Otterblog

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It’s no secret that this is not the best time to be in the newspaper business. There’s a recession. Consumer habits are changing. Technology, too. Did I mention the recession?
So, I have a lot of conversations, both inside and outside of the newsroom, about the difficult task of managing costs and coverage. Not surprisingly, many of those conversations are less than joyful. Handling customer complaints/concerns is part of the job, and although lots of folks might think it’s the worst part of this job. It isn’t. I find most of our readers to be smart, opinionated thinkers who are passionate about news.
But not every complaint or concern ends with a whimper or a promise to do better next time. Here’s one such story from late last week.
Many people know that I am the de facto puzzle editor of the paper. Partly by title. Mostly by default and proclivity. I love puzzles. Crosswords, Sudoku. Crypotquote. The new numbrix in Parade. Even the humble six differences in the comics and the Jumble… 
On Friday, around 11, I took a call from a woman who thought there was a mistake in Friday’s crossword. She couldn’t solve it. None of her friends could solve it. So she called me. It was a themed puzzle, with a larger clue that helped set up the general clues. The problem was that I hadn’t done Friday’s puzzle (I usually do it at lunch, eating my sandwich.) So, I told her I would take a crack at it and get back to her. So, I got out my PB&J and got cracking. I was stumped. I thought to myself: This is embarrassing. I’m going to have to go get Saturday’s page proof (which has the Friday answers) and call her back. Then, I figured it out (see attachment). If you’re not a puzzler, it’s hard to understand the wonderful (albeit short-lived) sense of self-satisfaction you get from solving a puzzle. Even the Jumble. I called the woman back and told her I had the clue. But she needed to tell me how much help she wanted. A lot or a little. She said a little. So I told her to work the bottom right corner and ignore the themed clue because it would be distracting. One of the problems she was having was that she wasn’t familiar with the themed clue. It was a generational thing. And I told her I would check back with her.
So at around 6, when I was finishing up for the day, I called her up. And even before she told me, I could tell from the tone of her voice that she had solved it. She was happy. Her day was complete. And so was mine. I’m constantly reminded that each of our readers has a different relationship with the newspaper. Life would be easier if the hardest thing I ever did was help a reader solve a puzzle, but I’d like to think that listening to readers and helping them aren’t that far apart from each other.
So, that’s the story. One reader at a time