There is nothing wrong with this headline.
Every workplace has its peculiarities, and I’ve had my fair share of everyday jobs with strange coworkers! However, EastIdahoNews.com is unique.
I attended an editor training years ago before I started working here, and the lecturer mentioned that he used to ask newsrooms, “What is the personality of your organization?” He said that many of the responses he received were impartial or unbiased. “Those weren’t personality traits, but they were important,” he remarked.
Yes, we deal with serious issues, and in many cases, we must be tactful and serious. However, if you have been following us for some time, you may have noticed that EastIdahoNews.com is a little strange, but in a good way. As you may have noticed, this place is not operated by corporate types with beige hearts, but by real individuals.
About ten years ago, right after the website’s major launch, I visited. In no particular sequence, here are a few bizarre things I’ve witnessed or encountered at work during the last ten years:
- Our newsroom managers, Nate Eaton and Nate Sunderland, bicker like old ladies. (Their arguments would get especially heated in the early days of EastIdahoNews.com, when they didn t have much precedent to go on.) Sometimes the back-and-forth is very opinionated on how we should cover certain stories, but once the argument is over, neither holds a grudge, and they continue to work well together. Sadly, not letting disagreements become personal is more of an oddity now than it should be.
- One night, I was working late and used the men s restroom. As I tried to leave, the handle came off in my hands! I put the handle back, managed to MacGyver it into working and made my escape. I left a note warning the dayside crew that the door needed fixing. Gov. Brad Little was at the office for an interview that morning, and he asked to use the restroom. As he tried to leave, the handle came off in his hands, and he was trapped! Since you ve probably seen pictures of him in places other than our office since then, you are aware that he eventually got out. The handle was replaced quickly after that. Our restroom is no longer taking political prisoners.
- The Ledge of Weird. Over the years, various trinkets have made it to our office, mostly from viewers. Not knowing what else to do with them, we put the thingamajigs up on a ledge behind Nate Sunderland s desk. These items now include a mannequin head, a (not real) baby face, a bucket, a gnome, a mystical mask, a bare-chested eagle and a Santa hat made from sugar. At the base of the ledge (since it wouldn t fit) is a small table that s permanently encased in papier-m ch . The viewer who sent us that also sent us a mug and an old printer that got the same paper treatment. Sadly, we ended up throwing the printer away due to space, but it was certainly a conversation piece! Imagine: a paper printer printing paper!
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Did you know EastIdahoNews.com used to have a lake behind the office? Well, it was more of a pond. OK, it was a puddle! It was a spot of ground that would fill after sprinklers or rain/snowmelt. It has since been fixed, which is probably for the best, since
mosquitos are bad news
. But before it was addressed, we had some boats float Lake East Idaho News. Some days, we even had toy dinosaurs pilot the watercraft.
- The Wall of Shame. You may have, um, noticed that we sometimes make mistakes on our website and social media. (If you haven t, welcome to EastIdahoNews.com!) Believe it or not, most errors do get caught in the editing process, but a few do make it through, and we fix them as soon as we can. The best of the best (worst of the worst?) mess-ups, however, get a place of dishonor in our break room, for us to laugh about till the end of time.
- As you might have guessed, we are not thin-skinned here, so not only do we display our editorial stumbles for our staff to see, but we share our meanest and craziest feedback with the public, something most companies are reluctant to do. We ve done this a few times throughout the years, and our staff has enjoyed it every time, and we hope the videos made you smile too. (This is not a call to see how mean you can be to us. Next time you want to tell us just how horrible we are, remember that Nate Sunderland has feelings and is a tender soul.) We have to say, though, that most feedback we ve gotten, even if it s been critical, has been respectful and kind. We have the best audience anywhere!
RELATED | WATCH: The staff at EastIdahoNews.com reads hurtful comments from viewers
LINKED | Hurrah! Mean (and strange) comments are read by the East Idaho News staff.
RELATED | WATCH: We receive cruel and strange remarks
I hope you don’t think we just play with boats, laugh at ourselves, and trap governors here. It may sound strange to say, but my coworkers are the best part of my job. We all put in a lot of effort to deliver the news to you. I like working in an environment where everyone is so committed and can have a good time.
I hope you’ll stick with us and I’m forward to see what weird adventures the next ten years have in store!
A decade of news series:
The moment visitors to Yellowstone National Park placed a bison in their trunk
An alien Easter egg from EastIdahoNews.com
The incident in which a sex worker brought a meal into our newsroom
Our endeavor to discover faith from the perspective of a nearby Muslim community
The moment when the Rexburg Police Department’s Segway training went comically wrong
