Some of y’all will find this interesting. Remember how, last week, I put off all the folks wanting me to run for office by saying I won’t run unless somebody comes to me, the way Peter Boyle did to Robert Redford in “The Candidate” (note that I’m playing the Redford part — I’m just another victim of typecasting), and says, Look, we want you to run, and we’ll do everything — set up the campaign organization, raise the money, buy the media — and all you have to do is show up and be the candidate. Sort of a turnkey political operation.
I figured that was a good way to shut y’all up on the running-for-office thing (and if that didn’t work, my fallback was to say rude things like “shut y’all up” to people who like me enough to urge me to run for office).
But then, a real-life “Peter Boyle” approached me. Sort of. Basically, I got a message from a long-time political consultant (he first came to South Carolina to work in the Pug Ravenel campaign in 1974) who cited the Peter Boyle thing and said “let’s meet.” So we did, at the usual place, over breakfast last Friday.
And we talked about various offices and the need for someone (preferably, somebody with a little bit on the ball) to run for them. And then we talked about my situation. And I told my “Peter Boyle” that before I run for anything, I really need to get a job — not only a job, but one of those very rare jobs that allow a guy to run for office.
And you know what his considered opinion was? He agreed. I need to get a job, first and foremost.
So we’re back to Go, where I won’t collect $200 until I find employment…
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Did he have any ideas on where you might get said job? Is he hiring?
Plenty of jobs listed here:
http://columbia.craigslist.org/jjj/
Just depends how much “above doing that kind of work” you are.
Ooooh
Brad Warthen, Boy Toy!
BillC
Brad is not “above” doing work. He desperately needs health benefits for his wife who is ill. He told us the impending cost increase in health insurance he faces. Just any job won’t cover the cost of keeping his wife alive.At least not here in the “greatest country in the world.”
Think, for God’s sake!
kbfenner – I guess the liberal lawyer view is that it’s better to sit at home and whine than to go out and actually try to earn a dime. If he wants health insurance he could always work part-time at Lowes or Home Depot. I’m sure there’s always an excuse why he can’t work at anything but a newspaper… and then only if he can sit at a desk and complain about Gov. Sanford.
I’m curious, how do you know so much about Brad? “Boy Toy”… have you been reading that other section of Craigslist?
BTW – I do think, just not like a liberal lawyer. Go ahead, keep making excuses for Brad’s inability to find employment.
The old media industry is going away. Their former customers, ignored and insulted by arrogant propaganda masquerading as news, have sought the truth elsewhere, and found it.
Staying in journalism means moving to the new media, and it means having to meet standards for objectivity, research, and honesty which are far above what the big news chains were used to.
Do Lowes and Home Depot offer health insurance for dependents at rates part-timers can afford? Would they hire Brad?
I have found myself overqualified for even law jobs. Employers do not hire just anyone who walks in the door, and they are suspicious of “Broadway stars who suddenly want to do dinner theater”–they think you won’t stick around. They don’t see it as getting qualifications they aren’t paying for. They don’t remember that their other employees don’t stay all that long. Maybe they just don’t want some college boy working for them. Whatever.
Brad is out and about every day, in a coat and tie. He is actively interviewing and looking for work.
About the other section of Craigslist, I was just hopin’ is all. ;>)
Now, me, I sit at home, don’t whine, and have a nice life. But we weren’t talking about me. I’m in good shape for the foreseeable future. I worry about Brad and his wife. He is willing to work. He is willing to take a significant pay cut and certainly a cut in status (what would be equivalent to editorial page editor in newspaper in largest city in state?)–but he HAS to have health insurance.
kbfenner – Why don’t you ask the insurance questions to Brad. If I had dependents that were in dire need of health insurance, I’d be filling out applications at the chicken plant and anywhere else I could get insurance if I faced that situation. I wouldn’t sit on my butt spending money at the Capitol City Club hoping an editor’s job would suddenly appear in my lap. But I guess to some people Medicaid and Welfare is better than Health Insurance and Minimum Wage… it’s the American Dream to some people.
Like I said, you can make all the excuses you want for Brad not filling out applications, but as long as he’s not, don’t expect them to come running to him begging him to come work for them. I know more than one person who’s application was moved up the chain for a better position than what the person applied for if overqualified. I’ve interviewed people with multiple master’s degrees for an entry level position, some people are willing to apply to get their foot in the door and see what happens. I recommended one employee for a position that nearly doubled his salary after his first year review because a position opened up in another department that he was better suited for. He is now working for a competitor, and is making over $100,000 which is a long way from the $35,000 position he initially landed 5 years ago. He still jokes about the grossly overqualified and underpaid employee I once had.
How do we know Lowes and Home Depot don’t have a future opening in another department that require someone with a journalism background? CEO’s and stockholders love to hear stories about stock boys and mail room workers working their way to Vice Presidents.
But I guess requiring the necessity to sitting around the Capitol City Club for breakfast until 10:00 and going to Rotary 2-hour lunches are going to be difficult to bring up in a job interview.
Lowes, Staples, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and even Starbucks offer medical insurance, at a cost much lower than that projected under the mandatory public “option” of Obamacare.
A professional writer should look for writing jobs, not just newspaper editor jobs.
A lot of executives need speeches written and critiqued, and someone who knows how to interface with the press. Look at all those former radio and TV people who are now doing PR for SLED, DHEC, DOT and all the big alphabet corporations here in town.