The Week That Was Pt 2 - Lost and Found edition

I guess this is going to be part two of the week that was, I hadn't planned on a part two to that entry, but events far beyond the control of myself have brought about a need for it.

When last we left, it was Wednesday morning, I had just put in an all night shift at the radio station (actually I wrote from work in the wee hours of Wednesday morning) and Wednesday passed pretty much without incident, no Hank blowups, no problems recording anything, just me getting work done for my upcoming vacation.

That being said I had gotten very little sleep, none at work overnight and I made it home in time to put my head on a pillow for about an hour or so, then I got dressed and headed back into the Original Hot Dog Shop. I'll admit part of me just wanted to lay in bed and not go, which is never a good sign three days into a job. I should note many of the things I wrote in my previous entry about how it seemed like nobody there cared given they were sticking me by myself with little to no training on my second day I also said while I was there to Joanne, who is the evening manager. Call it Blunt Force Trauma, the live version if you will, but I said, why should I care when apparently no one else does, otherwise I wouldn't be back there by myself without being trained on the register or on any of the new items on the menu in the last 20 years? Certainly if somone did care, they would have spent a few minutes on training me on the new stuff that had changed. Apparently Joanne ran off and told Bruce, who is the owner's son and not one of what we would call the brightest bulbs on the planet. Usually his idea of what is good for busines is prone to backfiring. In any event, I drag myself in Wednesday, hang up my stuff and punch in and Darren, who is managing that afternoon told me I wasn't on the schedule. To be honest, I thought to myself "I got out of bed for this?' but he spent like 15 minutes calling all around to find out if I was on or off the schedule and apparently I was off, so I got up for nothing. Seems Joanne talked to Bruce either while I was there or after I left and he thought he should just get rid of me. I hope it was after I left, I would hate to think I finished out a shift on Monday when I was no longer employed. That would piss me off just a tad.

Now I still have to go home and try to grab some sleep that I didn't get, and then get ready for another overnight shift at the radio station. I got almost no sleep however, instead I just ended up watching a little TV and getting ready to head back out for work. I get to the station and put in one of the weekend shows for the other AM station and start working on commercials for when I am on vacation next week and putting together instructions for said vacation. I eventually laid down and napped for a few hours but I was back at it for 5am Thursday.

The good thing about Thursday was that it was a payday in the radio empire, so I got to go to the store and do a little grocery shopping after work. Plus on the way I found another three Pepsi caps. The finding things just keeps on happening. I have found .62 since I complained that I wasn't finding anything, the change meter is at $39.93 and again $40 seems achieveable and unlike the previous day, I didn't have to rush home for work. I did try to call back the other place that has been calling me, Smithfield News, a 24 hour newstand in downtown Pittsburgh, but just got an answering machine, so there was no rush to get anywhere. Just me getting home and relaxing in my own place for a bit with nowhere to go and nothing to do until my overnight shift Thursday night.

Of course I slept too long Thursday afternoon and by the time I got up and got dressed for work I was hardly in the catch a catnap at work mood before the 5am news, so I just went in and recorded another weekend show and did another commercial feed or two, figuring what I didn't get done Thursday I could easily finish Sunday night when I was there. Oh the best laid plans of mice and men.

Remember how I joke about how we are doing radio on the cheap, well another trend came out, those are the one month numbers for Arbitron that tell you how you did for the last month and we are at the point where they can't even measure the audience because it is too small. It is what happens when you start doing crap radio just to get checks rather than putting for a compelling product that people want to listen to. Anyhow, I am running the board Friday morning, just doing my thing, I snuck down to the production room and banged out a few more commercial spots, and I taped my most recent Lou Dobbs report to run at 12:30 or so, when Ron, our program director stops by the booth. He said he needs to see me in the conference room. If you can guess what's coming, then you are smart like I am. I get there and the general manager is in the room and I am told that my services are no longer required, the station isn't making enough money and they are doing away with my position. I can't say this is much of a surprise, I have mentioned in these pages before that I thought it might happen. Friday was that day. I was offered a small severance package, 1 month's pay + the time I worked this pay period + my unused vacation time, which turns out to be all but one day, since I didn't get to use it yet. All told it was a prize package worth about $2500.

I think Ron took it harder than anyone, save for me, though I was poised when the news broke. Ron constantly apologized to me and said if there was anything he could do he would, if anything opened up I would be the first person he called, if I needed a reference just to give his name and he would put in a good word for me anywhere I applied and he ended up hugging me twice before I left, calling me a pillar of the station and that he knew he could count on me and on and on. It was nice to be appreciated by someone who actually understood that I did do something around there on occasion.

So after some shock and awe on my part when I got back to my apartment, I got about the business of checking my phone messages and the newsstand people called again, so I called them back and finally got a live person to talk to. I have an interview on Tuesday, so I may not be out of work very long, though I am still planning on going home for the holidays and by the sounds of things, I will not have a final interview with them till the week after Christmas, so worst case scenario I will have time now to do my Christmas shopping without work getting in the way. I also went about applying for unemployment compensation, I figure I have paid into it for what, 20 some years now, maybe I should take a penny or two out. After all, its not like I was unwilling to work, I was eliminated through no fault of my own. I even contacted another radio station that is owned by the people that just canned me, seems they need a news director in Indiana PA, which is where most of my family lives. My mom heard this and she go all excited, she still wants me to be the kid that lives at home, and while it would be nice to not have to buy groceries and what not, I think we are about 19 years beyond that point in my life. Still, if I am going to be home, it can't hurt to listen if they want to talk.

Saturday has been a typical day, I started the Christmas shopping finally, and made some calls to people that I hadn't talked to in a little while. I did talk to Lynn, she said if she gets all of the i's dotted and t's crossed, she would like me to join her on her new radio gig, but that is still a work in progress right now, and even if it happens, it will end up being more of a part time gig, so I am not going to put all of my eggs in that basket, but if it happens it would be cool to work together again. I also tried talking to Doug, he hasn't answered his phone in ages, I don't know if he is perturbed at me, or if he is just busy being his ever reclusive self. I did make plans with Lynn while on the phone with her, she invited me over for the Steeler game on Sunday, so us ex employees are going to commiserate for a while watching football and drinking alcohol, always a fine, fine combination.

I also managed to find even more soda caps while out shopping, including a couple from Coke, so I am eking ever closer to that free month of Pogo, I am about 9 points short now. I am almost tempted to just buy the soda for the points and be done with it, but I am still holding out hope that purchasing will not be required, after all, I am jobless now, can't be wasting money needlessly.

And there you have it kids, the week that was.  We now rejoin your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress.