Being a newspaper reporter isn’t an easy profession. I have had other jobs in the past including waitress, factory worker, and medical transcriptionist. While all of them are different, nothing has come close to this one.
Not everyone likes me. I know that’s hard to believe, given my loveable personality. I have gotten used to not being on everyone’s good side. I figure if everyone likes me I’m not doing my job, right?
I do what’s expected of me in reporting the news and let the chips fall where they may. Actually, I try not to concern myself with who might not like what I am writing. If I do stop to think about it, I won’t be able to do my job and that’s not happening.
I’m accustomed to walking into government meetings and feeling like I have the plague. Once, a few years back, I walked in and everyone stopped talking – a definite sign they were discussing something I had written. I ignored it, sat down and went to work.
For those of you who haven’t noticed, I am temporarily covering both city and county government beats. I made the comment at a city meeting that “it’s a good thing that everyone loves me.” City administrator Bill Brock was in the middle of sitting down and he paused in mid-sit. I told him to sit down before I throw something heavy at him. It was all in jest, from my part at least.
I had one woman send me a “thank you” card that was anything but. It wasn’t entirely nice. She knew what she was doing because she didn’t include a return address. However, that’s where the knowledge ended.
Most of her facts were wrong. If I cared, I would have found an address and replied. She didn’t want me to do that, obviously, so I tossed the card into the trash and moved on with my life.
I covered the recent structure fire on Sparta Street last Sunday. While firefighters were doing their jobs, people were standing around using cellphones to take videos or pictures. One firefighter asked me who I was. When I told him, he said he wanted to make sure I wasn’t a “rubbernecker” or he would have to confiscate my camera. If he had reached out to touch my camera, the department would have had another fire to put out. Why he targeted me, I have no idea.
I joke that half Warren County hates me and the other half loves me. Depending on what I’ve written lately, they swap sides. It’s all good. I don’t take any of it personally, as long as you don’t touch my camera.
Despite the occasional negative, there are an abundance of positives. I love my job. I used to joke with my husband (before the breakup) that I’m a woman and a reporter, which means you can’t legally tell me to shut up – not that he would.
Standard reporter Lisa Hobbs can be reached at 473-2191.