yeah, so I finished my semester, with excellent grades. Dove right into my summer internship, then realized that my school was REALLY not going to fund me. Then looked at my bank account. Not good. So, on top of summer internship, and all the activisty-organizing things I’m doing, I need to make money.
Can you guess what I did? I started answering random ads on craigslist.
Not just any ads, but ads pertaining to my old career, which some of you may recall involved turning fabric into garments.
Ads that are looking for someone with my skills are never from anyone reputable. After all, it’s an industry that works by word of mouth. If you want someone to sew for you, you ask all the people you know who sew. So, if you’re looking on craigslist, it means you don’t know anyone who sews. Which means, you have no idea at all what you’re doing.
I answered such an ad today, out of sheer desperation for cash. We’ll have plenty this fall, but I would call this a little dry spell. Now I have to actually do it, follow through, and tell them how much they have to pay me and how long it will take.
The trouble is, I have no idea. I want the money bad enough to lowball in order to make sure I get the job. But in my world, where the people looking for my skills know what they’re doing, all I have to do is show up and work. I don’t have to decide how long it will take. I’m not responsible.
When you’re freelancing, it all changes. I’m accountable to them for every hour, and I have to tell them how many it will take. However, they seem to be willing to pay me actual cash for this, and it’s too good to pass up. So I think I’ll be working some long days coming up…
And, I think it’s time I started really blogging again. I think I needed to clear my head after the semester, and take a bit of an impromptu break, but I’m going to have plenty to say about all these legislative victories and setbacks once I figure out what’s going on with them.
So it’s nice to see you all, even though I hardly deserve anyone’s attention at the rate I’ve been writing recently. At the very least there should be some interesting stories this summer about my quest for cash!
6 responses so far ↓
B // May 29, 2009 at 8:36 am |
Welcome back! I’m looking for work, too! Good Luck!
greg // May 29, 2009 at 8:59 am |
I understand how you feel, since my semester ended I can’t seem to get back into my groove. I just want to take a looong break but instead I post little updates and pictures and that makes me feel better. Until the next day. heh
Congratulations on the job! Keep us posted!
Tina-cious.com // May 29, 2009 at 9:06 am |
Good luck! I hope you don’t have to deal w/ too many crackpots.
Hoping you guys can make time this summer for a little Connecticut Dreamin’.
Jess // May 29, 2009 at 11:21 am |
Hey FG! Good luck finding something awesome to help you make some money this summer. I think it’s cool that you have all that experience in the trade and can use your skills to make some cash. Nice!
Hope to see you soon!
thetotalfemme // June 2, 2009 at 3:09 pm |
Hey FG — I freelance, too, and it is really hard to figure out all the ins and outs. On the one hand, when people can’t do something themselves, like sew, they’re ready to pay someone who can, but on the other hand, as you mention, since they have no idea what the job takes, they can get stroppy about time and money, or ask you for totally impossible tasks and get grumpy when you try to explain why you can’t do that. Crazy making!
Hang in there and good luck!
ttf
j // July 12, 2009 at 7:58 pm |
hey, not all the people you’ll find will be dubious. i don’t know anyone who sews (in my hometown) and i’d like to learn/like to have some things made for me. first place i looked? craigslist. i suppose if they’re asking for something odd then you might want to make sure you think it’ll be used in a safe, sane, consensual kind of way-but it’s really not that odd to not know how to sew. it’s not like there was a home-ec class available to me in high school. i find it strange that you would call the people asking for your services disreputable; i mean, YOU are the one providing the services.