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Getting Back to Work

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Happy Monday, and many thanks to Anna, Jacque, Donna, Steve, Jim and tim, the guest bloggers who kept the trail busy during my absence. I was in central Illinois, visiting my father for the better part of a week. We worked around the house doing some routine maintenance – cutting grass, plugging woodpecker holes, fussing with the water softener, replacing broken windows, slathering roofing tar on a leaky overhang, etc.

photo by Clive Moss

We did all this in the midst of a prodigious hatch of 13-year cicadas, which is a humbling event for humans who are accustomed to feeling dominant, or even merely significant. The bugs are calling the tune around Decatur this spring – a tune that literally fills the air, resembling the constant ring of a busted wheel bearing early in the day, and by mid afternoon becoming a steady rattle, like the nonstop shaking of a huge tambourine. It’s the males who make the loudest noise, relentlessly advertising their sexual availability.

Why can’t they just quietly post some images of their parts on Twitter?

Working outside, we were subjected to a random sideways rain of buzzing, bulgy-eyed revelers who covered the trunks of trees and erupted in clouds from the shrubbery whenever branches were disturbed. At a nearby grocery store, the girl who tended the cart corral did her work with one hand wielding a flyswatter to keep insect invaders from getting tangled in her hair. This small gesture gave her necessary courage to face the onslaught, though she was bailing the ocean with a teacup.

The cicadas will do their work. They have an assignment to hatch, mate, and die, planting the next generation in the process. Six weeks of glory and see you in 2024! There’s no confusion about purpose or wondering ‘what I want to do when I grow up’ in the cicada world. I envy their focus and devotion to the task at hand.

For those who have followed my progress since I got bounced from my previous job last summer, you may have felt like you were watching an overturned cicada marooned on his back, helplessly waving his legs in the air, spinning in a circle, rattling like the doorjamb when you get buzzed into grandma’s apartment building. It’s been about that much fun.

Today I get my feet back under me, starting a full time job with radio station KFAI as its news director. I’ll be off-air for the most part, supporting volunteer newscasters and reporters, helping with a summertime program for young journalists, and doing whatever is asked of me to assist the staff of this famous station in delivering the funky magic of community radio. And I’ll be working my preferred hours – 5am to 1pm!

Right now it is my intention to keep Trail Baboon going as we have for the past year. The blog has evolved into something more than my personal billboard. I’d rather not close a public space that people enjoy visiting just because my agenda has shifted. Besides, where else would you go for recreation this summer, a state park?

You might notice a little more fatigue in the posts, with less wordsmithing, and more open-ended questions. Forgive my sloppiness and jump straight to the comments. That’s where the action is anyway. And if you have a guest post in mind, don’t hesitate to send it to me at connelly.dale@gmail.com. After all, I will be using most of my mental energy to remember names and faces and to get my bearings in a new environment. I’ll look to the blog when I get off work, though it always makes for a happy evening at home when mom doesn’t have to cook.

What is it like to start a new job?

86 thoughts on “Getting Back to Work”

  2. Rise and Go to Work Baboons:

    Congratulations Dale! I think you will be good at your new job. You are good at the “community” part of community radio.

    There is this thing you do that allows community members to feel like valued participants. This quality was evident long ago on TMS when you began taking requests. Then you ventured out into the community to actually perform your shows in front of an audience. When that began to happen your audience also became a participant in the show. This open attitude transferred to the blog–you already had built a community around you. One of the reasons this blog evolved the way it did is because you entered it with a radio and cyber community in place. So the Baboons function like a community always has functioned. Good for you. This quality ought to serve you well.

    Meanwhile, the last time I started a new job was 7 years ago when I started my private practice. I was so disoriented I kept locking my keys in the car. The low point came when I locked them in the car while it was still running and never even noticed for an hour! I had to hire the locksmith down the street to open the car. And one of the things I teach with the kind of therapy I do, IS HOW TO PAY ATTENTION. Sigh.

    (Please excuse the quote marks. I know these irritate some people, but I cannot ever remember how to make italics. Somebody told me once and I did not write it down, so I forgot. If you could repeat it, I’ll write it down and remember this time).

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  3. I’ve been at my current job for more than two decades… over the years I’ve trained lots and lots of interns and new associates. My favorite topic to train is “getting organized”. I always include where all the good supplies are hidden and where all the best lunch places are nearby. Really, on your first few days you just need to know where to find a file folder and a taco!

    YEA DALE!

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  4. Dale said, “I will be using most of my mental energy to remember names and faces and to get my bearings in a new environment.” It was always names with faces and the new social environment that was the tricky and tiring part for me.
    I would suggest we all try to give Dale a backlog of guest blogs he jump to, especially at first, so we can keep the Trail from disappearing in the jungle.

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  6. When I started my current job I spent a few days worrying that I would do something to Really Screw Up – step in some political hornets nest, prove to be less competent than I ought to be, or just Not Fit In. I had been recommended for the job by two good friends who worked in the organization, so I not only had the New Job Jitters, I had Don’t Inadvertently Throw Egg on Your Friends’ Faces Jitters. However, my first day went smoothly, the job was easier to learn than I had feared, and it has been a good fit. All those jitters for nothing. And I haven’t yet lost my car in the giant parking ramp.

    Dale – kudos to you for finding a good place to be. You will, I’m sure, use your gentle touch to shape and form and direct. As Jacque said, you are a natural at creating communities, and I’m sure there will be a VS at KFAI who will show you where to find the folders and a taco. Getting back to regular work after an unexpected sabbatical takes a few days to find your work day routine sea legs again (at least it did for me), but it comes back quickly. Added bonus: probably no cicada invasion in the station offices. Have a grand first day!

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  7. I have been at my current job since 1998, so the memory of starting a new job is sort of foggy. I’m sure you will do just fine, Dale.A beautiful morning here, all sparkly since it rained last night and it is finally sunny this morning. I second Clyde’s suggestion that we provide you with frozen guest blog entrees that can be pulled out and reheated as needed, especially on those days when the new job has been especially trying.

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      1. What a fun idea! I have two trips in the next couple of weeks, one to a pow wow one the Fort Berthold reservation and one to Pine Ridge for the first time with my husband’s gospel group. I am sure I will have things to report when I return home.

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      2. OK, I just checked and the Trail Baboon looks like it made its maiden voyage exactly one year and 10 days ago today!

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  8. I think I was trained well for starting a new job through the ten years of being a student doctor. Nothing begets as much confidence in patients as when you show up on a new rotation (which can be as frequently as every month) and the charge nurse/tech doesn’t know who the heck you are. In my current job, we are currently understaffed, so I began in August with a backlog that grew quite alarming by Thanksgiving. Fortunately I grew more efficient fairly quickly, and had help to catch up eventually. Still haven’t found the best restroom in the building though. There were was a particularly cosy women’s restroom — sitting area with window and everything — on the 4th floor of the Mayo Building at the U of Minnesota that I will always remember fondly.

    Many congratulations Dale! This was excellent news to hear. Did you have to negotiate for that 5am – 1pm slot or was that part of the advertised position??

    We just bought a house, and it has a veggie garden (that currently only has a row of sprouty potato hunks and mint) as well as scattered raspberry, blueberry and strawberry plants which begets much hope in my little heart (though the previous owner told us “the birds always get them first”). But once we figure out finances, I sense a donation to KFAI coming.

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    1. Good to hear from you again, MN in Sudbury! Sounds like you have been more than a little busy! Hope you get to join in again more often.

      Just throw more dirt over those ‘taters and keep piling it up all summer, then in the fall, tear down the pile-that is more or less what I do and therefore never have to really “dig” for potatoes. Once the berries start to turn color, toss on some nets. We are trying for strawberries again here-somehow, the birds don’t seem to bother the raspberries. And anything Jim tells you about gardening is most likely more correct than anything I tell you.

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    2. hey mn tex sudbury
      good to hear from you again. so that canadian socialist medical program has you feeling like you are a bit behind eh? sleep less comrade. i have confidence you will achieve berries in your new home. enjoy. and stick your head back in from time to time. it is nice to see a friendly font.

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  9. Best of luck, Dale, in your new venture. Speaking as one who has started a new job 16 times over my career, I agree that the first several weeks can be a little unnerving. This is especially true when you’ve been hired in a management position. I agree with Jacque that you have already established that you are good at community building, and I share her confidence that you’ll do a great job at KFAI. I can’t wait to see how your unique talents will become evident in the news programming at the station, but I have no doubt that they will. Enjoy the ride!

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      1. Tim, it’s complicated and a long story. Suffice it to say that I’ve included in the 16 jobs the two with the shortest tenures, 4 hours and five days, respectively. Both as a waitress and both in Carbondale, Illinois! I had started the 4 hour job at a restaurant on a weekday when they served all the spaghetti you could eat for $3.00. After four hours, the owner of the restaurant was falling off a barstool drunk, the other three waitresses had all gone on break together, the patrons, mostly college students, were clamoring for my attention and the floor awash in spaghetti sauce. Even without a college degree I could see there wasn’t much of future in that job, so I took the $6.00 I had earned in tips, handed in my apron and left. The following week I was hired to work the night shift, 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. at The Hub Cafe. The first four days went with only minor incidents. My first night on that job one of the black ladies who worked in the kitchen kept asking me if I had any coffee out there. I thought perhaps it was her job to make more coffee when we were running low, so I kept reassuring her that yes I had coffee out there. She finally came storming into the restaurant and hissed that if I wouldn’t bring her any coffee, she could get it herself. Apparently the kitchen staff wasn’t allowed in the restaurant and I had failed to understand her question as a request. I was off to an auspicious start. Another incident happened a couple of days later when a gentleman ordered a banana split. I had no idea what a banana split was, so I asked the other waitress. She gave me the instructions for making one, leaving out what she thought obvious, namely the banana. The customer looked at me incredulously when I presented him with my concoction and asked “Where’s the banana?” During the week, most of the customers were kindly railroad workers on coffee breaks. Saturday night, however, The Hub Cafe attracted all the drunks after the bars closed. After a night of unwanted attention and groping, I discovered that the Hub’s owner expected the other waitress and me to clean the restaurant for a couple of hours without pay. When I informed my coworker that I had no intention of working without pay and that I was quitting, she advised me to be sure to cash my check before telling the owner. Glad I heeded that advice as she threatened to stop payment on my check when I told her “I quit.” I had one other short term job, as admissions clerk at a hospital in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where I lasted all of 10 days. That’s another long story.

        Between the ages of 18 and 22, I worked a year in a children’s hospital in Switzerland, nine months at the American embassy in Moscow (as a nanny), and six months in Greenland (as a cook). Add to that the two jobs I held prior to turning 18, and the two short term jobs I took between ventures abroad, I’ve accounted for 10 jobs. After my stint as admissions clerk in Cheyenne, I worked the remainder of our stay there (my then husband was in the Air Force) as assistant to a watch maker. During the four years I attended SIU I worked as secretary to one of my professors. Since arriving in the Twin Cities in 1972 I’ve had five jobs. The first one, as food service supervisor at Northwestern Hospital, I quit after nine months when I discovered that a newly hired male coworker with less experience and responsibility than I was being paid more. That sort of thing was rampant in those days (and it’s still not uncommon), but it deeply offended my sense of fairness. The hospital would not fix it, and I would not tolerate it. After five or six years in each of the next three jobs, I moved on to more responsibility and better pay. You already know the story of my quitting the law firm job. I retired from my last job after 14 years in the trenches at an alternative school.

        That’s probably a bit more than you wanted to know, but there you have it, my illustrious career. I’d hate to once again have to make that work history look good on a résumé!

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      4. thanks palinjane, you are someone i would enjoy sitting down to a cup of coffee with now that i know enough about you to have an opinion. thanks for sharing. was your dad in the air force too or was the 18-22 stint in europe the same then husband as cheyanne?
        16 was a lot of jobs when you said it but when you list them i have to wonder how many little jobs i have had like that. i forgot about the some of them until reading yours. nursing home, constructon, dishwasher, silver polisher, waiter, newsboy twice, magazine salesman, then on to selling stuff and dreaming up new ideas to sell stuff,it does all add up pretty substantially.
        dale does have some catching up to do.

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      5. tim, no, my dad was a sailor. I grew up in Denmark and was 22 years old when I arrived in the U.S. having married an American G.I. in Greenland. I have some riotous stories about that. I’d love to hear more about that silver polishing job. Did you work at the Congdon mansion in Duluth?

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  10. Hooray, Dale!

    Heard your good news at work from one of the KFAI sub-djs I work with. Thrilled to bits about it.

    6th grade graduation today(the s&h is not big on ceremony and would rather be playing chess or something, but did decide he needed to wear a tie for this-I am amazed), so I am taking the day off-not sure how much I will be on-line today

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  11. I smiled when I heard your voice today on 106.7 at 7:30, and thought you did just fine on your first day of news on KFAI. Nice to have you back in the saddle again, news horse!

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  12. Good morning to all:

    I think there is usually a grace period when starting a new job where people make an extra effort to be helpful. It would be something like what a new president of this country usually is said to experience when they first become president. In other words, a period of time when you there is less oposition and more support. I would think that a community radio station, like KFAI, would be especially helpful to a new person. They probably will be very understanding if you have trouble remembering all the new names and faces.

    I once worked at a place where I had to change jobs from time to time and the supervisors for many of the jobs I had to learn were not too helpful. That was a big factory that didn’t generally treat employees well as a rule. I would assume KFAI would be the opposite of a big factory and would put extra effort into helping you.

    Best wishes to you, Dale, geting started at KFAI.

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  13. Dale, I lost my 20+ year job that was my identity. It took me even longer than it did you to find my next job. Two of us started on the same day at a much smaller organization than I had been at before. We filled out standard paperwork and were sent to our desks. Soon we were called back by the administrator. There was concern that we had cheated on the paperwork and copied from each other. This conclusion was reached because we had written down the same birthdate. Actually we had not cheated. The 2 people starting on the same day really shared not only a birthday but a birth year. Hoping that nothing equally weird happens to you!

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    1. Best wishes in your new job, Dale, and as a fairly new reader of this blog, I’m delighted to hear that Trail Baboon will continue. The friendliness and community here are delightful and unusual in the cyberworld (heck, unusual even in “real life”).

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    2. edith your timing is perfect.
      welcome to the new streamlined version of trail baboon…without dales responses to our comments until later in the day, we can get away with murder.
      it is a fun group and dales continued blogmasterisms will be enjoyed as long as he will have us. hopefully for a while.

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      1. thank you for your kind words, everyone. and i assure you i will do italics and bold…when i figure out how to do them.

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  14. YAY!!!! Congrats, Dale. It may or may not be a fantabulous gig but it’s a gig nonetheless. And it’s in your general area of interest and expertise, which is a plus. It may not be the richest paying gig by any stretch of the imagination but it gets you back in the game.

    I’ll let you know what it’s like to start a new job when you hire me (hint-hint).

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  15. I also smiled to hear Dale’s voice for the news break this morning. Great to have my favorite on-air personality and my favorite radio station converge! If any Babooners are thinking of converting from Public Radio to Community Radio, I recommend the Dakota Dave Hull show. He plays old-timey music, from bluegrass to early jazz and blues. Nothing can ever replace The Morning Show, of course, but there’s a similar spirit of keeping these old songs and musical styles alive, and Dave is quite the interesting host!

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    1. Ick. Reminds me of the day we opened a big can of green beans at Loaves & Fishes Too and right there in the middle was a bright red grasshopper. We assumed he got red from being cooked. I haven’t snatched a green bean at L&F since that day.

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  17. hooray dale yip yip yahooooooo!!!
    minnpost leaked the story last week and the baboons let the rest of us know about the new job. fantastic

    kfai seems like a very cool station, reminds me of public radio 40 years ago. i will now have to get the antenna fixed on my honda. it snaped off i a car wash abot 5 years ago and has a hard time getting tuned in on weak or far away stations. kfai is one or the other so it does not come in well in that car. the good news is i only drive that car 40% of the time and i was pleased to see kfai comes in loud and clear on the other radios in other vehicles. now home radios are another story. garage radio, not to good, home stereo that is tuned into the house intercom, not at all so i have to do some researching the options to boost the reception on those units to make it possible to listen to the funky offering on the new home base. i do like the starting poingt very much. i missed the world music when the morning show moved form 99.5 to 91.1, the classical was still available if you needed a fix but the world music went away, now its back with the kfai mix. nice.

    as for news director, what the heck is that? news is something they slide in between shows or something huh?
    what do you have envisioned for news central at kfai? mpr certainly gave you a god model to learn from but i’ll bet its like everything else 50% f what you learned is how to do it and 50% is how not to do it. we will see if you were paying attention.

    what if they don’ like you dale. the new guy coming form the hoity toity radio station with all the money to the red headed stepchild of community radio, can you put on your boss hat and whack the station into shape or are you going to be the low key gy who lets everything run as usual and makes changes go about unnoticed? get your booth at the fair lined up for this season if possible and start broadcasting from the new home on machinery hill or near the grandstand. won’t it be fun? al the excitement of starting at a new school for big guys. a lttle butterfliies in the stomach never hurt anyone. have fun dale the other kids will talk behind oyur back but eventually they will come around after they get accustomed to all the weird little nuances you bring to work with you. do you get your own desk okdo you get a window? where is the office. you need to find out how to get coffee at 4:45 on your way in or where to grab 1:15 lunch after the day ends. do you get to bike to the bus stop and throw the bike on that rack on the front of the bus? do buses even run at 4am? so much to tink about but you can drve yourself crazy with that. enjoy enjo enjoy. fun new stuff and a chance to be the example you always you wished yo had a chance to be. a boss who is open to suggestion and new ideas and conversation while running you little ship like an old pro.

    listen i have a few chores around my house i could use a hand with. when do you get your first vacation. i dint know you could do that tar stuff. i have a couple of other little odds and ends that need looking after…..

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  18. What great news, Dale! KFAI is, indeed, a legendary station (well, for me, anyway) and I am delighted to know you are involved in it. I will have to add it to the internet radio queue which, admittedly, is quite a short queue at this point. I should have had it in there all along, I suppose. Now I have a great reason. I wish at this point to strongly encourage you to provide news commentary frequently, so we can hear your voice and insights.

    And I agree with MN in Sudbury – financial support to KFAI will happen.

    As for starting a new job – pish. I have started more new jobs than old ones, I sometimes think. The most important thing to do at a new job is to discover the coffee situation. Do they drink coffee? If so, do they drink good coffee? If not – say, they drink Maxwell House – you must immediately show your moral superiority by bringing in decent coffee. I am going to assume that KFAI gets fair trade, shade grown, organic Sumatra from the Seward Coop. Prove to them you know how to make a good pot, even if you don’t drink it, yourself (somehow, I can’t imagine you don’t drink coffee, and if you don’t, I don’t want to know!).

    After that, you need to learn names, learn how to use the copier, and figure out the code on what’s what and what belongs to whom in the refrigerator. Everything else, like making and keeping budgets, performance reviews, meetings and project management, will fall easily into place. Trust me.

    Your Lake Baikal devotees in Northeast Tennessee,
    Snad and Mr. Dewey

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    1. Snad and Mr. Dewey – absolutely correct about how to use the copier and the making the coffee. Crucial skills in the office environment!

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    2. As a tea and cocoa-drinker – the most important thing is to discover where to get hot water that does not taste like coffee.

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      3. Agree with microwave heat – then it becomes a question of how strong your local tap water supply tastes unfiltered…

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  20. Congratulations and best wishes, Dale! KFAI has really scored this time! Good for you and good for KFAI. I agree that you have fantastic skill in developing community and that you will not only fit in but will lead and create positive change anywhere you go. With or without cicadas.

    We can’t get KFAI out here… as News Director could you make it one of your priorities to boost the signal? I always tune in to KFAI when I’m within range. The Mpls frequency starts to sound static-y around the exit for Northfield.

    While I’ve moved around a bit in my career, most notably from Department of Human Services to Department of Natural Resources, I’ve still had the same employer for 34 years as of last week. I also received my first ever lay-off notice last week. I’m certain of getting my job back as soon as the political battle is over, but it’s unnerving just the same. I’m feeling expendable and non-essential right now, so I’ll root for you! Good luck, Dale. Stay with us as much as you can!

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    2. hang in there ladies. the state of the state is a scary thing and you two get two get to bite the bullet for all of us.condolences and try to figure out how to make the most of getting a pink slip during the most gorgeous time of the year.

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      1. True for sure, tim! There is no shortage of things to do! There’s no doubt I’ll have fun – just hoping I can pay the bills.

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      1. Thanks, Steve. I’ll have to try that. I realized it after checking their website this morning. The trouble seems to be with Windows Media Player. I can use different software at home but that’s what I have to use at work. RH is coming in clear and strong!

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  21. It’s scary for me, usually. You just have to suck it up and trust that you’ll be able to do whatever is needed. I’ll never forget walking into a room of 40 kindergarteners in Sept. 1970 and wonder what the HELL was I doing there. The easy ones were when I knew the people who had hired me, so I kind of knew what to expect.

    I remember heading into Birchbark Books in 2002 as asst. bookkeeper (and later office manager). I had promoted myself as being able to “make order out of chaos.” They’d taken me up on it and provided the chaos in the form of a really messy back room, so I started there. Organizing that was much easier than learning the bookkeeping system I was expected to use.

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  22. To repeat: congratulations, Dale. You landed in an interesting place, and KFAI can only get stronger by using your talents. Who knows? Maybe some day station bosses will decide KFAI would flourish if each day began with a relaxed and eclectic mix of news, humor and folksy music. Something . . . something a lot like the old TMS.

    The last time I started a new job was when I joined the Democrats in the House of Representatives as a writer. My marriage was in trouble, and I desperately needed a steady paycheck. To my horror, there was no training program. I also was shocked to find myself the Office Geezer, as everyone was about twenty-five years younger than I. My fellow writers spent lunch hours trading funny lines from TV shows I hadn’t heard of. It had been over twenty years since I was in an office, and I felt worse than a fish out of water.

    In panic mode, I shut up and began observing my office mates as if I were an anthropologist dropped among some exotic native culture. With wide eyes, I tracked what they ate, what made them laugh, what bored them (ME, mostly at first!). After a month I began to understand them. It was a harrowing process, and not one I reccomend.

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      1. still up at the cabin?
        hey clyde. my son is going camping up by gooseberry falls in july. i told him to get his reservations in early so hed have a spot. now with the state closing down the parks in july he needs a plan b Any suggestions as to the right place up there?

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  23. Congratulations on the new gig; we’ll cut you all the slack you need to keep this iron in the fire. On the topic of where to have lunch, if you don’t all ready know, the Acadia is fantastic!; try the grilled cheese!

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    2. It’s still possible that State Parks will remain open. The last time a shut-down loomed (was it ’05?) the Parks were deemed critical to tourism in Minnesota. The State realized it would lose too much revenue by shutting them down. I know you are all aware of the economic impact the Parks have on our state. It’s still a bit of a gamble, but I’d go ahead and make a reservation at Gooseberry. I think Gooseberry itself is the most visited Park in the State.

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  25. Congrats to Dale! I work in education, so I’m always looking over my shoulder for the next budget cut. When I started at this school almost 4 years ago, I felt like a fish out of water. My mom was really sick so I was traveling east (70 miles) twice a week to help her, I also started teaching a course at a local college, (why, why, why?) and traveling west (90 miles) to visit my daughter. Somehow, it all gets done. Hey Babooners, you guys are a riot! The flow of replys really crack me up!

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    1. I’m reasonably new here, so I’m not good at spotting new Baboons, but you sound like one. If that’s the case, welcome to the trail. If that’s not the case, welcome back. You’re right, these folks are a riot. Besides, they are friendly and supportive of one another.

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  26. Hi Dale,
    Your news pulls me out of lurkitude to congratulate you on your new gig. Like others, I will turn to KFAI on the morning commute when I get in range, just in case!
    I have had a few jobs in my day, including a waitress job in Dinkytown – if Plainjane writes a guest blog someday, I can join in with a few tales of my own, though none tops the spaghetti story above!
    Hey BTW Dale, I’m from southern Ohio and have missed hearing cicadas these many years I have been up here in the hinterland. Thanks for reminding me that this is the year – I’m heading back in a couple weeks for a visit and now have something else to look forward to.

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    1. Connie I’d love exchanging waitress stories with you. Quit lurking and become a regular on the trail. We’d love to have you.

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  27. Imagine my surprise this morning when, while listening to Democracy Now! on KFAI, I heard a familiar but long-stilled voice. I ran to the Google machine to verify my hunch that Dale Connelly had returned to the airwaves and discovered this blog. Trail Baboon proved that my ears had not deceived me. Welcome back, Dale! You’ve landed at my favorite radio station.

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