Best Reference Letter I Ever Received Because It Was All True
Christian Television Network 1992
WORSHIP was a program on satellite. Back in the nineties that meant you had to have property to house the gigantic dish of a satellite. My brother was a computer programmer back then, he had been working for the new network for a short while before I got the interview.
I had just sat down.
Well, I know your brother, so if you’re anything like him then you have the job. Do you have any questions for me?
Just like that I was hired.
No.
I did not think about it. If they did not want to run me through an interview it was fine by me. I knew who I was, I knew I would be good for them. I am good for any company I work for. No false modesty. It is simply the truth. I take whatever job I’ve had, as my own – this is me, my whole life.
It is part of why I disagree – a lot.
I was hired to pray. A Prayer Partner. I was hired to sit in the audience and pray while the on-air talent, the personalities delivered their message to the camera. It was not long after being hired, I was given another job as well. Phone Screener.
The personality host would take live calls during the program. So, there was a need for a phone screener who could separate the weirdos from those truly interested in the program. Delivering a message that could be used on-air while coordinating with the Floor Director, and the personality host.
I was good.
Our team, the Floor Director, the personality host, and I were good together. We were the misfits, the outcasts of the Christian world. We were the ones who had partied before, gone off-the rail, or, I think the popular term to use is backsliders. We, each of us had backslid in our lives. We worked well together.
There were time slots to fill. The floor director needed from me a certain amount of calls, so he could fill his required air-time. The personality host had his time slots to fill. Blurbs he had written to preach, share the word to the world.
On one phone call, we needed on-air time. I received a call. Blah, blah, blah, and I knew what the caller wanted to talk about. So, I spoke with the personality host.
Listen, this caller says she wants to share a poem, but I know she really wants to talk about – I think, it was something in the news, or politics, something that could be potentially divisive and un-airable.
It was also a part of my job to make sure my personality host did not get left hanging while on-air. Given an uncomfortable situation, he had to talk himself out of while on air because it was live. The program was live, then it would repeat over and over all night. I never had to have this spoken to me it was something I knew was just part of the job.
I’ll take the call, he said.
I wasn’t angry, or determined, or with any attitude of, you’ll see. I gave him the information I had. I allowed him to make his choice of how he wanted to proceed knowing the information. So, he took the call.
It didn’t take very long for this caller to start off subject from what she said she was going to speak about. I cut her off. I had the ability to mute, and end calls.
After the call, during the break, the personality host sat down on the set, contemplative for a moment. He looked at me, we spoke a bit about the call, and moved on.
Money is always a problem with religious programing. Finding funding, finding a financier, and keeping it going with money.
The entire floor was laid-off. They kept the personality hosts and floor directors, and that was it.
Everyone was mad and upset. Mostly everyone was hurt by the sudden lay-off which happened just before Thanksgiving.
The personality host I worked with was nice and kind enough to give me a letter of recommendation. It was one of the most thoughtful, and specific to my talents, of a letter. He wrote about how much he trusted my judgement from working with me. It was near to gushing about me, my abilities, and the benefit any employer would receive while I was in their employ.
I never got to see him again.
I was given the letter in an envelope on my last day. However, I was very grateful to him. For not only did he recognize that I was right, he acknowledged his own short-coming, and he shared how important it is to have people of worth that you cannot see with the human eye.
WE - DO NOT AGREE! 