Getting Back In The Saddle – My Next Job (A Night Transcriber) – Part 1

May 26, 2016

Picking up from last time –

I came into my next job all wide-eyed and excitable. I was happy to be back in full-time TV. I was happy to have a paycheck. I was just happy , excitable, and ready.

I was a night transcriber at a company that did a number of TV shows (so I didn’t work for one specifically). We had a huge nice kitchen at our disposal. The place was by public transportation. Night is my favorite shift to work. I thought things were pretty swell.

But then I started to see how stressed the lead transcriber was, and how she treated the people around her. She’d seem pretty nice one moment and super mean the next. She would straight up scream at people.

(She later got fired. So… rumor is, I was not the only one who felt that way. *shrug*.)

I took it as a challenge to get on her good side. I wanted to be the star employee.

I also didn’t want to be a transcriber forever. So, I wanted to figure out ways to grow and position myself well for the future.

The assistant editors had longer shifts than we did. So, I’d stay an hour or two after my shift each night to see if anyone would let me learn over their shoulders. I never wanted to get in the way of people, but I met some guys who were more than happy to teach me how to do stuff.

After all, if you teach someone, that person can help you! So, those guys could benefit. Plus it feels nice to do things for other people (such as teaching them things), and sometimes it can get lonely as an AE. So, hopefully they enjoyed the company.

In case you’re wondering, I was great at my transcribing job (if I do say so myself). The after-shift stuff never got in the way. My boss had actually taken me aside to tell me to do less work, so that I didn’t start making higher-ups make higher quotas. I was often assigned the harder videos. I felt like a happy, stellar employee.

I thought everything was fine…

I'd love to hear from you! So whaddya say?