. Your kids are more important than Aaron Rodgers?
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Post by doctorquant on Nov 7, 2018 20:33:24 GMT
In the whole raising-kids-division-of-labor thing, that's pretty much been the constant ... I do the morning drop-off. Even those few times I've had an 8 a.m. class, there's still been time for me to do that. That's careening toward an end, too, as TFDQ is 17 and will probably have a car to start the spring semester. Division of labor. LOL. I know ... sorry.
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Post by mizzougrad96 on Nov 7, 2018 20:33:41 GMT
I listened to some bad advice when I was laid off and it may have somewhat prevented me from going back to Gannett. My cousin called up posing as my lawyer (he is a lawyer) and got me a considerably higher severance package than what they were offering. I got an extra three months of healthy care and an additional six weeks of pay. He also got them to give it all to me in a lump sum, which allowed me to collect unemployment sooner... He used my "comp time" as leverage, but I ended up getting 6 months of pay after only being there five years. What he did helped immensely financially, but it may have also prevented me getting hired back. In hindsight, I'm glad, because I would have missed so much time with my kids if I was still covering the NFL. Your kids are more important than Aaron Rodgers? Slightly. He would eventually have grown to hate me.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 20:34:34 GMT
No worries. Just a good-natured reminder of my brand. 😃
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Post by lcjjdnh on Nov 7, 2018 20:37:10 GMT
My job isn’t perfect, but the lifestyle it enables for my family is pretty close. Some days - some weeks - I wouldn't have shit to do, because of the cyclical nature of things, and then, right when I'd be sitting down to watch the Bulls or Blackhawks game or the fucking Final Four on a Saturday night, buzz goes the cell phone. I know a fellow who is now a partner at a big NYC firm who said he didn’t even he enjoy his weekends without work because there was always looming threat that a call or email might ruin whatever he happened to be doing. [/quote] My friend’s father used to say that’s why they call it work, not fun...
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Post by mizzougrad96 on Nov 7, 2018 20:42:37 GMT
I'm always happy when I hear about people getting out of journalism and landing on their feet.
I know so many people who didn't. One guy who covered GA/colleges at my last gig was working at Chipotle and was there for a couple years. I have no idea where he is now. I hope he found something better.
I was offered a job working for the team's website a year before I was laid off. It was a slight pay cut and I stupidly turned it down. The guy who took it is still there about 10 years later. At the time of the offer, there was still that stigma of working for the team and that you weren't a "true journalist". Needless to say I think people started feeling a lot differently when we all started getting the axe.
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Post by btexpress on Nov 7, 2018 20:46:11 GMT
My evaluation is two-plus months overdue, and the final holdup is that neither I nor my supervisor can come up with a company-required "goal" for the next year. There comes a point where 35 years in the business + 5 years from retirement + hopelessly dying industry just don't lend themselves to tangible "goals" to achieve.
I can't even think of any fake, intangible ones. But I'd like to get my raise (and the 2 months' back-raise pay), so I had better think of something.
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Post by mizzougrad96 on Nov 7, 2018 20:51:21 GMT
"Where do you see yourself in five years?"
"With your job."
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Post by mizzougrad96 on Nov 7, 2018 20:51:48 GMT
My evaluation is two-plus months overdue, and the final holdup is that neither I nor my supervisor can come up with a company-required "goal" for the next year. There comes a point where 35 years in the business + 5 years from retirement + hopelessly dying industry just don't lend themselves to tangible "goals" to achieve. I can't even think of any fake, intangible ones. But I'd like to get my raise (and the 2 months' back-raise pay), so I had better think of something. God bless you for surviving that long.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 20:53:17 GMT
My evaluation is two-plus months overdue, and the final holdup is that neither I nor my supervisor can come up with a company-required "goal" for the next year. There comes a point where 35 years in the business + 5 years from retirement + hopelessly dying industry just don't lend themselves to tangible "goals" to achieve. I can't even think of any fake, intangible ones. But I'd like to get my raise (and the 2 months' back-raise pay), so I had better think of something. Something something synergy something cross-functional initiative.
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Post by doctorquant on Nov 7, 2018 20:54:08 GMT
My evaluation is two-plus months overdue, and the final holdup is that neither I nor my supervisor can come up with a company-required "goal" for the next year. There comes a point where 35 years in the business + 5 years from retirement + hopelessly dying industry just don't lend themselves to tangible "goals" to achieve. I can't even think of any fake, intangible ones. But I'd like to get my raise (and the 2 months' back-raise pay), so I had better think of something. Something something synergy something cross-functional initiative. What do you have against "diversity" and "leverage?"
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 20:57:17 GMT
One thing I've noticed, and maybe the older guys can weigh in here -- for all the time I spent dreaming of early retirement when I was in my 20s and 30s, now I have no intention of even trying to leave the workforce when I'm 55. And it isn't a money thing. I just can't imagine sitting around on a Wednesday afternoon with nothing to do. The kids are gone and the intensity of the homefront responsibilities isn't there anymore.
Some whackadoo professor last year was theorizing that the workforce would be better off with people ramping up slowly in their 20s and 30s and hitting it full-tilt in their mid-40s to continue into their 70s. It did sound kind of ideal from the individual standpoint.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 20:58:52 GMT
I did everything I wanted when I was younger. I can't imagine why I would even think about retirement. That, and I don't have any retirement savings... that might play a part.
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Post by sharky, Hunter’s text buddy on Nov 7, 2018 21:00:07 GMT
I'm still in sports journalism and covering a niche sport.
I work Wednesday-Sunday, so I miss weekend stuff for my kid, but he's young and isn't involved in anything organized yet. That's going to start in a couple years, though, and it's going to kill me if my schedule doesn't change.
On the other hand, Mondays and Tuesdays are all ours. We spend both of those days together, all day, and it saves us a ton on daycare to only have him in Wednesday-Friday.
I suspect I'll eventually stop being a reporter someday, but I just don't want to. It's a big part of my identity, still, and I love doing what I do (although I'm certainly glad I'm not with a newspaper any longer). I wish I didn't have to edit as much as I do now. I'm good at it, but it blows.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 21:14:38 GMT
One thing I've noticed, and maybe the older guys can weigh in here -- for all the time I spent dreaming of early retirement when I was in my 20s and 30s, now I have no intention of even trying to leave the workforce when I'm 55. And it isn't a money thing. I just can't imagine sitting around on a Wednesday afternoon with nothing to do. The kids are gone and the intensity of the homefront responsibilities isn't there anymore. Some whackadoo professor last year was theorizing that the workforce would be better off with people ramping up slowly in their 20s and 30s and hitting it full-tilt in their mid-40s to continue into their 70s. It did sound kind of ideal from the individual standpoint. I can’t wait to retire and ship the kids off to adulthood. Wife and I talk about this all the time. We’d spend half our time traveling and the other half sitting on our asses doing absolutely nothing.
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