RHOADES LESS TRAVELED:

Here’s an indisputable and empirically obvious fact you probably already know: Journalists are slobs.

You should see our desks. Newspapers and documents everywhere, aged food, coffee stains, a stray cap, a browning plant, crooked sayings tacked to a cork board. This might sound like a cop-out, but journalists are slobs because we’re overwhelmed. Cranking out a newspaper every day is a miraculous endeavor. There’s no time for tidy.

And there’s precious little money for slick shoes or Italian dress shirts, so it’s commonplace to see a reporter with a JCPenney tie askew on a wrinkled shirt, or pants that look like they haven’t been ironed in months, or scuffed footwear. I once knew a copy editor who owned one pair of pants. He spent most of his money on fast food, quality scotch and good books. He also happened to be one heck of a wordsmith.

To generalize, journalists are also impatient because we’re perpetually running out of time, and that impatience translates to frustration in the form of profanity-laced tirades.

I tell you this to prepare you — warn you might be closer to the mark — for your visit. The Daily Pilot is holding an open house from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Visitors will get an inside glimpse into the workings of a newspaper with a rich heritage of first-rate reporting, a skilled and enthusiastic sales squad and an unmatched commitment to Newport-Mesa.

And yes, I’ve instructed reporters to clean up those science experiments that are growing on their desks. And to clean up their acts, for that matter (I’ll try to follow my own advice).

So, hopefully, you’ll see a crisper, kinder newsroom.

The open house was the brainchild of Advertising Director Lisa Cosenza.

It’s a great idea and a good way to connect us with our readers by mingling, answering questions, showing you around, and enjoying food and drink.

I’m expecting hundreds of you, from readers to potential readers to mere looky-loos, to show up.

Have a question about coverage? Or a story idea? Or critiques and praises about the editorial content in the Daily Pilot?

I’ll be here.

Thinking of placing an ad, or wondering why a certain ad ran in a particular position, or why it was worded the way it was, or why it ran at all?

Lisa will be on hand.

So will most of the editorial and sales staffs.

So if you want some face time with editors, reporters, photographers, copy editors, designers and sales executives, the Daily Pilot is the place to be on Wednesday evening.

To attend, make a reservation by Monday — short notice, we know — to Vilma Saenz at (714) 966-4601.

We’ll see you here.

BRADY RHOADES is the Daily Pilot’s editor. He may be reached at brady.rhoades@latimes.com or at (714) 966-4607.