But before we get too far into Thanksgiving details, let me back up for a minute.
Recently I was invited to attend my first NBA basketball game. The Sacramento Kings people decided that they wanted to forge a working relationship with some of the local radio personalities, fearing that without our help ticket sales for this season would be even more dismal than in seasons past. I mean, we're in a recession. Who can afford tickets to NBA basketball games...especially in Sacramento...with a team that's been struggling? The Kings PR people held a meeting with us to go over ideas about how we could build "personal relationships" with the players and invited us to attend the King's home opener against Memphis. They gave us great seats and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
But as great as the game was...by far...the best part of the night was finding out who we were sitting behind. Alright, see the guy in the black leather bomber jacket and the white hat...he's sitting courtside beside the guy in the purplish-blue shirt? Know who that is? That's Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, the guy that the movie Rudy was about!!! I just thought that was something special. He waved to us a couple of times and gave me the thumbs up when I got put up on the jumbo-tron (also a very thrilling experience) near the end of the game.
So that was fun.
Last week I went to two movie premiere's. I did The Blindside on Tuesday and The Twilight Saga: New Moon on Wednesday. They're not really premiere's...more like sneak peeks where you get to see it a couple of days before it officially opens in theaters. The radio stations in our company give away these screening passes so when you show up, everyone in the theater is "a listener." This can be quite the ego-booster because everyone treats you like you're a big deal...when in reality...it's just a movie theater in Sacramento on a Tuesday night. You stand up in front of the audience before the movie starts, you introduce yourself, thank everyone for coming, give away a few prizes, and then harvest a nice, big round of applause...all for you...and it feels good. I see why so many people who do this for a living, over time, start to think that they're actually the big cheese.
Anyways, Friday of last week is what I really want to talk about. If you've been reading this blog then you probably already know all about how I was initially hired by my radio station to be part of a morning show. Then, about 14 months ago, the guy doing middays quit to manage his wife's WNBA career (yes, she's that bad ass...Olympic gold medalist...the whole nine yeards) so I feel like I kind of got bullied into doing it...for free...meaning that I took on extra duties - which someone else was getting paid a full-time salary for doing - and got nothing in return.
At the time, I felt like it was more important to secure my position at the station than to fight about having to do an extra daily shift. Afterall, I was the newest on staff, I was the youngest AND I was the only female on-air personality. I was told at the time, by my boss, that there was NO ROOM in the budget for a raise...that I could either do the extra work for no extra pay and be safe from "the chopping block" if cuts came around or I could refuse and be the first person he'd have to eliminate if he had to get rid of someone.
Our morning show is 5:45 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. and the midday shift was 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. That's 8 hours and 15 minutes on the air everyday Monday through Friday which doesn't include the fact that I do all of the morning show website work as well. Keep in mind also that I arrive every morning prior to the 5:45 start time...normally around 5:15-5:30. Listen, I know it's not back-breaking physical labor...but it is a long time to sit confined in a little room...responsible for doing quality work for, what should be, two full-time positions. Oh wait, I take that back - I was allowed to voicetrack my show from 1:00 until 2:00 everyday...a whole hour I was excused from. Did I mention that NOBODY else on the staff EVER had to do double daily airshifts AND they made me work a few 5 hours Saturday shifts as well?
Well as much as I just complained about it, I'm not stupid. I accepted the midday show...a bit begrudgingly...because I felt like I wasn't being fairly compensated for doing two full-time airshifts for one salary...but what else could I do? Come to work everyday wondering if that would be the day they'd let me go? I felt like I had to prove that not only could I do it, but that I could do it well...take the midday show to #1 and be able to say, "I carried this station with my numbers because I'm good. I never got paid a dime for it." Now granted, they did offer me a bonus structure for my midday show, but I always saw that as a reward for the results...not payment for the actual work that was being done.
Not to mention, that over the summer my show was the only daypart on the station that was #1. I beat the morning show. I beat the afternoon show AND I beat the night show. Did I get my bonus for it? No. Because the contract they re-drafted for me which included my new responsibilites as a morning show co-host and midday host excluded the summer numbers. Let me break this down for you...the midday show was the only #1 rated daypart on the entire radio station and I didn't even get my bonus for it...so I did it, absolutely free and got absolutely nothing in return.
Please pardon the "diva tone" I'm using here. But facts are facts. I was their work horse. I did a good job. I stepped up (even if I only did it because I felt like I had to) and I did it well.
So what happened on Friday?
Well, my boss came in told me that he was taking me off middays. He tried to spin it like this was a good thing for me and you're probably thinking the same thing. If I wasn't getting paid for it and all I've done in this post is complain about the lack of compensation...then why would I possibly be upset that he would take me off the show?
Here's why. Remember when I was told that there was no money in the budget and that there just simply wasn't anything they could give me so I'd HAVE to do it for free...but if I didn't, I'd probably get cut from the staff? Well, the reason they took me off middays is so that someone else could do it...someone who's getting paid a FULL-TIME SALARY TO DO IT. Yes, you heard me correctly. The person who did middays before me got paid a full-time salary and the person who took over my show today is getting paid a full-time salary. Did I mention, that both of the people who came before and after me were/are getting paid FULL-TIME SALARIES to do what I was doing for free...getting #1 ratings for...for 14 months??????????????
Now, you might be asking yourself...that doesn't make any sense, why would your boss do that? Good question. I'll tell you why. It's because he had to make room on the staff for his ass-kissing friend. That guy got put on the night show (with a full-time salary)...the old night guy moved to afternoons...the old afternoon guy got moved to middays...and I got bumped back to just the morning show. But wait, I thought that there was no money in the budget to give me anything...and now there's an entirely new full-time position on our staff...who's paying that salary? If there was no money in the budget, then how is this new guy getting paid?
Oh that's right, it's because I was being lied to.
And even if they cut other people's salaries to be able to afford a new position on our staff, then it still doesn't make sense that they'd pull me off a show that I've excelled at...a show that I've invested a lot in and energy in...a show that they could still pay me to do for less than they're paying my replacement. Or am I crazy?
I feel like I just got used for the past 14 months. And as soon as my boss' friend needed a job, all of a sudden we needed to "reshuffle the deck." Please don't insult my intelligence. You forced me to do something I didn't want to do by threatening me with my job...leaving me no choice...and as soon as you waned to make room on the staff for your buddy...the one who has outperformed everybody else on the station is the one who has to give up her show, give up her midday bonus and go back to being the "low man on the totem pole." I got pushed aside without so much as a "thank you for stepping up to the plate." No "job well-done." No "we appreciate you being a team-player." Nothing.
When I told my boss, "My primary concern is that, per our conversation 14 months ago when you told me that I'd likely be the one losing my job when budget cuts came around unless I did both shifts for no extra pay, without middays I'm now vulnerable again. I mean, it goes without saying that I'm less valuable now." In response, he had the gall to look me in the eye and say, "Well that was a different time." BULLSHIT. You used me. End of discussion. Throw a period on the end of that sentence and let's call it a day. Period.
Does anybody else see this from my perspective? Am I the crazy one?
My lawyer friend said that I have a discrimination lawsuit on my hands. He also said that I could go after my company for breach of contract since, technically, my contract is for mornings and middays...but really, what would that accomplish? They'd just throw me back on the middays for no extra pay and I'd still feel like I was getting the raw end of the deal. I don't want to sue anyone. It's not even so much about the money (although I know that's what it probably sounds like it's solely about)...because it's also about the principle too. I just don't think you should be allowed to treat people that way. I don't think you should be able to bully someone into doing something and then take it away from them, spinning the story to make it sound good so that I'll say, "Oh ok...thank you so much for relieving me of the midday show."
One of the things I've noticed about my boss is that he always figures out a way to decide he's going to screw someone over...but then spin the story in such a way so that people don't realize what's really happening. I'm smarter than that. Please don't waste your time insulting my intelligence. I recognize an agenda from a mile away. Your friend needed a job, so everyone got moved around and I got screwed. If that wasn't the case then why not just switch the afternoon and night guys...I mean, if it was really about "reshuffling the deck" like he implied...putting the stronger personality in afternoon drive...then leave me out of it. But no, sadly this wasn't about what's best for our station. At least, not from where I stand.
If you're still reading this by now then let me just say WOW. I can't believe you made it this far. I just had to get all of that off my chest because it's been bothering me. And I have no one to talk to about it all. My parents don't really "get" the way things work in radio. My coworkers are the absolute worst people I could ever confide in and honestly, it just takes so much energy to try to explain it verbally that it helps me to write it all down...get it all out...purge it.
It's ok. I keep telling myself, "I'll be home soon. I'll be home soon."
I feel like I could keep writing...I could talk about my friend Rebecca's wedding how she's asked me to be the Maid of Honor...in North Carolina...six months from now. That's a little overwhelming but I'm glad to do it. I could also go into more detail about our family vacation to Alaska coming up in June (one month after the wedding) and how I'll be using almost all of my vacation time before the 4th of July next year...but I'll save that for another time. Not to mention, I'm suppoed to plan our 10 year High School reunion in N.C. next year because I was the senior class president but my schedule is just filling up too quickly.
The good news is, that if this blog survives into 2010 then I'll have plenty to tell you about when it all gets here. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving...be thankful that you don't work where I work.
No comments:
Post a Comment