Adding to that wonderful list of accomplishments I have gone and gotten myself a job. Oh, yes. Employed once again.
This time, it's not serving food or doing the data entry thing, but I think it probably falls somewhere in the ugly zone of employment: telemarketing.
It's not exactly telemarketing, though. Really, I swear. I just feel like a dirty, bad person when I do it.
I work for the school. I call alumni. I ask them for money. They don't usually give it to me.
I've worked a Monday night and a Tuesday night thus far, collecting a mere $25 and $100 in pledges, respectively. The first night, I worked three hours. At $8.50 an hour (you'll note the same amount I sold my soul to PartyLite for) I cost the school more money than I earned them. Granted, Tuesday night sort of made up for it, but still. It's awful.
Mostly, I get answering machines. Mostly, I don't mind this. Answering machines can't hang up on you, they can't yell at you, they can't tell you never to call again. But they also can't give you money and don't count as a "contact" and generally don't make you look very good to your supervisor (not that I care. But still.)
I have resolved to work because I need the money, but also resolved to be pretty half-assed about it. Two shifts a week, three hours each. A mere six hours of work. It's not really slaving away, but it's something. I think.
The problem is that I have a newly-born addiction to shopping—one which I managed to avoid all through high school when I religiously deposted every paycheck, in full, into my bank account with loving care. But now, I've decided I will enjoy my money while I have it because God knows I will be in debt some day shortly and life will not be nearly as much fun then.
I blame the Internet, mostly. It's just too easy to click around a bit, type in a credit card number and get a package a few days later. There's no unflattering dressing room lighting, no waiting in line, and amazingly, I get mail that consists of more than just credit card applications.
In December, I did the bulk of my Christmas shopping through Amazon, determined to get the free shipping for an order over $100. This free deliver on orders over $100 is truly a device of the devil, designed to make me spend $30 or $40 more than I ever would have normally. Yesterday, I managed to spend a skilled $101.36 at Victoria's Secret, and now, I'm fighting off the urge to indulge in J.Crew's clearance section. (Restraint! Restraint!)
If you're running those figures through your head—$101.36 a week on underwear, six $8.50 an hour at work—you're probably realizing what I ought to: I am screwed. But alas, there is always the food budget to cut into.
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Replies: 6
i feel your pain. last semester i worked at my college's "phone-a-thon" (read: calling up alumni and begging them for money) and i hated it with a passion. i swore up and down i would not go back there this semester but i just bought my books (we're on the 414 schedule here, meaning that our spring semester starts in early february) and they cost me a whopping $367, so i am afraid i may have to go crawling back to be a wretched telemarketer type once again....blast.
Posted by mandy @ 02/01/2002 06:25 PM EST
you get so much more money in starting out in any HR than some other places that aren't so ugly. but those beautiful places don't always pay the bills dammit.
Posted by wantwit @ 02/01/2002 08:53 PM EST
Thank you! Chinese Apes.
Posted by Yellow Monkey @ 02/25/2005 12:49 PM EST
Thank you! Chinese Apes.
Posted by Yellow Monkey @ 02/25/2005 12:51 PM EST
734e5e817f40d1e44011b18ca5806b0e cf8f0.
Posted by d52290d @ 03/10/2005 10:51 PM EST
418f6bc2580a6b9f53156b5919ead45d 4940.
Posted by d52290d @ 03/10/2005 10:52 PM EST
well, good luck with your employment, and you CAN resist online shopping...er, somehow. but don't ask me how. anyway.