August 2002 Archives

By Vincent F. Safuto Staff writer

August 28, 2002

College graduates entering the wonderful world of work are finding that the party’s over, and those companies that went on hiring sprees in the 1990s are unloading workers with a zeal not seen in at least a decade.

It’s easy to laugh at those unfortunate folks who did what they were told and got an education, and now find themselves taking jobs at salaries so low that they can’t even afford to be homeless. I know the feeling and the frustration, and remember how tough it was to get re-established in the workforce after college.

I had some advantages, however, because while I was attending college, I worked for the post office. The job may have been unfulfilling, but it kept my wallet filled, a roof over my head, and food in mine and the cats’ bellies.

If nothing else, I knew where I didn’t want to work ever again: at any government entity.

Looking for a job in the early- to mid-1990s could be a taxing experience, with lots of blind alleys and dead ends. A common joke at the time was that the “big three” of college employment fairs was McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s. Multi-level marketing representatives were everywhere, offering “management” positions and the opportunity to pay an employer for the privilege of working for the company.

I remember one fair where several employers were looking for people with years of work experience in highly technical fields, something you wouldn’t find among 21-year-old college students. Others were not hiring, or in the midst of massive layoffs, and were just taking resumes, I suppose to practice their paper airplane-making skills.

The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the predecessor to the Department of Children & Families, had a booth at one job fair. The recruiters looked pretty lonely, so I walked over and talked to them. Mind you, this was the day after a state legislator had asked all state agencies to describe their plans if their budgets were cut 25 percent, so I naturally asked why they were recruiting if they were going to have to fire everyone soon after.

“That was only an exercise,” one of the recruiters said. “And anyway, the agency already paid for the booth.”

My favorite was the company that refused to describe the job or its responsibilities, but assured me that the activities outside work were a lot of fun. The fellow gave me a strange look when I said I was more interested in the work. It turned out to be telemarketing, selling college textbooks over the phone on commission.

If there’s any consolation, it’s that patience pays off in the end. Through networking and hard work, I found a job in the field I wanted to be in, and the rest is history.

The key is to keep your chin up, have a positive attitude and remember that the only thing worse than a bad job is no job at all.

Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com.


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By Vincent F. Safuto Staff writer

August 16, 2002

The flames are all long gone,

But the pain lingers on.

"Goodbye Blue Sky" Pink Floyd, 1979

The news media are preparing to run stories marking one year since the Sept. 11 attacks, and I agree with some readers who've written to question why the media insist on doing this.

I don't want to relive that day, a day that began with a telephone call that woke me up and ended with me watching a nighttime scene of what used to be the site of a number of buildings a familiar part of the skyline I grew up seeing looking like something out of Dante's "Inferno."

I said to someone in the newsroom at one point, "I just keep waiting for the alarm clock to go off, or to see the words The End' and the lights come up." I didn't want it to be real. But it was.

"How We've Changed" is the general theme of the media's look back, and I think it's redundant to use valuable space and newsprint to tell readers that. Things have changed in our world. All around us, we see the growth in suspicion, fear and mistrust.

We're more cynical than we were on Sept. 10, 2001. We've seen the aftermath of an unimaginable tragedy: the lives ruined, the lives lost, the tears, the suffering and the sadness.

But we have also heard stories of bravery and selfless courage. I've said it before and I'll say it again: For all the babble about how people in America are so self-centered and evil because they want a good life for themselves, a look at the events of Sept. 11 shows that we can rise to the occasion when need be.

Rescue personnel knew they were needed, and many paid the ultimate price for their dedication.

We've seen people try, in their own way, to heal the unhealable wounds. People who've never been to New York or ridden the elevator to the observation deck of the World Trade Center gave for those who call the city home. People who have never been to the Pentagon gave to help the families of those who died there.

And the story of a very brave group of people who may have prevented another devastating attack, and died in a field in Pennsylvania, has inspired a nation.

The thousands of victims, aboard the four flights and in the towers and the Pentagon, were the real heroes of that day. They died with their murderers, and we need to recommit ourselves to the punishment of the leaders of those monsters who decided that their version of reality trumps all others.

The families of those people who died should just be left alone to grieve in private. We know they're in pain, and you the reader or viewer know they're in pain. You don't need to open the newspaper or turn on the TV to find that out.



Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at (Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com).

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Aug. 2, 2002

by Vincent F. Safuto staff writer

When I was a kid, the grave threat to the nation and its future was Saturday morning television. Social theorists wailed and gnashed their teeth at the damage those cartoons and advertisements were doing, and how the younger generation would turn out totally corrupted.

It was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, in my view, since much of this howling occurred during the Vietnam and Watergate era, when it seemed that adults were doing a pretty good job of messing up America themselves.

The lamented Saturday morning cartoon ads of the day touted various “action kits,” toys based on television shows or movies. They could be folded up and brought to a friend’s house and combined with other items in the set, and you could have a good time in the era before having an imagination was discouraged.

For example, the “Star Trek” action kit simulated the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise and included the transporter room. With the Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock action figures, you could pretend they were exploring “strange new worlds” and then flying off at Warp Three for new adventures in another part of the house.

My parents considered that stuff junk; today it sells for a premium on eBay.

Since play has to have a purpose today, and even adults enjoy toys aimed at kids, here’s my latest proposal for a new toy. Let’s call it the “Corporate CEO Action Kit.”

It would come with a corner office that features genuine fake wood paneling, a power desk, a picture of the CEO action figure shaking hands with the president and even a little board room. The CEO action figure (in a $1,500 suit) and the obsequious rubber-stamping board of directors figures would be sold separately, naturally.

Other action figures could include the Arthur Andersen accountant/consultant, the book-cooking CFO and the members of the Congressional subcommittee, which would be the same figure sold several times.

The fun you could have! Close your U.S. factories and move them to Mexico or Indonesia, or subcontract to a subcontractor’s subcontractor so you have no idea who’s making your products and aren’t accountable for the firing squads at the factory wall.

Impoverish the communities your former factories were in, get on the board of the United Way, parade around town in your silver Bentley (sold separately) and your trophy wife (sold separately, and eligible for a trade-in) to political campaign fund-raising events.

Buy a member of Congress (sold separately or, even better, use a subcommittee figure) and move the headquarters to Bermuda, laundering the profits through the Cayman Islands action set. Trade stock on inside information.

The possibilities are endless.

Future action kits could include the Congressional subcommittee hearing room, the SEC investigator action figure and, if your lawyer action figure (sold separately) can’t save your fanny, the Club Fed cell action set, which would feature a TV that gets all the financial channels and even a prison laundry, so your financial skills stay up to date.

Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com.

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