Held hostage again

I'm up against a 2 p.m. deadline today on a story for the Sun's progress section on a local bank.

It's pretty much a no-brainer short story. They're doing one on every bank in town.

I had hoped to make the calls to get started on this thing last Friday, but I felt so wretched with sniffling, sneezing and coughing, that I took Maria's advice and put it off until today.

Now I'm stuck in the loop, waiting for a call-back because the person I need to talk with is in a meeting. Other than hating to work for Gannett, this is one of the main reasons why I got out of newspaper writing - you never, ever can reach somebody on the first call. Never.

So you spend your time sitting by the phone waiting for them to return your call and hoping they call soon enough to make your deadline.

I'm still waiting for a call from the public works director. I called his office last Tuesday or Wednesday and was assured he would call me back. That was for a story I turned in Friday.