The coverage of my journey through unemployment continues.
Q: (from a telemarketer) May I sign you up for a subscription to the town’s newspaper?
A: (from a friend who shall remain anonymous unless she comments) Why should I? They just laid off my friend who worked there and who… (details omitted).
Q: <long pregnant silence> followed by, “I’m sorry.”
That friend stopped by for coffee and noticing the newspaper on the breakfast table, asked if we were still taking it. Then she related the incident above. She was angry and rightly so. Friends don’t like to see friends get hurt, and lay-offs, no matter how civilly handled, still hurt. And she asked if we were going to cancel. The answer was a surprise.
What to do about the paper has sparked a philosophical discussion or two at our kitchen table. The easy response is the Pharisee’s eye for an eye, or in this case, a Sports page for a pink slip (actually it was white). The money saved would pay for an extra sports channel on cable so I could still keep up with Lane Kiffin’s efforts to bring respect back to Tennessee.
Or we could just take Sunday, if they still have that option, for the ads. Lots of folks get a paper just for the ads. But there aren’t that many ads, and isn’t the loss of ads the reason they gave for the RIF? So why buy the paper for the part that almost isn’t there?
Or we could be new moderns and get our news and commentary from a blue-trillion web sites, including the newspaper’s and all for free. No sour grapes there, just taking advantage of change while saving a few bucks. But then we began considering the intangibles.
The wasp buzzing on the window behind my place at the table came face to face with a photo of Lane Kiffin on the outside of a rolled up sports section. Lane won this one; the wasp spiraled down to the floor with a career-ending injury. No laptop could have done that. But our subscription to the paper wasn’t saved by a wasp.
My former work-team members and colleagues from other departments uplifted my family and me with love and support beyond the workplace when the RIF went down. Those gals and guys are now working every day under more stress than ever to provide our community with a relevant and entertaining product. They are good at what they do and they are good people. The least I can do is support them by staying in the game as a customer and occasional critic.
