So because the Twins suck, I won't be hired to help with any baseball games this year ... save for one, the All-Star Game, which will be held Tuesday at Target Field ... except that I haven't been called. Which surprises me.
All I would do is help out, run some stuff up to the booth, maybe get coffee or batteries or other things they discovered they'd need. And I would think they would need my help more so now than ever. It is, after all, the Midsummer Classic, and all eyes (dwindling ratings notwithstanding) would be at The Bullseye, so I would think my employer (actually, come to think of it, my employers, since another broadcasting entity whom I once worked for also is in town for All-Star Game festivities) would want all hands on deck to make sure everybody got everything they needed to ensure a fantastic broadcast befitting the All-Star Game.
To make sure of this I contacted my friend, who used to work for them. He recommended I talk to the person who would be making the hires for the game. I've never been that proactive before; we're not union, so we're at the whims of the person who's working the Twins or Vikings game. So what's the use of calling/begging for work? Every year except for the 2012 season I have not been hired for at least one Vikings home game. I accept that. When I get asked for none, that's when I get worried.
Maybe I shouldn't get bent out of shape over not being used for the only game they'd be in this season. But, for one, if they are only here once, wouldn't they get a guy who's been with the company for a long time? And, I'll admit, the cachet of working the All-Star Game, to be at the stadium, and to be in the truck when the camera shots and edits are called -- I would want to be there just for that. So that's why I called.
I got no answer. I tried calling two more times, each time being more afraid I would do more harm than good. But by Friday afternoon, after leaving a third voicemail, I had to accept he wasn't going to hire me. It would have been sweet, working the All-Star Game in that capacity. But, sadly, I was rejected.
The thing that bothers me the most is that I didn't even get an answer. Am I not on some list? Was I not even on this guy's radar? Does he even know me? I would think that ten years of putting one foot in front of the other and not tripping too much would be enough to get hired for something as important as this. But I don't even get a, "No thanks?" It would suck if, for example, they already hired some other local, but then I would at least know. Not getting a reply back is just rude.
So I vented to my friend, who said there could be a lot of reasons I wasn't hired: They did find someone else (and if they did, I think I know just who it is); they used guys from the local regional sports network; this job was so big that they actual told their own guys to demote themselves and go back to running on Tuesday. Whatever the case, I'm not working it.
Worse yet; he told me the process of hiring us day players has changed. Now hiring will be done through a department, the staff of which I don't know and probably don't know me. Will this mean I won't do any Vikings games anymore? Am I officially done with these guys? And for what?
Does ten years of service mean nothing?!?!
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In the meantime, I have no reason to be downtown for the All-Star Game (and the Home Run Derby, which is tonight). But I will be downtown for work; I'll just have no reason to be around in the evening, when both events take place. It's weird; the spotlight's on my city, specifically a football field away from where I work, and yet I don't feel welcome. I don't want to just mill around a place where I wasn't "invited." But why I am running away from the center of all the action on Tuesday? I'm torn.
Tonight I have ***e* and possibly her friend cleaning my house and then cleaning my hose, if you know what I mean. But if I had the ability to work the Derby, by all means, I would. Then on Tuesday, I couldn't help but feel the need to be around Target Field for the game. So I plan on doing something I've wanted to do, eat at one of the best restaurants in the Twin Cities which is within walking distance of both my place of work and the parking ramp, then, before the rate of parking goes way up because I'd been there for more than 12 hours, I'll just walk down to the stadium and see if I can catch a glimpse of this meaningless exhibition. Hey, it'll be another generation before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game comes back here. I might be dead by then. Might as well try to see if I can get a free peek, even if it will look as pathetic as it sounds.
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