Work and payment situation update - good news, bad news
So a lot of things happened since the last time I wrote about my job situation - and the payment issues.
I didn't mention it at the time, but on February 27, my editor at the Niles Bugle told me that one check was already in the mail, and another check would be sent out and arrive a dew days later. i didn't mention it because I didn't put much stock in that promise. And I was absolutely right, because by next Monday, March 6, I didn't get any paycheck.
When I asked about my editor that, hey, whatever happened to the paycheck you said was on the way, she said she was lied to, and that three paychecks were, in fact, mailed that day, and she double-checked. And, credit where credit is due, the three paychecks did arrive that Wednesday. They represented all of the invoices I sent by that point.
But because I was worried that the checks wouldn't get there before my rent check is deposited and before I have to pay for my Internet, I reluctantly asked my mom to borrow some more money, just to fill that gap. She wound up rounding it off to a nearest hundred, so it was actually slightly more than I needed, but i figured that it didn't matter. I would have to pay it back eventually anyway, and so long as I had the money...
On the evening of March 6, I got a paycheck from 22nd Century Media for the work I did in February. But then, after I paid for the Internet using the money I borrowed... Well, Comcast wound up withdrawing the money twice, so a decent chunk of that check vanished. And Comcast didn't return it until Friday. So, until the checks actually showed up in my account on Thursday, I was living on a pretty tiny little bit of money.
Then, on Friday, I got my first payment for first article I wrote for Cook County Chronicle. Even though the article wasn't published until today's issue, the paper paid upon receipt of invoice (which is standard practice, and the sort of thing I've taken for granted until the whole mess with the Bugle started).
The point is that, by Friday, with the extra Comcast withdrawal returned, funds from three paychecks already in the account and funds from the fourth paycheck due to appear in my account tomorrow, I figured that it wouldn't due us any harm to at least pay my mom back for what she lent me in the end of February.
As it turned out, that may have been premature. Because, as i would eventually learn, one of the three Bugle checks (the one for the most recent invoice I submitted (as of March 6)) bounced. As I said, I didn't suspect anything was amiss until I went to take out some cash from my bank and noticed that the balance was a bit low. It wasn't, like, low to the point where it would threaten my student loan payment, so I figured I would look at it in the evening. And, once I got home, I got a paper document saying that, hey, your check bounced.
Naturally, I sent an angry e-mail to my Bugle editor, but past that... who knows what would happen.
Now, I should also say that, on March 2, I had an interview with the Journal & Topics newspapers. And the editor I spoke to liked me enough that he said he might be willing to have me do regular freelance work, writing one or two articles a week. But first, he basically sent me to do a try-out, covering a meeting that happened this Monday.
Originally, what made me hesitate to embrace it was that it turned out that they paid about as much as 22nd Century media paid. And the Bugle, as you may recall, has the base rate that's the same rate as 22nd Century Media, but they also paid extra for pictures. And since I've gotten pretty good at making sure most stories have some pictures to accompany them, i, in effect, earned more for two Bugle stories a week than for two Journal & Topics stories a week. I didn't say "no," because, as I've learned the hard way, it doesn't pay to cut off potential escape routes alternatives, but, depending on whether I would get past the audition, I was seriously mulling whether it would be worth it.
With this check bouncing business, I may well have no other choice. I have to earn money somehow, and the Bugle is growing more and more unreliable every week.
I didn't mention it at the time, but on February 27, my editor at the Niles Bugle told me that one check was already in the mail, and another check would be sent out and arrive a dew days later. i didn't mention it because I didn't put much stock in that promise. And I was absolutely right, because by next Monday, March 6, I didn't get any paycheck.
When I asked about my editor that, hey, whatever happened to the paycheck you said was on the way, she said she was lied to, and that three paychecks were, in fact, mailed that day, and she double-checked. And, credit where credit is due, the three paychecks did arrive that Wednesday. They represented all of the invoices I sent by that point.
But because I was worried that the checks wouldn't get there before my rent check is deposited and before I have to pay for my Internet, I reluctantly asked my mom to borrow some more money, just to fill that gap. She wound up rounding it off to a nearest hundred, so it was actually slightly more than I needed, but i figured that it didn't matter. I would have to pay it back eventually anyway, and so long as I had the money...
On the evening of March 6, I got a paycheck from 22nd Century Media for the work I did in February. But then, after I paid for the Internet using the money I borrowed... Well, Comcast wound up withdrawing the money twice, so a decent chunk of that check vanished. And Comcast didn't return it until Friday. So, until the checks actually showed up in my account on Thursday, I was living on a pretty tiny little bit of money.
Then, on Friday, I got my first payment for first article I wrote for Cook County Chronicle. Even though the article wasn't published until today's issue, the paper paid upon receipt of invoice (which is standard practice, and the sort of thing I've taken for granted until the whole mess with the Bugle started).
The point is that, by Friday, with the extra Comcast withdrawal returned, funds from three paychecks already in the account and funds from the fourth paycheck due to appear in my account tomorrow, I figured that it wouldn't due us any harm to at least pay my mom back for what she lent me in the end of February.
As it turned out, that may have been premature. Because, as i would eventually learn, one of the three Bugle checks (the one for the most recent invoice I submitted (as of March 6)) bounced. As I said, I didn't suspect anything was amiss until I went to take out some cash from my bank and noticed that the balance was a bit low. It wasn't, like, low to the point where it would threaten my student loan payment, so I figured I would look at it in the evening. And, once I got home, I got a paper document saying that, hey, your check bounced.
Naturally, I sent an angry e-mail to my Bugle editor, but past that... who knows what would happen.
Now, I should also say that, on March 2, I had an interview with the Journal & Topics newspapers. And the editor I spoke to liked me enough that he said he might be willing to have me do regular freelance work, writing one or two articles a week. But first, he basically sent me to do a try-out, covering a meeting that happened this Monday.
Originally, what made me hesitate to embrace it was that it turned out that they paid about as much as 22nd Century media paid. And the Bugle, as you may recall, has the base rate that's the same rate as 22nd Century Media, but they also paid extra for pictures. And since I've gotten pretty good at making sure most stories have some pictures to accompany them, i, in effect, earned more for two Bugle stories a week than for two Journal & Topics stories a week. I didn't say "no," because, as I've learned the hard way, it doesn't pay to cut off potential escape routes alternatives, but, depending on whether I would get past the audition, I was seriously mulling whether it would be worth it.
With this check bouncing business, I may well have no other choice. I have to earn money somehow, and the Bugle is growing more and more unreliable every week.