My first day
It’s been nearly four years since I started a new job at a newspaper company, but today I had my first day at the Patriot-Ledger in Quincy. I wouldn’t say my beginnings at the Sandusky Register or the Naples Daily News were necessarily reflective of my entire time there, but today did not go well.
First, after driving all the way to Quincy, I realized I’ll have to fill up the new van at least twice each week just to make the commute. That’s a solid $90 expenditure when I’ll only make about $300 in a given week. Upon arrival, I was introduced around the newsroom as the new “intern” and immediately asked which college I was still attending. I had naturally assumed this already about the job, but it was nice to finally confirm I was performing a job typically reserved for those fresh out of high school.
After sitting awhile by my desk — trying not to fall asleep — I soon discovered some of my important duties. 1. I must be the secretary of the newsroom and answer the phone whenever it rings. 2. I must clear all the junk e-mail out of the newsroom e-mail inbox. I wasn’t given a coverage area, a breakdown of the newspaper’s editorial policies or really anything remotely to do with journalism (except for one assignment, which I’ll touch on in a minute). It’s safe to say that about 90 percent of this first day at the Patriot-Ledger had nothing to do with journalism. Of course, they could have been just easing me in; my new boss seems to have a solid head on his shoulders, so maybe today was just the orientation process.
Still, today, for the first time since moving to Massachusetts, I wished I was back working at the Naples Daily News. When I left there nearly a year ago, I was so glad to be gone from that downtrodden atmosphere that I couldn’t have imagined anything worse. Even after everything that’s happened since I left — the financial insecurity of the freelance lifestyle; the cold, long winter; losing my relationship with the Boston Globe; having to work as a waiter — I never once thought for a second that I’d be better off back in Florida. Now, I’m not saying that my experience at the Ledger will be worse than NDN (today was only one day after all), but for a long time today I was missing my old job in Bonita and all the perks that came with it.
But, you know what? I still think I made the right decision. If nothing else, I had eight months were I got to work from home, see my little girl grow and help my wife with our pregnancy. Despite everything that’s happened since the end of March, it was all worth it just for those eight months. I wouldn’t give them back for anything. When I left NDN, I knew I might have to get a non-journalism job, or even start back from the beginning with another newspaper. What I’m doing now is exactly what I reasoned with myself that I would do if circumstances made it that way.
Despite all the gloominess from today, there was a little sunshine on an otherwise long eight hours. I was given a story assignment. Sure, it was a weather story, which I typically loathe, but it was nice to get back in the swing of things at a newspaper, interviewing people and talking about things I knew would matter to people in the paper. It may have been 30 minutes of joy surrounded by 7.5 hours of demoralizing boredom, but at least it was something.
