Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Altercation

Hey Bloggy Friends!

I hope you guys are having a nice day. So, I mentioned earlier in the week that I was let go from my internship. Here's how it all went down:

As a backstory, I want to mention that the lady who runs the newsroom at the station is also my radio broadcasting teacher. We'll call her Summer. She's a neat person, but has an attitude I find difficult to bare. She can be dismissive, hateful and just downright rude. Up to this point, however, I've been able to let things slide off my shoulders, but Monday my shoulders weren't quite slippery enough.

I walked into the newsroom Monday, ready to tackle a story. Usually, when we arrive there is an assignment left on a dry erase board for us to complete, but this afternoon there was nothing written next to my name. I noticed Summer was in the sound booth, so I sat down at my computer waiting for her to come out to give me some sort of direction. I was chatting with some of the other newsroom employees when she popped her head out of the sound booth. I could tell her attitude was in full force.

"If you come in and there's not a story on the board, you need to get on the Internet and find something. Did you watch the news last night? Did you watch it this morning?" she asked.

"I watched it this morning," I replied, feeling a little embarrassed that she was treating me this way in front of other people.

"What was the breaking story that happened about an hour ago?" she questioned again.

"The earthquake in Italy?"

"Nope!" she said shortly before slamming the door in my face.

I was pretty upset at this point, but I turned around slowly and hit the computer to look for stories. It wasn't long before I found three things that I thought would be relevant for the station. When she came out I asked her if she wanted to review them so I could get started.

"I have to go. Jim (the second in command) may be here in twenty minutes or so. You can ask him," she said.

Now, the whole reason she was upset before is because she walked into the room as I was sitting at the desk doing nothing, so I asked her if she really wanted me to sit there and wait for another twenty minutes for Jim to maybe or maybe not show up. At this point she breathed a loud sigh, rolled her eyes into the back of her head and snatched away the papers I had in my hands. She dismissed the first one after about five seconds and handed it back to me. I proceeded to snatch the paper from her hand just as she had done to me a few seconds earlier.

"Excuuuuse me?" she said.

"What? I just jerked the paper out of your hands like you jerked it out of mine." I said quickly.

"You know what, get out of the newsroom," she said.

She turned around to walk out of the room ahead of me, and muttered something undistinguishable under her breath.

"I think you need to learn how to respect other people," I said as I followed behind her.

"Yea? Well, I've had a busy morning," she answered.

"Well maybe we've all had a busy morning," was the last thing I said before leaving the station for good.

So there it is. I should mention that I'm not exactly proud of the way I acted. I am fully aware that the "bigger" thing to do would have been to let it go and continue on with my day. I let it get the best of me, though, and now I'm in a sticky situation.

In class the next day she avoided eye contact with me, and we finished the day without ever speaking a word. I'm still unsure about a number of things, like did she mean leave for good and never come back, or did she just mean leave for the day? And most importantly, will I still be able to use this internship as a reference on my resume.

So, I'm basically going to have to grow some balls and approach her, since it doesn't seem like she's going to say anything to me. I've put in a lot of hard work there over the course of the semester, and I would rather not see it go to waste.

Instead of approaching these types of situations with an "eye for an eye" mentality, I should start thinking more along the lines of "do unto others as you want others to do unto you." Shooting back at someone that offends you is never the best way to go. This is a problem I've been dealing with since I was a wee little kid - just ask my mom. I need to learn to let it slide. I never know where the person is coming from, and I shouldn't allow myself to take things so personally.

I'll let you know what happens. Either way, I'm going to have to take this as a learning lesson.

Have a great day!

Love, Josh

7 comments:

Mnowac said...

Ooh that stinks. I am sorry you have to deal with that Josh, how petty. I hope it works out okay and you can still use it on your resume.

Bill Fogle said...

I dunno, I'll have to read this again (and I shall) but I don't understand what you did wrong. As for asking Moms, mine would tell you that I took every sneer and rude comment and sat there "suffering" like a GD idiot because I didn't know what else to do. I like that you hit back as a child, and I wonder whether it isn't what has made you such a fine, upstanding bitch today. How does this fit into what took place at the Italian Market? Different response ethic for that?

Either (1) she is deeply unhappy and nervous and going through a divorce or a court case or a major disease diagnosis, or (2) she is arrogant to everyone she perceives as an "underling," and hence deserves your admonition to treat others more thoughtfully, or (3) no extra sets of balls you grow (and you have them already, as you know) is gonna make this woman "like" you.

Sorry my friend. You do not deserve this crap. You've worked hard and are serious about each and every little thing you do. Your focus merits the cooperation of those around you in the professional realm.

It's probabl;y how she treats most of her students.

Sad.

Bill Fogle said...

You were under "attack." The incident with the papers was all she needed to escalate the situation to the level of antagonism she had felt since the beginning.

Rick Watson said...

hmmmm.... unfortunate for both parties here

First of all, I find it disturbing that an instructor at an institution of higher learning is allowed to act this way, especially directly toward a student. Obviously, there is more to story than we know. If she had any prior issues with you and allowed them to brew until she erupted, that's her problem. It's, of course, a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line between the two of you.

I don't know, but I would go directly to her, face to face, and ask her to explain WHY this happened the way it did. She owes you an explanation.

As for you snatching the papers from her, I wouldn't worry too much about that. It's a small issue in the midst of an obviously bigger one.

Talk to her, find out what's behind all this, and then move on. If you seriously think you've been disrespected or mistreated, you can always file a complaint to go on the record. Who knows... she may have a record already!

If she wanted you take more initiative, then she should have told you that and not just assume that you would. Also, I'm confused, if you're going on the air in just minutes and you have no material, what, girl, were you waiting for?

Casey said...

Wow, what an ordeal. Sorry to hear about that (ok, you know it makes me giggle a little bit), but news people can be a hard crowd sometimes.

I'm sure it will work out for the best. She's gotta be a grown up too and discuss it with you rationally. The heat of the moment always brings out odd things.

I'll be anxious to hear your updates!

Anonymous said...

girl that's just your ego getting the best of you! Next time Just take breath and let it go sheila!

EMullins said...

Ugh, I hate nasty people. I'm sorry you had to endure that.