But once in a great while I pause and think for a while and wonder why nobody at the office seems to case for quality as much as I do. Yeah, me with a notoriously messy desk nearly all the time. But when I put stuff in the paper, I'm very close to a perfectionist. Not to an obnoxious degree. But I want my spelling and grammar and logic to be 100%. Maybe you've seen that here--I take a lot of care in these entries, that the words are spelled right and that the grammar is correct. That's just a carry-over from the job.
I'm also thinking about my paper. It is a small weekly with a very small staff, and some of them aren't very sharp on quality or proof-reading. Our paper has many errors and typos. It gets embarrassing at times--and frustrating when you see the attitude of some of the people. If you look at the paper, I bet you'll be able to tell which pages I was in charge of. Because they look good and clean. The uneven lines are ledded out. The headlines are well balanced and the pictures are fairly well composed. At least with sports, you don't get "firing squad" pictures very often--where people stand in a row as if they're about to meet their maker.
It sort of crystalized today. We have a staff of three, and the editor decided she is going to take two days off, on Thursday and Friday. Five-day weekend. How sweet is that!
But we have an early deadline this week (Monday, the normal production day, is Memorial Day in the States, so the deadline was moved up to Friday.) So all her work is dumped on the other two. And I had a heavy week of news/sports this week. The result is that I've been up to my armpits in alligators--things have gone at a frantic pace. From what I hear, the editor went camping with some friends. Good for her! It must be nice.
I'd say 98% percent of the time I keep my mouth shut and just mutter to myself. Today, I told the office manager that it was unfair of her to do that. (And it's hardly the first time this has happened, too.) What's going to come of it, who can say?
But I can't count all the personal sacrifices I've had to make on behalf of the paper--personal trips delayed or canceled, extra hours away from home after the work day. When the winter sports seasons are in full swing, sometimes I'm working four nights a week. Then, you have to be around town on holidays to get pictures of the parades and other ceremonies. In summer, you rarely have a weekend to yourself. Weekend? What's a weekend? For me, the concept of getting two days off to relax and recover from five days at work is completely alien.
Other things today had ticked me off, too. I went to pay the water bill--but left the checkbook in my desk, forcing me to make an extra trip. Then I changed jackets at lunchtime (weather got too warm for the heavy one) and had to write a check that afternoon. The checkbook was back in the heavy jacket. I went out to get a haircut before my weekend trip. Closed--Thursday is the barber's day off. Had to run around and do more errands for my wife after work. Then she dozed off with the cat, and dinner was late.
Anyway, this Thursday to forget is over. I went back to the office tonight to do some writing and editing that had to get finished--Monday comes on Friday this week, after all, even if we're short-handed. Once all that is done, we are supposed to pile in the car and head off to the inlaws for two days. We have to return Sunday night--because at 9 a.m. Monday I'm out, doing Memorial Day coverage. (Or is that 8 a.m.? Better check!)
I know you had a better Thursday than I did. I just hope by the time I get home, all the stress I'm feeling right now will be just a memory. Anyway, I can feel myself getting tired. Time to take some extra strength Tylenols, lie down and try to sleep.
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