We just put up a bunch of those new-employee postings at the newspaper. Being the veteran I am, I have seen ‘em come and I’ve seen ‘em go, as one of our old copy boys used to say in the days when there were copy boys.
I have been in the newspaper business since the days of cold type. Then we went to hot type. Now we’ve got type so hot you would be crazy to touch it.
Actually, we do all of our page layout by pagination. Anyway, back to the new hires.
Because the newspaper is such a transient business, especially for a mid-sized paper such as The Eagle, I don’t get close to a lot of the people I work with. That’s a shame, really. But, then, considering the people I work with, not really. That’s a joke people. Jeez, lighten up.
It’s always good to see new people come into our newsroom from different parts of the country. Almost to a man, or in some cases a woman, their first question is: "Got any smut downtown? A place I can pick up a a dirty magazine?" Not for long, people. We’re cleaning all of that up.
Truth be told, I don’t even know the names of some of our newsroom employees. I’ve got most of them down, but there are one or two that escape me. Some would call me a snob for that; I choose to say that I’m engagement challenged.
Anyway, I’ll make a better effort. After all, who wouldn’t want to get to know me? I’m pretty charming when I want to be.