I noticed yesterday that my leather wallet was looking a little worn out: Some scuffs at the corners, and some fading at the creases. As I’ve said before, I worry that having a worn-out wallet makes me look a little down on my luck, so I’m not thrilled by the fading. On the other hand, I am a little down on my luck right now, so I’m not thrilled by the idea of a buying a new wallet. What would a rational person do with this dilemma?
I don’t know. Me? I remembered I have a bottle of leather dye for covering up scuffs on my boots, so I dyed my wallet. (Fortunately, I buy all my leather products in the same color, so that I don’t have to think too hard about coordinating outfits.) When you’re a freelancer-in-a-slump, things like that seem rational at the time.
Another aspect of being a freelancer who isn’t getting many gigs: I still skim the classified ads for interesting looking temp jobs to help cover my bills. I’ve been meaning to tell the stories of these odd jobs, but there’s a problem: I keep getting jobs I’m not allowed to talk about. Stupid confidentiality agreements. Here’s what I can reveal:
Secret Job #1: Secret Shopper! I spotted the advert on Craigslist looking for secret shoppers with knowledge of digital photography to visit local camera stores. (Hey, that was in the ad, so it’s probably not secret.) I ended up driving about 600 miles in three days last month, which means I spent twenty dollars on gas to earn a 160 dollar paycheck. (I wonder if I can deduct the mileage on my taxes?) The fun part was making up stories about who I was and what I was shopping for. That job is probably the closest I’ll ever get to being a secret agent, and the closest I’ll ever get to working in a camera store again.
Secret Job #2: Mock Juror! Spotted this one in the Detroit Free Press last weekend, and did it today. I don’t think I can tell any of the detail on this one, so all I’ll say is that any lawyer who gives me sixty dollars cash (and a free danish) to be an opinionated jerk for three hours is my kind of lawyer. I could do that every day.
I stopped at an ATM on the way home to deposit the jury money (and a couple of small checks from other things). I figure I now have enough money in my checking account to cover my unavoidable expenses for February. There had better be some more dumb temp jobs in tomorrow’s paper. I need all the dumb paychecks I can get.