the incompetent reality t.v. producers who stole christmas
i walked out of work on friday. i don't think i've ever done that before.
at 3:00 the producers put out a memo that extended our unpaid holiday "vacation" from one week to two weeks. two weeks with no paycheck. right at christmas.
i've worked in television during the holidays before and was prepared for a one-week unpaid hiatus. i had budgeted for that. but a second week means fewer (if any) christmas presents and late fees for bills and rent. i know i'll be able to deal with the financial stuff, but this work situation has just turned totally sour for me.
they gave no reason in their memo. they actually had the nerve to mask it as a favor: "we hope you enjoy this much-deserved time off" blah blah blah. i confronted one of the producers and told him that i and several other people had bought expensive plane tickets so we could rush back to l.a. the day after christmas because we were told we would need to work that week, that this was a really bad time to be taking a paycheck away from people, and that it was very poorly handled in their memo. he hadn't read the memo. he said he "couldn't get into the nitty-gritty of it", but that basically they went over budget on season three and they had no choice but to shut down for a second week. he clearly didn't give a shit, so i started to lose it a bit and said "this is just a big 'fuck you' right before christmas, paul.' he just stared at me blankly. i walked off.
i hate it here now.
hate it.
don't want to be here.
don't want to work for these fucktards anymore.
we lost a good producer a few weeks ago. he was a bit of a cheeseball. he'd say "we really appreciate all your hard work" every time you turned around. but you know what? it helped. he knew how to deal with people. if he were here, we'd probably still be getting fucked over, but he would have fucked us slow and easy with a nice, gentle reacharound. he would have at least made an attempt at explaining why this had to be done.
it's actually the perfect send-off for me as i leave "the industry." yet another example of how short-sighted and inept most of the people at the top truly are, and how rarely they think about how their decisions will effect the paycheck-to-paycheck crowd at the bottom.
ugh. i was hoping that the weekend would give me time to cool down. obviously that hasn't happened. d___ helped on friday by treating me to dinner, a lecture here, and drinks with a friend. we had a really nice weekend. but now that i'm sitting at my desk, i'm right back where i was at 3:00 on friday. pissed off.
ways i can deal with this situation:
1. start drinking on the job. honestly, if they don't care about us then why should i care about doing a good job for them?
2. start hissing at the producers who made this decision every time i see them in the hallway. i practiced hissing in the parking garage today. i'm not sure i'm ballsy enough for this one, but it sure would be fun.
3. start coming in late and leaving early.
4. pick up a few hours at the breakfast/lunch place where my sister works. which would be a justifiable cause for #4.
5. do my job and quit worrying about it because i'm going back to school soon and i should just grow up and get over it. this is never going to happen, but i had to put it on the list.
i'm definitely going to start with #1.
at 3:00 the producers put out a memo that extended our unpaid holiday "vacation" from one week to two weeks. two weeks with no paycheck. right at christmas.
i've worked in television during the holidays before and was prepared for a one-week unpaid hiatus. i had budgeted for that. but a second week means fewer (if any) christmas presents and late fees for bills and rent. i know i'll be able to deal with the financial stuff, but this work situation has just turned totally sour for me.
they gave no reason in their memo. they actually had the nerve to mask it as a favor: "we hope you enjoy this much-deserved time off" blah blah blah. i confronted one of the producers and told him that i and several other people had bought expensive plane tickets so we could rush back to l.a. the day after christmas because we were told we would need to work that week, that this was a really bad time to be taking a paycheck away from people, and that it was very poorly handled in their memo. he hadn't read the memo. he said he "couldn't get into the nitty-gritty of it", but that basically they went over budget on season three and they had no choice but to shut down for a second week. he clearly didn't give a shit, so i started to lose it a bit and said "this is just a big 'fuck you' right before christmas, paul.' he just stared at me blankly. i walked off.
i hate it here now.
hate it.
don't want to be here.
don't want to work for these fucktards anymore.
we lost a good producer a few weeks ago. he was a bit of a cheeseball. he'd say "we really appreciate all your hard work" every time you turned around. but you know what? it helped. he knew how to deal with people. if he were here, we'd probably still be getting fucked over, but he would have fucked us slow and easy with a nice, gentle reacharound. he would have at least made an attempt at explaining why this had to be done.
it's actually the perfect send-off for me as i leave "the industry." yet another example of how short-sighted and inept most of the people at the top truly are, and how rarely they think about how their decisions will effect the paycheck-to-paycheck crowd at the bottom.
ugh. i was hoping that the weekend would give me time to cool down. obviously that hasn't happened. d___ helped on friday by treating me to dinner, a lecture here, and drinks with a friend. we had a really nice weekend. but now that i'm sitting at my desk, i'm right back where i was at 3:00 on friday. pissed off.
ways i can deal with this situation:
1. start drinking on the job. honestly, if they don't care about us then why should i care about doing a good job for them?
2. start hissing at the producers who made this decision every time i see them in the hallway. i practiced hissing in the parking garage today. i'm not sure i'm ballsy enough for this one, but it sure would be fun.
3. start coming in late and leaving early.
4. pick up a few hours at the breakfast/lunch place where my sister works. which would be a justifiable cause for #4.
5. do my job and quit worrying about it because i'm going back to school soon and i should just grow up and get over it. this is never going to happen, but i had to put it on the list.
i'm definitely going to start with #1.
Labels: Drew, Hollywood, Money
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