You'd think...

Being unemployed for the second time in less than a year would get me down.  And you'd be right.  I am finding that being over fifty is not a great time of life to be trying to find meaningful employment.  I send out resumes for jobs I know I am qualified for but alas, no response.  Maybe this is another way corporate America keeps it's costs down is by throwing experienced, talented and proven candidates and employees to the curb and settles for less experience and less salary.

i did manage to pick up some side jobs last week.  The little gal up the street hired me to help her deliver her Girl Scout Cookies.  But when we were done, she gave me my check and through me to the curb telling me my position had been eliminated.  Not even a thank you.  A little later that day I saw a little guy helping her with her cookies and I started thinking that maybe is was just my age.  But that can't be because there are laws that say not even Girl Scouts can discriminate on the basis of age.  Maybe she just had a crush on the boy.  One of those office romances.  How can I fight that?

My neighbor offered to hire me to shovel his driveway but withdrew the offer when he found out i was a heart patient and he was afraid I'd keel over right in his driveway, and he was probably right.  I've had some real radio type opportunities.  I was referred to apply for a job near Kansas City where I would be in charge of the operations of 6 radio stations.  Gee, I don't know if I'm qualified.  It would be in a market that would be the second smallest I've ever worked in.  I've operated very successful restaurants with over 50 employees.  I've operated radio stations in various capacities, including sales for over 30 years with some success.  I wonder why they haven't called me back.  The guy who has the job now is staying and has never been in a market bigger than the one he is in now.  I must not be qualified. 

I guess the point is, is that there is no point.  I am capable of doing anything I set my mind to do.  I am smart and have the credentials to prove it.  I have experience in several different fields.  I still  don't mind long days as it wasn't rare to see me at the last station working into the evening.  One of the jocks at the album station came to me one evening, after I had been there since 5 am and said, "You're a morning guy, you're not supposed to be here after noon."  I replied, "I work until the job is finished."  This exchange took place right outside the boss' office.  I guess they can't have the old guys putting in the long hours.  They'll have to let me go so someone can come in and work until noon.  Corporate America, the world's greatest mystery.

That is all...Peters out!

Partheimers.....

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to personally reply to comments left on this blog, so I will leave one for all.  I know when someone is "laid off" or is it "layed off", that it can feel awkward for fellow employees trying to think of something to say.  Of course, listeners hardly ever have a problem telling you how they feel about something.  LOL  I have heard from some former workmates both on the phone and via email.  I truly do think very highly of the folks I worked with for the past 9 months.  I never really felt like part of the mix though as I was commuting back to Kansas City on the weekends if there was nothing happening with the stations.

There really are some truly talented people working there.  Unfortunately, radio isn't about talent anymore.  It's kind of scary to use this comparison, but its like NASA.  Imagine jetting off into space in an aircraft that was built by the lowest bidder.  Its all about money, and that's not a bad thing until the money becomes more important than the humans. 

It would be terrible for one of the managers to lose their Mercedes for God sake.  I've owned two Mercedes and neither one was more precious than any of my friends or co-workers.  It's just where corporate America is headed.  So to Colby, Bekki, Bryce, Phil, Jan, Barry, Steve, Hank, Rick, Mike, Manny, Kurt, Dugg, Johnny, Ben, Harold, Mike, Dane, Tony, Carol, and anyone else I may have missed accidently, you have my admiration and appreciation as true professionals. 

By the way, I saved over $100 in gas this week. Woo Hoo!

That is all...Peters out!

Let me say this about that...

I am not bitter.  I was treated well while I was back in Wichita.  The commute was beginning to be somewhat cumbersome and Stacy was not exactly thrilled with the arrangement.  I just love being on the radio, period.  I love my listeners because they were the ones that made me successful in Wichita in the first place.  Just about any average jock would have been successful had it not been me.  Way back in 1981, I was just in the right place at the right time.  I enjoyed the success it brought.

I've made all the decisions during my career and I've made some bad ones.  I know I committed professional suicide when I chose to return to KEYN.  The money was good.  Stacy was able to be home with our infant children and life was good.  But that one move, in my mind, ended my career in radio.  I still worked in radio but it has been a nearly vertical battle and I never achieved the success i had in Wichita.  I thought when I was offered the job with Journal I could come back to Wichita and make a difference.  I did not make a difference.  Maybe I could have been successful again had the station told some folks I was back.  They didn't and I paid the price.  That's radio.

I have three great kids, all in college.  A wonderful wife who never lets my head get too big and I have my life.  The second chance life that many never get.  Although only about half my heart really earns it's keep, I tell myself everyday how lucky I am to at least have that.  At least I have a cool scar that I will someday use to scare grandkids!!!

I'm happy I got to know some of you and that I considered all my listeners as my friends.  Mister X started out as a listener and for over twenty years we've remained friends.  Life is good no matter what. 

I also wish the best to Rex Childs, a real radio legend, Dugg Collins, a legend also and  Barry Casey who I've known since I moved to Wichita in 1981.  I will tell you I have not heard from a single person I worked with this last trip to Wichita except for Dugg and Barry and that disappoints me.  But, oh well. 

Take care of yourselves.  Don't make me come back there!

That is all...Peters out!

Here I go again...

Straight to the unemployment line.  I would say it was not a great way to start a Monday when your boss asks you to follow her to the General Manager's office.  I thought something was going on but never dreamed it would be me.  Alas, but it was me.  The company was having to cut four of their fellow employees because other employees failed to do their jobs, like sell advertising or promote radio stations so the sales department had something to sell.  Let me just add as an aside, all four who were fired were over the age of fifty.  Hmmmmm.

Of course to get severance but you have to sign an agreement that says you won't sue anyone for age discrimination or a handful of other laws that may or may not have been violated.  I was thinking that age discrimination was not a civil case but an actual criminal act because it violated a person's constitutional right against discrimination in the workplace.  I wonder if they sent the same papers to the EEOC folks who examine these things.  If the EEOC signs it then the company must be free to violate anyone's rights, right?

Another point is that I was told by my boss that one of those who were fired was diabetic and very near having to have an amputation.  If I'm not mistaken that is a pretty clear violation of that employee's HIPAA rights.  But then again, the company must have had the HIPAA folks sign a paper that allowed them to discuss someone's medical conditions with anyone they please.

That's the real problem with corporate America is that it seems to empower people to have little of no compassion for the people they manage.  Anyone is expendable and no one loses any sleep over it from management.  "I will turn your life upside down for the betterment of the company and not feel a thing for you as a human."  That must be the oath that is taken when you become a manager.  You have to forget that we are all human and hurt whomever you need to in order to make more money or save your own job!

I personally take responsibility for any actions I take that affect other people.  Believe me, there are people who deserve what they get, but none of those were affected by the firing of these four humans.  I can only guess that the combined experience in radio for the four would be somewhere around 160 -170 years. 

Maybe if management had made better decisions during the year this would not have happened.  Hard to feel sorry for the stuffed shirt manager that screws with other people's lives, when he himself gets canned.  But alas, some beast of burden on it's way down the Grand Canyon of life will poop out another of these managers to take the place of the last one.  I've always lived by a set of cute yet true rules of life.  One of my favorites fits here.  "The more you kick a turd, the more it stinks."  Some company's are just simply turds.

That is all...Peters out!