This is Long, But WELL Worth The Time!
College Students Beware! Looking for a summer job? Same here. I've spent every day for the last 2 months looking in the papers for the perfect summer job, and last week, I thought I had found it... Until I found out what was really going on. I answered an ad in the Boston Globe promising "$350 - $500 Weekly!" It seemed to be everything I was looking for: Students over 18 welcome, PR Help Needed (My Major), and great pay. I called at 10am and was told that there had been a cancellation at 1pm for an interview and that the earlier I interviewed, the greater my chances for getting the job. So I signed up to fill the 1pm slot. I was told to dress professionally and bring a copy of my resume.
At 1pm I entered the office, where the sign outside said Winners Advertising. I thought this was strange because when I had called earlier, the girl on the phone had said "CQ Imports, " but in my excitement I quickly pushed this thought out of my head. I walked into the reception area, where Justin Timberlake was being played loudly on the stereo system. The girl behind the desk was college age, so I thought nothing about the music. I was told to fill out an application, and attach my resume. I did so and about 20 minutes later, a guy who seemed maybe a year or two older than me came out of the office and called me in.
I sat down in his office and he proceded to ask me some questions about myself: what my extracurricular activities were, what kind of music I like, if I had a girlfriend - yet nothing about my prior job experices or education. Also, he continually called me "bro", which definitely took the professional edge off. He then told me that they were interviewing 60 people that day, and calling back maybe 10 of them for a 9am-5:30pm second interview, but that I seemed really cool, so how about I just come in the next day for the second interview?
Feeling excited that I had made it through the first round, I immediately went out and bought a new shirt and tie, so that I could be dressed to impress for my second interview. I arrived the next morning to basically the same scene, only instead of Justin Timberlake, this morning it was techno. I was asked to fill out a form stating that I understood that I was observing the company for the day, that I was not obligated to participate in any of the days activities, and that I was not to consider myself an employee of the company, nor to expect any compensation for my time. Although unorthodox, the contract seemed pretty harmless, so I signed it.
I sat down in the waiting area with the 5 other people who were there that day. After about 15 minutes, the receptionist went over to the stereo and turned the volume up extremely high. I couldn't understand why, but I began to hear some shouting and almost chanting/singing from inside the office. I wasn't sure what it was, but I was sure that the music was meant to drown it out.
It was about an hour later, at 10:00, that the guy I had interviewed with the previous day came out and called us, one by one into his office. When I got in there, I was introduced to another guy who I'll call "Sam." I was told that Sam was an assistant manager with the company, and that I was going to be shadowing him for the day. Sam, I was told, was who I needed to impress if I wanted the job.
Sam took me out the front door, and around to back, where several other people were waiting. I found it strange that they had been coming out the rear door, only steps from the office where I had just been, but I was taken out the front and around, so I was unable to see any of the office. Yet again, I pushed the red lights in my head down, and was still anxious to find what this job was all about. Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned that... I was never given a job description. I was told that I would be doing "Customer Service" and that Winners Advertising worked ONLY with Fortune 500 companies. That's it. So, my curiosity getting the better of me, I stuck around.
Sam told me that we'd be going out with 2 other people, both of whom he was training. He told me to get in the car, and we'd be off. So, I got in, not sure of where we'd be going or what we'd be doing. We soon got onto Rt. 93, heading into Boston. Sam and the two trainees were talking the whole time about the upcoming company trip to Cancun, and how this job had a lot of travel benefits. It was then that I was told that we'd be working with two companies that day, Macy's and Brookstone's. Ok, my thinking goes, we're going TO Macy's and Brookstone's, and doing some work there with them. This could be cool. But we stay on 93 too long to be going to either Macy's or Brookstone's.
We soon ended up in our destination: Brookline. No, there is no Macy's in Brookline. Nor is there a Brookstone's. Now I'm getting worried. We pull into a pharmacy parking lot and get out. Im told to leave my suit jacket in the car, because it'll probably be hot out. Ok, sure. So we get out, and Sam opens the trunk to his car.inside are boxes and boxes of telephones, picture frames, umbrellas and calculators. Sam and each of the trainees pull out duffel bags and begin filling them with all this merchandise. I'm asked if I would mind holding a few umbrellas. Sure, no problem. Still, NO clue of what's going on.
My answer soon comes. We go into EVERY business on the street, on side streets, down alleys, and try to sell these frames and umbrellas and phones to the employees of these businesses. Not to be sold in the stores, just for the employees to buy. We go into restaurants, travel agencies, wait in line in cafes until we get to the counter, when we then ask the person taking orders just how many new picture frames they wanted. We even went into a bank, where Sam told the trainee to sell to the tellers, but to be extra loud to that the people in the back could hear, just in case they wanted anything. It was, by far, the most embarrassing time in my life. I was selling cheap merchandise out of the trunk of a car.
Perhaps worst of all was the deception that these people used. Sam told people that the girl at Dunkin Donuts had just bought 5 picture frames AND a telephone, when in actuality, we had just been kicked out of Dunkin Donuts for soliciting! Businesses were told that these items were going to be going on sale in Macy's and Brookstone's in two weeks for a MUCH higher price, and that they were just testing the market. I saw this stuff, and I can say very confidently that Macy's and Brookstone's wouldn't use this stuff to piss in. It was a cheap, dirty scam. And yes, people bought some stuff. But 75% of the people who did barely spoke any english. Let's just say that I found out that Sam also spoke some Spanish... Enough to tell people that the picture frame was "Once pesos."
So we began selling at about 10:30, and were scheduled to leave at 5:30. The heart of rush hour. Which would have gotten us back to the Woburn office (and my car) at about 6:30 or 7:00. THEN I was supposed to sit down with the manager, and he'd go over any questions I had. I should expect to leave for home at about 9pm.in my walking with Sam, I asked about pay; Was there any? Yeah, there was pay, but not unless you sold anything. There was no base pay, just commission, which was about 20%. So, if I sold one cheap umbrella for $6, I would make $1.20. For a 12 hour work day. Six days a week. I needed to get out of there, and fast. Unfortunately, my suit jacket was in Sams car, and my car was in Woburn.
Two o'clock rolls around and I'm dying from the heat, starving because we haven't stopped, and I have to piss like a racehorse. We're making a quick stop at Sam's car to get some more umbrellas (for me to hold), and I sieze the opportunity. I notice a bank across the street, on a corner, and I grab my suit coat and tell Sam I'm just gonna run to the bank for a minute. Let me tell you, I hit that corner and I took off. Straight to the subway. Took the Commuter Rail to Woburn, where I walked 3 miles to pick up my car, and was home by 5:30... Just when I would have been getting ready to leave Boston. Was leaving the most professional thing to do? Of course not. But it saved me from 3 more hours of embarrassment, and it makes for one hell of a story.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, for your own good, STAY AWAY!
Winner's Advertising/GQ Imports, whatever they are, if a SHAM and should not be trusted, ever, at all.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I sincerely hope you enjoyed!
Jeremy
Acton, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
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