Posted on 12/26/2018 9:30:48 AM PST by Incorrigible
Austin Murphy
Author and longtime Sports Illustrated senior writer
Holiday parties were right around the corner, and I needed a cover story. I didn't feel like admitting to casual acquaintances, or even to some good friends, that I drive a van for Amazon...
...Let's face it, when you're a college-educated 57-year-old slinging parcels for a living, something in your life has not gone according to plan. That said, my moments of chagrin are far outnumbered by the upsides of the job. There's a certain novelty, after decades at a legacy media company, Time Inc, in playing for the team that's winning big, even if that team is paying me $17 an hour (plus OT!). It's been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon to be a minority in my workplace, and in some of the neighborhoods where I deliver. As Amazon reaches maximum ubiquity in our lives, as online shopping turns malls into mausoleums, it's been illuminating to see exactly how a package makes the final leg of its journey.
There's also a bracing feeling of independence that attends piloting my own van, a tingle of anticipation before finding out my route for the day. Will I be in the hills above El Cerrito with astounding views of the bay, but narrow roads, difficult parking, and lots of steps? Or will my itinerary take me to gritty Richmond, which, despite its profusion of pit bulls, I'm starting to prefer to the oppressive traffic of Berkeley, where I deliver to the brightest young people in the state, some of whom may wonder, if they give me even a passing thought: What hard luck has befallen this man, who appears to be my father's age but is performing this menial task?
Thanks for asking!
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
My uncle was the artist for SI for 10 years. He quit and became a cop in a VERY dangerous city.
Somebody once told me that Playboy actually had articles. I could never find them.
Ain’t that the truth? We have some fantastically great bloggers here on FR, don’t we? We also have a few less talented than your MSM urinalist.
I agree with you. Journalism schools have instilled 100% groupthink in people who cover the news. So they begin to miss really obvious things.
If I owned a newspaper I would seek out people from various walks of life to work for me as reporters. J School grads need not apply.
5 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
He didn’t get fired. He got paid for each article. He may or may not have an article that would suit the company’s needs so he would miss out on the pay.
With Amazon, he gets a steady paycheck, and in his case benefits as well.
Thanks for the good story and never forget that there’s dignity in all labor.
Human nature hasn’t changed at all.
The Big Two?
Sports so-called journalists are more extreme left than the general ones.
Rush finally figured it out. I figured it out when the sports hacks crucified Don Nelson because he dared treat Chris Webber like the overpaid, pampered, soft-on-defense, soft-on-rebounding prima donna he was.
That was 25+ years ago. After his pal, Latrell Sprewell, choked P.J. Carlesimo in front of witnesses, and was not arrested - but the victim was vilified by the sports hacks as a racist - I gave up my season tickets.
I have absolutely boycotted the NBA for over two years now.
Well said!
ping
Interesting piece. However, one wonders if the gentlemen never earned any money while he was writing for “Sports Illustrated,” or if he invested unwisely, or if he and his wife are housed way above their means, or what.
HOORAY FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION... for liberals.
It’s funny... you and I can easily make more than the typical writer and see delivery jobs as a good opportunity to hustle. I delivered pizza during the downturn... it’s not a ‘beneath you’ job.
Only a very few sportswriters make as much as $100k per year.
Wife Laura Hilgers probably made more.
I’d be surprised if Murphy got past $60-70k.
UPS drivers might make that much but I doubt Amazon drivers do.
He published several books, he says, as well as his periodical writing. Maybe they just live somewhere ghastly, if they couldn’t refi without two full-time incomes.
Anyway, it sounds as if he’s treating his Amazon driver stint as a learning experience rather than making a big fuss. We have Amazon delivery here: a young man with dreadlocks knocks on the door, occasionally startling the cats, before he sprints off.
#24 I don’t know.. you might end up like this guy.
Vanishing Point (1971) - about 40 seconds in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOb2BqiGZGA
SI has become more and more a social justice rag than a sports magazine. I was a long-time subscriber but gave it up: every issue seemed to have articles on either trans or gay athletes, and the obama worship was pervasive.
The man is not a very good writer in my opinion, as a “not a very good writer’ myself. Lacks flow and it seems he uses more commas than even I usually do.
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