The Current Job Sitch

The opportunity for picking up the odd temp job here and there has decreased drastically this month. With the sudden surge of unemployed workers in the area, there are a lot more of us out there vying for the same crap paying jobs that are available. Plus, with my pending Viet Nam trip lasting almost three weeks, I'm not exactly the ideal candidate for employment. Employers want someone to start immediately and work through the holidays. Imagine that. Personally, I thought working three weeks, taking three weeks off and then returning to work was the perfect scenario. Not so.

Last week, I had an interview as a sales associate at the top bridal shop in the area. That would have been entertaining. During the interview while talking about my own 1980's wedding, I caught the interviewer's eyes go straight for my left ring finger. "Oh, you won't find anything there," I said with a laugh. Aside from the fact that I might come off as a cynical old divorce amongst a room full of tittering young brides and bridesmaids, we really hit it off. She showed me a photo of a relative's 1986 wedding and we commiserated over the classic 80's gowns and big hair.

She gave me a tour of the facility which included individual full sized bridal rooms complete with everything the bride-to-be would need to accessorize her try-on experience, a daylight room, and a runway! As she walked me through the hundreds of gowns, she was dropping names faster than I could pick them up, Alvina Valenta, Sally Crew, Paloma Blanca. While I tried to appear knowledgeable in the area of wedding fashion designers, I'm sure my face said "who are these people?"

In the end, she told me she would have loved to have hired me, but she needed someone here through the holidays. Understood. Clearly that wasn't the most ideal job for me regardless. Me, assisting rich, young brides in buying something that I now know is the most ridiculous expense in a girl's life? My own gown is still in my closet mocking me - and taking up valuable space. But I could have faked it and it would have provided so much fodder for my blog!

Next experiment- "Mystery Shopping." I'd heard of it and wondered how it worked. I register on the site (this in itself is a time consuming process) and sign up for my first shop. It's a Greyhound Bus assignment. All I need to do is call Greyhound, find out when the bus to Vancouver or Spokane leaves, go down to the station with a large piece of packed check-in luggage (full enough to be believable) and buy the ticket for either city. I must arrive at least 30 minutes before the departure time, but no earlier than an hour prior. While there I'm to check out the station, the restroom, count customers, take certain mental notes and leave. Come back to the house and complete their report. Simple, this ought to take an hour of my time and it pays $22.

I pack my luggage, haul it to the #8 Metro bus stop two blocks from my house, walk five more blocks to the Greyhound station, stand in a very long line (40 minutes so far). Time is ticking and the agent calls out "anyone waiting for the bus to Vancouver, BC?" BC? Crap, I'm suddenly not sure if I need to buy the ticket to Vancouver, BC or Vancouver, WA. The instructions didn't say. But they did say, "You must follow the instructions exactly or you will not get paid or reimbursed for your ticket." Oh dear. I'm panicked now. What do I do? It's finally my turn and I ask the agent what time the next bus leaves for Spokane. Not until 5.30 p.m. I'm four hours too early. That isn't part of the instructions either! Crap crap crap. I can't think. I buy the ticket to Spokane.

I have to inspect the restroom and where is it? UP a flight of stairs! I haul my believably heavy luggage up the flight of stairs and do the inspection. I leave the bus depot and head back to catch my #8 bus home. While I'm waiting, I'm also stewing about this ticket I bought. I'm just certain they are going to claim my shop invalid and deny me payment or reimbursement. I can't afford a bloody $42 unused bus ticket! I march back to the bus depot, my believably heavy luggage in tow, gave the agent some story and asked for a refund. It was a convincing tale, so she didn't suspect a thing. I finally got home THREE hours later, unpacked my bag, completed my report explaining the discrepancy between the two Vancouver's. They actually paid me.

I decided not to sign up for any more shops that required me to actually purchase anything I didn't want. My next shop was to pose as a wealthy homeowner planning a bathroom remodel job. I was told to, dress up a bit, and have the name of a made up architect or designer to appear more believable. I had to make an appointment with a sales associate at a high end tile store and spend 20-30 minutes discussing my plans and wait for the associate to write up an estimate. This shop did take about an hour and it paid $15. But the guilt of wasting the woman's time ate at my conscience. And I now have a bag full of sample tiles.

The following three shops required me to assess the Green Peace guys on various street corners downtown. I was to spy on them from afar first and note how they approached different people, then walk past and let them snag me, listen to their entire spiel paying attention to all the details, and then leave them stranded without signing up (actually, signing up was an option, but I opted out.). Again, I felt a bit bad about wasting their time, but I'm getting used to this gig by now. These shops were also $10 each and each took about an hour plus my walk downtown (30 minutes).

My final shop last week required me to inquire about and then purchase an eggnog latte at Peet's Coffee & Tea on Upper Queen Anne. Why the eggnog? Blech. Any other holiday latte, but the eggnog, please! I did the shop, bought the latte, and it was actually drinkable. I had a nasty cold and couldn't really taste much, so that probably helped. Again, that shop was fairly easy and painless and also paid $10.

Final consensus? It was a lot of running around town for a total of $77. I'm sure there is an easier way. Like maybe actually working at Peet's Coffee Shop for minimum wage. I'll re-visit that thought after my three week vacation.