- Seriously.
I know of no better thing to ask at this point
because you can't treat everyone like this. You do
remember who I am right? I'm the guy you said you
"didn't have to worry about because I was always
on time and did my job." I was the guy who you
were blown away by with The Price is Right bit. By
Let's Bomb Iran. I was the guy you sat across
from in February and thought everything I said
was "spot-on" and perfect suggestions. I was the
guy you told was gonna have his own late night talk
show after Fergusen. You said I was gonna be a
"star" because Steve believed in me.
-
- What
changed?
-
- Please don't tell
me it's because "Up & Adam" fell through.
Please don't tell me the only reason you said what you
said was because you thought you were sitting across
from the next David Letterman. Please don't say that.
Because if that's what changed, my status, and
therefore you are fighting tooth and nail over a
couple hundred bucks, I am speechless. I will
assume that's not it. I believe you treated me
differently because of what was "in the air" that
Saturday afternoon, but I will assume that's not
why you're treating me like this now.
-
- Is it Charlotte?
I know she's brash, I understand she can be
ruthless, but you guys are of the same cloth You're
strong women, but you have to be in this world.
I mean come on, don't think I'm unaware of what
you know. I caught you in several lies in our
conversation a couple of weeks ago and truth be
told...I respect that. You were testing the
waters, you were spinning things a bit, you were doing
your job. I'm not completely green to the politics of
this... but it continually begs the question: "What
did I do?"
-
- Don't you guys
feel like you got 10x more than you first believed
you'd get? I mean after the first season and The
Price is Right bit... have I not exceeded your
expectations? And this season, my GOD - a Price is
Right bit every episode? So why would you fight
so hard to cheat me out of my expense check. It's an
expense check. You admitted it was a mistake.
You taxed an expense check, then told me not to
cash it and you'd send another one. It's been 2 months
since I bought that - and now you won't give me
any expense check but 2 extra weeks pay...but then
pro-rate the last week down to 1 day so
I lose money? And when I bring up
that you didn't pro-rate that week last time you tell
me I now owe that money back too?
-
- What did
I do? I know you're not supposed to take this
personally, but as I said above - I have to
assume you don't treat everyone like this... so what
other options are there? This money means my mortgage,
it's 2 nights in a hotel for a network television
morning show, this is a multi-million dollar show. Why
would you fight this so hard? Does it somehow make you
look bad? Are you angry Steve went 100% on the expense
instead of 50%? Does it hurt a quarterly report? What
is it? And if you're put off by me personally do I
hold that little value professionally that you burn
this bridge? I don't get it. You are not
CBS. You know that. You could be somewhere else in a
year as could I and the "levels" can change
instantly. Your intern is your boss in seconds
in this industry and I know you know that. So I
have to assume you think we slighted you somehow.
-
- Or maybe it's
something else completely. I just don't know. But
when you ignore emails, or only respond to 1 line of 3
paragraphs hoping I'll forget the other points... it's
just, actually I have nothing nice to say about
what that is. I will never treat someone like
that in a professional setting no matter what. Ever.
It brings the worst out of people. It's why your
employees lie on expense reports, steal station
equipment, claw, scratch, and lie to get ahead - they
see the suits as "suits". And although I don't do
those things for my own personal reasons, I can't say
I disagree with them. They know they'll be dropped at
a moment's notice no matter how competent they
are. No matter how dependable, how good the product,
you have someone to answer to and there's always a
cheaper body.
-
- And you know, if
I really look at it - this really is on me. I
think I had a false sense of "relationship" after
that magical day in February. You treated me with
respect and actually listened to me. The truth of the
matter is, you treated me like the guy who the head of
late night said was getting his own show. You directed
your respect where it was needed at the time, and the
way things are goin' you probably made a very good
assessment.
-
- Maybe I need
to learn to play this game a little
better.
-
- Adam
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