I knew Monday was going to be bad, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. I have never once in my life felt close to cracking at the seams, and this is the one day I have to admit I nearly did.
The day started normally enough, just that I was on hotline duty. For those who do not know what that means, it just means that I man the hotline for news that comes in and if there is anything interesting I report to the editor.
One hour into my shift, I got an email from one of my advertorial clients stating that I'd written the ad in the wrong style for them. They wanted it rewritten. It wasn't really my fault because the brief had been vague.
No problem, except that the deadline was the same evening. Then my editor threw me another story because there were no other interns in office. The other 4 were out on assignment. Okay.
Then my editor asked me to follow up on the story I was investigating from last week, and that became task number 3. Then another client from my 2nd advertorial called in and asked if I could edit the article I did for them and send them the final draft by evening. Task 4. And then photodesk comes over and asks me to file another interview for tomorrow. Task 5.
And mind you, I was still on hotline duty.
There was one point in time when the phone rang, but I was on the line with a hotline caller. I ended that call fast, and transferred to the next call which was my interviewee for my advertorial. Then in comes another call just seconds after that was an interviewee for one of my two articles.
Think that's bad? Then my handphone rings, and it was an interviewee calling about an interview I was setting up for tomorrow. Then the photo editor came over and asked me where's your photo caption? I need it filed now. And my supervising editor turns her head over and asks me "Have you checked all your facts? Can I have this story filed by tonight?"
And of course at the end of this whole cycle, the hotline rings again. And at no point in time can I reject a single one of the calls, because interviewees aren't always free to talk, and hotline news often requires immediate attention. And I still had to keep the presence of mind to continue working on my 4 articles/advertorials even as chaos reigned.
I eventually ended work at 9.30pm. It's 11pm now. My heart is racing, my hands are trembling, and I can still feel the adrenaline.