Rebuilding my castle...foundation is halfway...

[LoisB]

I have a phone interview with another publisher this morning. This company owns several newspapers and regionals in the Finger Lakes.

Yesterday was weird. I need to write it out.

First of all, I get this email last week that the "team" overseeing me and the newspaper was having a team meeting this week, but I wasn't invited. ?

At this point, I'm like, just leave me the eff alone. Whatever. Sorta par for the course with this company. Last week, I was told on deadline that a tab I had pushed and pushed for was coming out...THAT DAY...no warning. Just, hey! we've decided to go with your idea and we're putting the tab out. Decided not to stress you.

So, yesterday comes...

It was deadline day. I was in maybe the best shape I've ever been, as far as having copy done and in place. I only had a small handful of holes on the sports page and last page. I had made sure to get things in early because my paginator had some weird family crisis involving his spouse's husband... IDK. He's a nice guy and put up with me when I was a mess, so I accommodated.

Anyway, he wasn't going to be in until 2 p.m. so I had a nice morning--one local stopped by to tell me about a story and how much he loves the paper--another stops by to tell me she has found me a house to buy (not ready for that)-- I got to the main office at 2 p.m.

3 p.m. comes around and he finally arrives. He's a mess. And, he has another project which needs to go to press at the same time as my paper. There's some problem with the ads and he's all over the place.

Before we even get started, he gets pulled aside to get a talking to from the upper, anal editor about something he is doing with my paper. He's editing on the page. So, this gets his nerves all jazzed up even more. And, I get where they are coming from...but, this guy has been working in this certain way for decades with this company and it works for him and the pages he creates. He crafts a newspaper page like a work of art. Sadly, the men in charge aren't artists, they are anal-retentive types and keep coming down on him about this stuff which is really rattling his cage.

Every time we make headway on a page, he gets a call about the other publication. I didn't get out of there until 6 p.m. I was hoping to be done by 3 p.m. And, in the end, we WERE editing on the page because I was stressed and he was stressed and I just wanted to get the damn thing done. I'm sure I will hear about the editing on the page today.

In the middle of this kerfuffle, the managing editor who hired me...the one who really likes me and supports me...calls me into his office. I asked how my "team" is?

He said, "You know so-and-so and anal-retentive head editor aren't good bosses for you." I got the feeling I was being told not to trust them.

This editor can be a bit of a drama queen, but still. It like..."Ok, you're hired, but here's this new angle to worry about"

I've had trouble with anal-retentive since the beginning. The other was a bit of a surprise. He was referring to the editor who has been mentoring me and was in on the hiring meeting. He's also very anal-retentive.

Editor who likes me said he wants to look over the front page copy on deadline, early in the morning. Ok. I ask, "Is there a problem?"

"No, but I don't want there to be."

Ok. I guess they were bitching about my not following AP Style or something. IDK.

What upsets me is all of the backroom talk which then sifts down to me.

Again, back to not being valued by the company, valued by the community...I feel sorry for this sad, little community, but D12 is really anxious to skip this next winter.

While I've learned a lot here, I seem to continue to come back to the same conclusion. This job has reminded me a lot of my marriage. I'm given a Herculean task to accomplish while others are given loads more support and less criticism, I'm expected to handle the workload without complaint, I can't fully trust anyone, I get a lot of decisions made behind my back which I'm not privy to and I'm not valued for my contribution. That's my marriage to a T. Weird huh?