Surviving the business reporter Olympics

Allison Miles, a business reporter for the Victoria Advocate in Texas, writes Friday about what it’s like to cover Black Friday.

Miles writes, “Comfortable shoes are a must, for instance, while dressing in layers means you can keep cozy when outside, and shed some off when you reach the warm indoors.

“One should always keep one’s press pass visible. Otherwise, people think you’re cutting in line, and they don’t like that.

“Black Friday’s pesky habit of coming the day after Thanksgiving means there’s usually leftover pie, rolls and other snackage around the newsroom for when your groggy self needs fuel to keep on going.

“And, above all, that everyone has a story. Today, for instance, I stumbled across a mother-daughter team who’s shopped since the daughter was a baby. While Mom began the tradition, the kiddo took over the planning a few years back. I also came across someone whose decision to skip ahead in line led them to a one-year suspension from the store they felt so compelled to enter.

“I suppose the point of this rambly blog post – Hey, give me a break. My shift started at 11 p.m. – is that those more stressful parts of a career, the tasks that seem most daunting, are often pretty rewarding.

“Black Friday is one of those assignments. It’s something I do year after year, learning a little each time around, honing in my craft and, hopefully, coming out with a story that people want to read.”

Read more here.