Why are you angry today?
Tell us what’s making you upset at your journalism job.
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10,095 Responses to “Why are you angry today?”
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Pages: « 505 504 503 502 501 [500] 499 498 497 496 495 … 1 » Show All
December 6th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I’m cautiously optimistic right now. I just started what seems like a dream job, getting a decent wage to write what I want for smart people. I’m just looking back on the place I left, a family-owned daily run entirely – without exception – by gibbering idiots. Seriously. And I think that situation may be replicated at many papers, contributing greatly to the industry’s mess.
At my old paper, the idiot son of an idiot son inherited the business, and demonstrated his idiocy by hiring drunks, cowards and pompous dimwits for all executive positions. The competent people are all at the bottom of the totem pole, and struggle mightily to put out something credible every day. If the top half-dozen people at the place were fired, the paper would only improve – and the budget would be cut in half. Literally.
At how many papers are half the resources sucked up by people who contribute nothing? I’m willing to bet it’s a lot. If we could all shed that parasitic weight, I think we’d be doing just fine.
December 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
10000 me me me me
[Admin note: Nope. Close, but no cigar!]
December 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
9996 is right but here’s the problem; like a battered spouse, most journalists have know where to go to escape the abuse. In some parts of the country there aren’t many jobs for people with our skill set, in other parts the job market is already over-saturated with unemployed journalists and in some areas it’s both the former and the latter.
Hopefully anyone still stuck at a dying medium is being proactive and looking for “a way out” every single day, if not then yes they deserve the abuse they’re receiving.
December 6th, 2009 at 9:10 am
For my shot at 10,000:
I am sick to death of how everyone simply seems incapable of realizing how they’re being treated like slaves. No, I take that back. The slaves — regardless of when in history — had the good sense to revolt.
You all realize part of the reason the South lost the Civil War was because too many of the troops had to be used to prevent uprisings.
God, if only all the whining pewls here would just get up and walk out of their abusive work relationships. The whole thing would collapse, and something else could rise from the whole, sordid mess.
December 6th, 2009 at 7:14 am
9991 – I was going to post some advise but then realized you already know that what your employer is doing is not only wrong but possibly illegal, yet you put up with it. There is a word for people like you, “enabler”.
You (and all the other’s here that complain about the abuse you take) are “battered spouses”. You enable your spouse (employer) to continue the abuse.
You do not need ANGRYJOURNALIST forum, you need a “woman’s shelter” to protect you from the abuse.
There are laws that protect the rights of workers, all you have to do is first document the abuse, and then file a complaint.
You don’t do it because then your spouse (employer) will no longer “love you”. I have pity for you, and would offer some advise, but like a person in an abusive relationship, you will turn against anyone that tries to help.
People, “Journalism” is a job. The purpose of a job is to earn money to pay your bills, and have a little left over for fun. If you are not earning enough to pay your bills, find another. Problem solved.
But you don’t want to solve the problem that way, you want your “spouse” to love you like you love them (your passion for journalism). I got news for you, it is not going to happen. They will use you, and then kick you to the curb and take up with the prettier, younger and cheaper version of you.
December 5th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Listen, if we could get out of the profession, we would. I’d be happy to jump for something else, so don’t act like we’re bad people for not staying in a job until something better comes along.
December 5th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
#9991: I’ve stopped refusing to do overtime at all. My boss can’t threaten taking away raises because we NEVER get them. I feel for you.
December 5th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
9988:
I
don’t
have
to
wonder.
Wahahahahahahahahahah!
December 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
#9991: Keep track of the OT you’re not getting. When you leave that paper (and you will, somehow, someday) file a complaint with the proper federal authorities.
I’ve seen it work before and it will again. The “OT after 40 hours” is federal law (I’m assuming you’re in the U.S.) and is enforced.
Getting slapped with a hefty fine will wake up your employer.
December 5th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I am angry because our “employee manual” clearly states that we have a 40-hour work week and we must seek approval before working any overtime … Ha! It’s expected of us, but it also doesn’t count as time you actually work. You’re not a “good employee” if you are not eating, sleeping and breathing the company 24-7. Our publisher e-mails us at midnight and if we do not answer, we get in trouble.
Earlier this year, I got so fed up with working 70 hours a week for 40 hours’ worth of pay that I just stopped. At my year-end review, my manager questioned why I stopped working overtime and guess what. I am not getting a raise next year.
One of my co-workers spent 25 hours last weekend working on a special project. He had an appointment on Monday morning and came in an hour late. They docked his time off. He was pissed.
I am thinking about going back to a paper that has a guild that at least looks out for my interests.
December 5th, 2009 at 5:18 am
#9985: You poor, deluded bastard.
December 5th, 2009 at 4:16 am
9982 – there is something lacking in either your imagination, education, or motivation – possibly all three – when you cannot figure out how to canvas the opinions of those who shop online except asking them to call you. Many “in the field methods” are available and used daily.
December 5th, 2009 at 1:39 am
#9984: And you wonder why the office was deemed a health hazard.
December 5th, 2009 at 1:33 am
#9969: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
December 5th, 2009 at 12:51 am
The really sad thing is that I almost feel better about my situation after reading AngryJournalist. Almost.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
To all the people who say they want out of the profession: Go. The rest of us could use the job openings.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Dear Sandwich Stealer:
Here’s one especially for you: A foot-long sourdough roll with turkey, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, green pepper, olives, mustard, mayonnaise, a big smear of shit on both sides of the roll and D-CON sprinkled liberally on top of that.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
“Most Americans are patriotic, upper-working-class Christians.”
Math is apparently hard for you.
Your circle of friends may fit that description, but your circle of friends is not all of America.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
#9953: “For example: could somebody call me if they shop online. Get off your ass and go on the field to meet people. If you don’t you have no real connections or sources.”
Out of curiosity, where in the field do you go to find people shopping online? Are you suggesting the journalist break into random homes in the community until he spots someone shopping at Amazon.com?
“Go out in the field” made a lot of sense when people’s work took place in the field. Right now, people’s work mostly takes place at desks and online. Going online to reach them IS going out in the field, old man.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
In a down economy, our editor in chief has been given the cash to hire two reporters. But since he also gets a bonus for coming in under budget, he’s not, and raging against all the other newspapers in the chain for not giving him stories to use for his paper — in advance of it appearing in their papers, since his is the only one that apparently matters to him.
Oh, and circulation at his paper is down THIRTY PERCENT in a year, which he claims is people saving money during the recession.
Naturally, this halfwit won’t suffer any consequences for his ineptitude. If we were publicly traded, we could at least let some of the big shareholders know.