By Linda Wilkins
Editor-in-Chief
When you work at the Lariat, there are just some things you have to suck up. For example, as I write this four of us are working outside our normal hours to make sure everything’s done for the night. Whether it’s missing out on a social life or walking around like a zombie due to lack of sleep, Lariat staffers tend to deal with some necessary evils.
1. Social Life
It’s not easy to have a social life and also work at the Lariat. We all tend to work crazy times – most of us don’t have set hours to work in the office. This means it’s difficult to schedule social events or even complete homework.
2. Deadlines
Let’s be honest, deadlines run all of our lives. Whether it’s homework, taxes or rent, we all answer to someone at some specific time. For us at the Lariat, deadlines are imperative. Our hearts get pumping (or they should) when deadline starts to creep up on us. The Lariat is like a time warp so we have to stay on top of things. Deadlines determine when we meet, eat, sleep, work, etc. When we miss deadlines, things go awry – for the most part. We put so much emphasis on meeting our various deadlines that we even started making memes to put up around the office asking things like “Why you miss deadline?” or “What do you mean we’re past deadline?” Time is definitely a problem for the person who can’t manage time well. Procrastination is an option, but a very, very bad one for us.
3. Sleeplessness
Sleep? Who needs sleep? No matter what our hours are on paper, we always work overtime. While we don’t get paid for it, we accept that it’s part of the job. If you want to work in a journalism-like field, working extra hours at odd times is just something you need to get used to. Lariat duties, on top of homework and extracurriculars, not to mention those of us writing a thesis, take up a lot of time. It’s a wonder we’re ever able to actually function. Granted, we’re all a little crazy here at the Lariat, so I’ll just chalk that up to lack of sleep.
4. Emails
I send a ridiculous amount of emails. Everytime I send an email out to the staff or the editors, I hear the cell phone alerts ring out around the room. I find strange pleasure in sending emails. I suppose a text would work just as well, but emails just seem so official. Of course, some of my staff claim to quit reading my emails after a certain point. Anyway, that’s the main line of communication for contacting sources and information about stories. It’s convenient, fast and a necessary evil – especially at Baylor where we have tiny inboxes and must delete emails every day in order to send them.
5. Texting
LOL, txting ttly rulz our lives. It’s the easiest form of communication between staffers. We have a group text that I started a few months ago. It has about 12 people in it. One day I was taking a nap, and I woke up to my phone spazzing across my desk. I had over 100 text messages. It’s a love-hate relationship. I love the people in the text, but sometimes the text group itself drives me nuts – especially when I’m sleeping. Thank the Lord I upgraded my phone’s software and could mute the group.
6. Diet
Our diet tends to be up of: pizza, microwave dinners, coffee, Jimmy Johns, coffee, Starbucks, pizza and fast food. Cooking is time consuming, and with the hours we work the only places open are fast food restaurants.
Overall, the Lariat staff deals with a lot on a normal day. Despite the general craziness, the job is still rewarding and a great experience. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
