Part Two – Communication Mistakes at Work
Carefully communicating or explaining your point of view. This is part Two of Communication Mistakes at Work – Wanting Ice Water.
I’m Gloria Moraga. Please share my podcast, and subscribe.
We are talking about Communication Mistakes at work.
My advice Communicate. Clearly. Explain your side; your point of view.
Speak up.
Are you out of work right now? Getting ready to look for a job once we are all vaccinated?
Or are you looking for your first real job out of college? How is it going?
Once you get it, there is initial excitement, then there is a Holy Cow feeling. I’m really here.
Oh, you’ve worked at pizza parlors and service or fast food.
I picked grapes twice, worked in a packing shed, put cucumbers and corn in crates to ship to market, and worked at a daycare center in college.
But my first real job was at KMJ Radio. It was a dream come true.
On graduation day, I was the only one in my Broadcast Communication Arts class with a real broadcasting job.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This cluelessness when entering new jobs haunts me throughout my career.
Before I launch into my long, long list of communication mistakes, let me just say, I was handling a lot of responsibility with little training.
In college, my emphasis was on television news reporting. Not radio. But this was my chance to get my foot in the door. I didn’t want to blow it.
It was a horrible job, really, overnight, 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Woof.
Even though my shift began at 10, I was responsible for the 9:55 Sports Wrap. I would read all the scores from all the games played that day or during the weekend. Live on the radio. KMJ is the mega radio station in the San Joaquin Valley.
This is from their website.
“KMJ’s 50,000-watt signal provides coverage for most of California. Its radio antenna tower is located south of Kerman between Jensen and North Avenues and east of Madera Avenue. That tower is and has been a dominant landmark in the Kerman area for decades.”
Let’s just say there were many, many listeners. People turned to KMJ for news, sports, and late-night music. And the sports department was great and the 9:55 time slot was highly rated.
For me, it was a nightmare. I was basically reading a cold script. Copy that the sports reporter prepared before he left for the day.
It was awful. I was awful.
It’s my first night. Sunday. Summer. I was handed a script that looked like a foreign language. Baseball Scores. American League and National league. It looked like there were a thousand of them. There were about 10 or so.
I stumbled a bit. But then I hit my stride. Until I got to this name. John Montefusco.
John Joseph Montefusco Jr. (born May 25, 1950), nicknamed “The Count,” a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1986. At that time, he pitched for the San Francisco Giants. He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award and pitched a no-hitter.
When I got to his name, I paused, then said, “And John Mente – foo – so, made Giants’ history today, picking a no-hitter.”
Holy Cow. The phones went crazy. There we only two of us in the entire station. An engineering and who was training me to run the cell tower transmitter ane me
I had to pass a Federal Communications Commission test to get an electrical third-class engineering license to work at this job.
One caller said, “Who the hell is this broad? Get her the hell off the air.”
Most callers were upset about the Montefusco mispronunciation.
Welcome to radio, Gloria.
I worked my ten-hour shift, and the next morning I was called into the Program Manager’s Office; the Station Manager was also there.
I thought I’m going to be fired after one day on air.
‘I’m so sorry,” I blurted out.
“How could you not know how to pronounce John Montefusco?” the program director sighed.
The General Manager said, “You graduated from San Francisco State by God!”
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
“What do you propose we do, Gloria?” the Program Director asked. He was my direct supervisor.
“Give me another chance?” I said.
You know why you are here, don’t you?” asked the general manager.
“No,” I honestly replied.
I wanted to ask what he meant. Does he mean on earth? At the Radio Station or just in the office? Sheesh! I kept quiet.
You are here,” the general manager said evenly. “Because the FCC requires that we hire women and minorities. You fill both those requirements. We had 200 men we could have hired who would be better at this job than you.”
“Two thousand,” said the program director.
They looked at each other and laughed.
They had their private little joke between them. I was the joke.
I was humiliated. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole.
I was 22 years old. I hadn’t developed my sarcastic wit yet.
I hadn’t toughened myself up to all the insults that were coming my way.
All the put-downs, the nasty comments, were yet to come.
I was an inexperienced woman in a man’s job or a brown woman in a position a white male deserved.
What should I have said? What could I do?
I sat silently for a moment, and then I said, “Well, I guess you are stuck with me.”
They both looked furious. And I stood up and fled.
That was a mistake.
Here what I should have said and done.
I should have said I was sorry they were pressured to hire me, but I was here, so let’s work together to make this a successful partnership. Help me with the Sports Cast at 9:55. Maybe the sports guys can record before they leave for the night?
Work with me. We can all be successful.
Clear, concise communication. What did I do? I ran. That is another habit or trait that followed me throughout my career.
Research shows that you either fight or flee to save yourself. I like to run.
By leaving that morning without working with those two white, privileged men set a two and a half year pattern.
That’s how long I worked at KMJ-Radio. The first and only woman on-air at any central valley radio station. I didn’t know when they hired another woman; I had already left for television.
The dysfunctional way we worked together is I would make a mistake; the phone would ring, and one or both of them would yell at me.
I was tough. I practiced. I got better.
The engineers, the sports guys, and the newsmen were mostly great. They helped me. They really are responsible for any success I achieved at KMJ.
I’m sharing this humiliating story because these are trying times, especially for women workers.
This information is from CNBC’s website. I will include a link.
I am paraphrasing; this, not a direct quote.
“In January 2021, 275,000 women dropped out of the labor force, accounting for nearly 80% of all workers over the age 20 who left the who left jobs.”
Women are leaving jobs because schools and child care centers are closed. Women still are the primary caregivers.
This statistic is from a National Women’s Law Center analysis of the latest jobs report.
“This brings the total number of women who have left the labor force since February 2020 to more than 2.3 million. It puts women’s labor force participation rate at 57%, the lowest it’s been since 1988, according to NWLC. By comparison, nearly 1.8 million men have left the labor force during this same period.”
My point – we are going to get back to work. When we do. Communicate. Somebody insults you, close the door, sit down and talk about it.
Look them in the eye and say, “Let’s talk. Let’s work this out.”
Don’t run like the scared little girl I was.
And finally, my reaction to the two managers followed me to my next job and my next job in Fresno.
I called a trouble maker when I worked part-time at Channel 47. Not because of anything I did there, but because of my reputation and gossip from KMJ.
When I started a new position as an announcer-director at Channel 30, a dear man, who became a good friend, Michael Purl, told me, “Your reputation proceeds you.”
We later became close enough that I was able to ask him what he meant.
He said, “We were warned not to hire you, that you are a bitch.” He didn’t say Bitch; God Bless him. He said you are the Witch word but pronounced with a B.
Yes. I could have communicated better not only at KMJ but at all my jobs.
Here is my advice:
- Schedule a meeting to talk if you are having problems.
- Don’t talk out problems when you are tired; my radio bosses ambushed me after my first 10-hour shift. I was exhausted. I reacted badly.
- Write down what you want to say. Rehearse if you have to. Just be prepared.
- Be calm.
Speak out. Talk to each other. It will help. I swear.
Please share and subscribe. Gloria Moraga, One-On-One. Be safe.
