Column: Knock, Knock

I cannot complain about the location of the Whitehall Leger office.

It is centrally located in downtown Whitehall, which is a real plus. I've worked at or visited smaller newspaper offices whose location was in a bad spot that was not good for the business or customers.

If I had a complaint, it would be the door to the office is not made of glass, is heavy, and makes things awkward for people who have never come to the office.

I will be sitting here daydreaming, and someone will knock on the door with such force that it will often times scares the living crap out of me. I'm not sure why people knock, but I think it perhaps is the door is not glass and does not have a window. I've never been to a business where people knock, so I always get a little confused about what is going to be on the other side of the door when it opens.

While it certainly would be great to have a glass door, being on West Legion is a really good thing.

I worked as an editor of a paper in Washington who had an office in a really bad location. The first time I drove by to see it, I sighed and wondered what in the world I was getting myself into. It was in an old house that looked like it hadn't been painted since the Eisenhower administration. There was no signage, and when I walked in it was cramped and smelled awful. I'll leave the plumbing to the professionals, but it smelled like it had never had a professional plumber inside.

As bad as it offended my senses, the neighborhood also left a lot to be desired.

The area had a ton of gang activity, and the first night I spent a late night after covering a football game I heard the first of what would be many gunshots.

I don't care how many gunshots I hear, it always startles me, even more than this stupid door. I often times would not like to leave the office and just wanted to stay there until morning, but knew this wasn't the best of ideas. I'd have to use the bathroom and I was frightened the whole entire office would be flooded.

Random people would just wonder into the office asking for money. Not donations for sports or Girl Scouts, it was literally people just coming in and asking for money. I used to try and do as much work from home as possible because sometimes I feel bad for people and will give them money. At the rate they paid me at that newspaper, if I kept doing it I would have to start going in random buildings and asking people for money.

A few months later we moved to a new location and this was a happy day for everyone involved. Well maybe a few weeks later was happy, but the actual moving day was not a lot of fun, because I did not have much help.

At a newspaper I worked at in Wyoming, they had put it in an old bowling alley. I had worked at the paper before and was excited when I returned to check out the new office hoping they had kept a few lanes. Wouldn't that be nice to take a nice break at lunch and bowl a few frames.

To my dismay, they didn't even keep one lane. There were however no gun shots -- which was a huge benefit.

Maybe someday I can move into the Roper's Building and do all the bowling I want. It would still be downtown, not miles away or stuffed in a weird back room. For now I'm certainly happy with what I have. I've got to end this column prematurely, there is a knock on the door.