sharia24's Blog

Tim – Truly Inspiring Man.

 

While working at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington D.C., I met a great deal of journalists, but I never thought I would one day end up calling Tim Russert my boss.

 

Still in school, I remember how I applied for a desk assistant position at NBC Network in DC.  During my interview – that’s when I met Tim Russert for the very first time.

 

At first I was afraid to talk to him, but when I introduced myself and told him I was from Cleveland, he treated me as if I was already a part of the NBC family. 

 

After I graduated from college, NBC called and asked me when I wanted to start the job – and of course “immediately” was my answer.

 

On my first day I was told “You never want to mess with Tim!  If the President or any politician calls – you find him no matter where he is or what he’s doing.”

 

I remember one day Vice President Dick Cheney called looking for Tim.  There was no one in the newsroom that night except for me and the assignment desk manager – who left his desk to take a quick break.

 

When I picked up the phone and spoke to the Vice President I knew exactly what I had to do.

 

First I had to get a number from Mr. Cheney just in case we got disconnected.

 

With my palms sweaty, I carefully put Mr. Cheney on hold and paged Tim on his pager right away.  After I hung up the phone, I called Tim’s house, and his cell number.  When he finally picked up the phone I stopped panicking and knew God had answered my prayers.

 

I told Tim with a nervous pitch in my voice, the Vice President was on the phone and he wanted to speak with him.

 

I thought he was going to yell, but instead I remember Tim saying to me “Ok slow down, it’s ok you’re doing fine.”

 

Since then I knew if I continued to work hard, then I will always be on Tim Russert’s good side.

 

I kept my job for almost two years, but working at Network wasn’t always easy.  There were some days I dropped the ball.  I even remember when I got blamed for making Andrea Mitchell do a ten minute live shot right before the president spoke.  And that huge mistake not only cost NBC a lot of money, but also a column in the Washington Post.

 

But many people I worked with dropped the ball too, but for some reason, some of them were let go – but I managed to stay.

 

Every now and then when I saw Tim, he would always speak.  He was a huge Buffalo Bills fan, and since one of my friends played for the team, we would always talk about football.

 

When my 18 month program was coming to an end I started looking for another job right away, since most desk assistants were let go after the program ended.

 

But when I found my next job, I was asked to stay at NBC and work the overnight desk for two nights a week.

 

I was told the job was extremely hard, but obviously Tim had the last word.

 

I ended up working 7 days a week: 5 days at ABC7, and 2 days at Network for three months until I landed my first reporting job in Hagerstown, MD.

 

When I told Tim the good news, I remember him saying “I always knew you could do it, keep up the good work.”

 

Watching Tim for years I learned a lot from him.  One thing I especially learned, if you work hard and do your best it will pay off.