Getting busier

Well, it's the middle of my second week and I've been keeping pretty busy for the most part. They've added a few more duties on my list, the biggest one being the guy who puts stories on the Web. I like that part, because I've had experience with the Web and I have the liberty of editing stories so the print version looks better on the Web. I also have to give the stories a catchy headline, but as of yet most stories haven't warranted a catchy headline.

I'm also having to do a lot of video transfer with other stations, answering phone calls and contacting police and other people for stories. I think the most conversation-worthy, and maybe cringe-worthy, bit of my job is answering calls from viewers.

For example, last night was really busy because there were tornados all over and we were sending people out left and right to cover this and also getting a lot of calls from viewers about storm updates. All-in-all, a pretty hectic night, and we interrupted regularly scheduled programming (as did all other stations) to provide continuing coverage of the storms. A few people actually called while we were doing our storm coverage to ask if they would show "Last Comic Standing" any time soon. I think a TV show should be the last thing on someone's mind when a tornado could potentially hit your city. It's airing after SNL on Saturday in case anyone's interested.

Anyhoo, the worst was when a lady called to tell me that someone had trapped a mother skunk and that there were several baby skunks by her house. She asked what to do, expecting us to know, and I told her repeatedly to call the sheriff's or the Humane Society. She said those people didn't know what to do, and I said I couldn't help her because we don't have that kind of capacity here. "I thought you guys were supposed to know everything," she said at point, and later she said, "You guys don't even care, do you?" and demanded to know my producer's name.

I thought it was none of her business, and she got even more sassy with me. I finally put her on with the producer, who, by the way, had stayed about 5 hours late to help out with all the tornado craziness, and he was happy to bitch her out and tell her his name. He told her that there were about 4 tornados touching down around the area and that some skunks were the least of his problems.

Tonight was a little quieter, which is good in some respects because it allows me to get some odd tasks done.

My car's in the shop again, and I've got people asking if my car is still for sale. I obviously can't tell them I've got it in the shop, so I've been telling them that I'm out of town for a few days. I hope nothing tragic is wrong with the car - the shop didn't even call me today to tell me what was wrong with it, and by the time I remembered I still had it there they were closed.