{"id":4050,"date":"2015-09-04T13:19:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T19:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/?p=4050"},"modified":"2023-07-20T21:00:02","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:00:02","slug":"bye-bye-becky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/bye-bye-becky\/","title":{"rendered":"Bye Bye Becky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"becky<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Becky Otto is retiring from Keloland Television after 43 years of faithful service and I, for one, am not quite sure how the place is going to get along \u00a0without her.<\/p>\n

In fact, if you were to talk to every Keloland General Manager she\u2019s been Administrative Assistant to over the years, you\u2019d be surprised to see that they\u2019re not all missing a limb because I guarantee each will say that Becky Otto was their right arm.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say what Becky\u2019s specific duties have entailed..but whoever inherits her rolodex will find entries from the U.S. Capitol, the Governor\u2019s mansion, the finest eateries to the nearest flower shop and discover that she\u2019s on a first name basis with everybody on the list.<\/p>\n

Current G.M., Jay Huizenga told me that when his predecessor, Mark Antonitis, first took over the reins, he was wondering aloud how to get in touch with the Senate Minority leader for something. Becky said, \u201cI\u2019ll give Tom (Daschle) a call.\u201d\u00a0 And, she did..on his private line..which she had. After that, Mark \u00a0knew he was in good and capable hands.<\/p>\n

In our conversation, Jay told me how Becky has been so indispensable to the operation of Keloland..especially\u00a0 during his stint as GM over the past 7 years. \u201cI consider myself the luckiest of all. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d have done without her there in the beginning.\u201d \u00a0\u201cHer institutional knowledge, easy going style and love of our legacy has helped make this station the success it is today.\u201d He said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, come on Jay,\u201d I said. \u201cYou must have seen Becky lose her temper a time or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe will disagree..and speak her mind..but smile while\u00a0 doing it.\u00a0 Plus, she\u2019s my count-to-ten barometer.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been known to lose my temper and be ready to lash out in person or via e-mail when Becky basically prescribes a chill pill and snuffs out the flames. A good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was curious why Becky Otto, with all her administrative skills, never sought to be the \u201cexecutive\u201d instead of the \u201cassistant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think,\u201d Jay told me, \u201cBecky has always loved her role of helping to organize things here and then go home and be a wife and mom. But, don\u2019t kid yourself; Becky has excelled at representing this station at an executive level on several occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have no idea why..but over the thirty some years we worked together, Becky always called me \u201cMr. Lund.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I think she\u2019s just kidding around\u00a0 because I\u2019ve never sought and certainly would never expect such formality. I think she did it with Hemmingsen too. (Maybe a respect for your elder\u2019s thing.)<\/p>\n

Our relationship has certainly been anything but formal. Don\u2019t get me wrong..Becky worked for the boss, toed the company line and everybody knew that but she was always so doggone cheery and approachable.<\/p>\n

She has not only assisted those on the executive wing to keep their ducks in a row, whenever the rest of us needed anything from help with a confusing form..something to be notarized..tickets to an event..a guaranteed laugh at the latest joke…advice on how to approach management..or even a shoulder to cry on after an ass chewin\u2019 Becky\u2019s was the office door you knocked on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, how do you find a replacement for someone like Becky?<\/p>\n

You give the job to Becky.<\/p>\n

After going through at least 50 applications, she has found Sheila.<\/p>\n

Becky tells me that, after a few weeks of training, Sheila is more than up to the task.<\/p>\n

Of course Becky would say that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never heard her speak ill of anyone ever.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0 hope she feels more ready to go than some of us are to let her go.<\/p>\n

No doubt her husband, Sonny..along with her son..daughter and soon-to-be third grandchild will see to it.<\/p>\n

\"Becky<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Becky Otto is retiring from Keloland Television after 43 years of faithful service and I, for one, am not quite sure how the place is going to get along \u00a0without her. In fact, if you were to talk to every Keloland General Manager she\u2019s been Administrative Assistant to over the years, you\u2019d be surprised…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lund-at-large","category-60","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11559,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050\/revisions\/11559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}