tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post113513847074668411..comments2023-10-09T04:11:47.358-07:00Comments on Not A Potted Plant: This Has To EndBurt Likkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-1135191480792079072005-12-21T10:58:00.000-08:002005-12-21T10:58:00.000-08:00I'm amazed at the difference between the job marke...I'm amazed at the difference between the job market, there and here, for insurance defense. Here, as you probably know, there are always tons of those jobs open -- not necessarily great jobs, but jobs nonetheless.<BR/> <BR/>Your experiences remind me of my time in Visalia. The problem there wasn't *getting* the job -- I was lured there -- but *doing* the job among hostile, provincial sources. I finally clued in that my reporting skills were worthless against the desire of three council members to feed anonymous, confidential information to the reporter on the other paper, who was their buddy and a hometown old boy. My attempts at professional interaction only spurred lectures about the need, as an outsider from L.A., to first prove my commitment to the local "community" (or, at least their political faction) -- not as a reporter, but as a participatory resident who had "the community's best interest at heart."<BR/><BR/>Stories like that abound regarding Central California, which has a fairly large population. So, I can imagine how much worse it is in smaller states. I don't know if people are any less clannish in big metropolitan areas, but at least there's more to go around. Also, I think people nowadays often have an inferiority complex about living in those non-metro areas. So, they try to even the score by tightly controlling the little that's available there.<BR/><BR/>It wasn't until law school at Davis, though, that I really got a handle on the often-underhanded social/professional dynamics of a small community (the law school, more than the town) where the supply of good things is very limited, and people are unable to leave for greener pastures (at least for three years).<BR/><BR/>Tellin' ya, the AV is a veritable Shangri-La compared to some places I've been.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com