All I wanted was a hotdog...

Friday night at the Russell County vs. Central football game, from about the second quarter on, there was only one thing I could consistently think of: food. I didn’t get to eat much before the game and I ate an early lunch.

So you might say, ‘Why didn’t you get something to eat at halftime?’ Well, I was covering the game for The Citizen and halftime is when we tally up all the yards and statistics and think about what happened during the first half. There really isn’t much time to trek down to the concession stand, wait in line and get back in time to be ready to cover the second half, especially if you’re recording each play.

Anyway, when the game was over, I did my best to hurry up and catch Coach Rico White for an interview while continuing to take pictures, which is what I was doing this particular game. As soon as I was finished, I headed over to the concession stand and was relieved to find that there were still people inside and I was even more pleased that there was a big tray filled to the brim with hotdogs.

It was most definitely a sight for hungry eyes.

So I walked up and told the ladies inside I would like to purchase a hotdog please. This is where they crushed me. They replied that they are no longer selling food. I was stunned.

What, then, is the tray FULL of hotdogs doing sitting there? I made sure I heard them correctly and asked for clarification, “There’s nothing left for sale,” while staring at the dogs. They said that’s right, and said they were sorry.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Last time I checked, the Russell County school system was not exactly rich, to put it nicely. Now I’m not sure exactly where the concession money goes, but if it’s to the athletics department, kids on the varsity football team have to wear jerseys that are so old that the numbers don’t all even look the same. Some of the helmets don’t even have team decals on both sides, meaning that inevitably, some kids probably don’t even have a helmet of their own, but rather have to share with other reserves. Are you telling me THEY don’t want my money? Or that THEY couldn’t use it?

Or maybe the money goes into the school system’s general fund. Or maybe it just goes to the Athletic Booster Club. My point is that the money surely goes somewhere to help the students in some way.

All this and they can’t sell me one of the 50 hotdogs that were left?! I don’t get it. Was it a function of selfishness? Did the ladies inside want to take them home to their family? Or did they want them for themselves? I don’t understand. Or maybe they were saving them for the football players. But isn’t the whole point of the concession stand to SELL food and drinks? Isn’t that why they cooked the food in the first place? If not, then I would certainly like to know what it’s there for.

The school system is in proration and they can’t sell me a freakin hotdog. Not to mention that I probably would have bought three. I know it’s only three dollars (I think), but I’d be willing to bet that I’m not the only person this has happened to.

Whatever. Explain it to the kid who’s only got a decal on one side of his helmet.

I hate Monday holidays

If there’s one thing that really screws up my week here at the Citizen of East Alabama, it’s a holiday that either falls on, or is observed on, a Monday. And it’s not just me – it’s everyone who works here.

The way our week is laid out, it begins on Wednesday, the day after we go to press, or in other words, send the files to the printer so we can send out the newspaper on Thursday. Wednesday is when we have all of our meetings, talk about what we’ll write that week and how much space we’ll have, etc. Then the later part of Wednesday, and all day Thursday and Friday, we reporters go out and find more stories and write the stories we talked about on Wednesday.

Monday is supposed to be reserved for anything else that might suddenly come up – like breaking news – and we also use it to write about whatever happened over the weekend. Now, it’s inevitable that something will always come up every Monday or some source we need to talk to won’t call us back until Monday, and sometimes even Tuesday.

Basically, Monday is the catch-all day that we use to basically gear up for the storm that is press day, which like I said before, is every Tuesday. We NEED our Mondays around here.

So when there are holidays observed on Monday’s where we can’t come into the office, it really cramps our week and puts a tight crunch on all of us. Not only do we have to come in early on Tuesday morning to make sure we have covered all of our bases, but we also have to make sure nothing happened on Monday that requires our attention and make sure we are ready to put the newspaper together, period.

This past weekend, we had to cover high school football games on Friday. For those of us who had plans and were gone all weekend after that, it meant coming in Tuesday morning and writing the story of those games , in addition to finishing anything else that needed to be done, before the paper could be sent off to the press. It was either that or write our stories off the clock, which I’ve done many times, but obviously would prefer not to do if I had a choice.

So what to do about it? I suggest that for the country as a whole, we start observing holidays on Fridays. It makes sense.

Not only would that preserve the traditional beginning of the week that so may people require to keep a regular schedule of events, but it would also remove people’s desire to take the Friday before a Monday holiday off. I mean, seriously, how many people try to turn a three-day weekend into a four-day weekend by doing just that? I’d say it’s probably a lot.

If holidays were observed on Friday, I don’t think people would be very inclined to also take Thursday off – it would be too obvious, I guess. And does anybody really think people would go ahead and take Monday off, too, to make it a four-day weekend. I don’t think so. I know I certainly wouldn’t do that. I would rather go ahead and get my week started right, and not have to play that furious game of catch-up I so love.

Maybe I’m in the minority in this, but I sure know it would make my life, as it is now, a lot easier. And anyone else who works with me in this particular weekly publication would almost certainly agree with me. I know this, because we’ve all already complained about it together first thing this morning (which was Tuesday, when I wrote this, although you’re probably reading it on Thursday). But I guess it would be just one more thing that will never get done. Why? Well, because it makes too much sense, obviously.