So today..... a very long day. Technically, I'm supposed to come into the station at about 2:00, but because there isn't always anything for me to do, I'm really supposed to coordinate with the crew that goes out on Sundays. So I did. And ended up going in at 9. So... my day started early. But the story they were doing was in my town (I commute to the station), so instead of making me get up the extra time to drive down there, they had me meet them there. Then, instead of driving down afterwards, I rode down in the news van, and was going to get home by riding with the other photographer, who also lives around here.

Well, since they only make me "work" 8 hours (7, actually because if I don't take my hour-long break, which I usually don't, I leave an hour early) I figured I was going to get to go home at 5 instead of 10 (or 4 instead of 9). Well... since they needed the other photographer longer, I actually went home at 7:30, which sucked, especially since I had nothing to do the extra time. And I felt bad for him, he came in even earlier than me, and ended up working 12 hours straight.

I did get to shoot one thing, but it turned out not so good. It was an easter egg hunt. I left for it as soon as I could, but was still a tiny bit late. Five minutes. At most. Unfortunately: the parking lot near which they did this is fed by a long, narrow road on which people had parked on both sides, making the road only one lane wide. And there were people leaving already when I tried to get in. So.... I was screwed. I had to park very far away, lug my stuff all the way up there, go back all the way when I realized I was stupid and had the wrong batteries (pile of live batteries, pile of dead batteries--should've kept them straight better) and go back. That, combined with the fact that the kids were like LIGHTNING at finding all the eggs: bad news. I mean, I still pulled off a vo by creeping around videotaping kids carrying baskets, and ordering them to hug the man dressed up as the easter bunny for me. Yeah.... sordid, I know.

But.... I did feel the need to explain why I didn't get the best shots, and the anchor lady was PISSED at me. She basically told me I should've took charge and made the people let me get into the parking lot. Okay, how am I supposed to do this? Even if I DID decide to be a total jerk and say, "All of you, back up. I have to get in. I'm the media." which is what she was proposing, there's NO way I can enforce this. It's not like it was one car I wanted to get out of my way. It's 5, at least. With no room to manuever even if I were good at it. I don't have a monster truck. I can't just drive over them. There's nothing I can do about this, except show up earlier than I did. Which, is not my fault. The other crew dropped me at the station and I immediately drove over there, no dawdling, no getting lost. I really see nothing else I could do.

Oh sidenote: douchebag didn't work today, but I saw him today. The man is one of those people who make balloon animals at parties and stuff on the side. And guess where he was plying this trade? Yes. The easter egg hunt! What are the freakin' odds, people? If I hadn't already known he was in the balloon business, I don't know what I would've done if I saw him there making balloon animals. As it was I almost wet myself, seeing him at random when I'm already screwing up on the job. I avoided him pretty well though, even though I had wanted to get a shot of "the balloon man" before I knew who it was. But even though I was hard up for good footage at this point, I still stayed well away. Honestly, I'm not getting close enough to shoot that man unless it's with a glock.

The drive home was kind of informative. The photog on Sundays is the one person at that place I can actually talk to. Part of it is definately because we knew each other back at TV-10, but also, I think he's new enough there that his soul hasn't died yet like everyone else's. Honestly, I felt horrible for him. Apparently he'd forgotten to write the number of the phone he took with him a couple days ago, so that when anchor lady tried to call him about a housefire or somesuch, she couldn't get ahold of him. So she was really angry and just.... laid into him. She took every instance of every little mistake he'd ever made, that any photog could make, and just listed them out, and told him that he acts unprofessional. The last bit, she elaborated on to basically mean he has a crappy personality, and that no one likes him. Which, in my opinion, is basically because he's the only person there that acts like a human being instead of a robot. So he makes jokes once in awhile, and actually tries to enjoy his job and make friends with people there? I swear--when I'm there I'm as quiet as a tomb most of the time. If they knew my real personality, they (or her--there's some evidence that points to her just being a jerk and telling him all this with no one else's opinions backing her up) would go nuts. If he's too goofy for these people, you KNOW I am. Anyway, he said none of that bothered him all that bad, he can deal with people who don't like him. What really killed him, though, was he was chief photog at TV-10. And she said, "If you were chief photog, the people there must REALLY suck." Which, he said it made him feel so bad because he didn't want to ruin it for everyone else from TV-10, and when he'd been chief photog, he'd tried his best to help everyone there learn, etc. Which, on that count I definately think it was just the anchor lady, because when I was hired as an intern, my interviewer basically told me that people from TV-10 kick ass, and have a lot of good experience. Even if the guy I was talking to was braindead, which he isn't, I don't think he could undo that reputation just by himself.

Anyway, the talk kind of made me feel better for myself. That I'm not the only one who feels incredibly uncomfortable ALL the time there. And he also gave me some hope that other stations aren't as bad as this one, he used to do some sports at another one, and they were nice there, and his brother works at a station in another town and just loves the job and his coworkers. So.... maybe if I find a job somewhere else, I'm not stuck with jerks and robots like I've been worrying I might be ever since I started the internship.