How far am I willing to go?

How far am I willing to go? That is a question I have asked many times in my life. The most recent being about how far I am willing to go to make money. The answer is apparently not far enough to badgerpeople to death over products. Hence my shopping for a job project continues.

Note to readers: If you are given a job interview after only 5 min. of talking with someone on the phone, chances are it's not as glamorous as you think.

So went into this place in Bham called Legacy Concepts - a marketing firm for non-profits in the area. Sounds innocent enough. Well, I went in, called the girl at the front desk, talked to her about my situation and such and she said "Well, lets get you in here and see what we can get started for you." Sounded great. They even had an event coordinator position open that I felt could be a fit for me. I mean, beauty pageant days were big in the idea of setting up an event. Well I get to my job interview and I'm dressed in my suit, it's been raining outside, I'm running a few minutes behind schedule due to traffic but I called and let them know - all things that should be done.
I get in there and I fill out a job application. No sweat. Seems fine. Until 2 other people come in doing the same thing I am. This was my first uncomfortable feeling of the afternoon. Then this guy comes out after about 10 min. and calls me into his office where he shuts the door for our interview (kinda weird cause usually the men leave the door open.)
Anyway, the interview lasted about 20 min. (seemed short but was ok) They talked to me about what they do and all - which is basically raising money for non-profit organizations such as DARE and Starlight Starbright (for children in hospitals) and something racing related.
So I left the interview (they told me that they would call me at the end of the day and let me know if I had been chosen for a second interview. They did 60 interviews per day.) They called back. I scheduled an interview for the following Monday with them.

So during Monday's interview, I get to the office at 9:45am. Walk in and say hi and all - all the while thinking that I'm the ONLY one coming in for the interview. Well, I round the corner to wait in the lobby for what ever will happen and I walking into a room of about 10 or 15 other people, dressed in their best like me, waiting to "go to the field" and see what happens. So this really goofy black guy with a huge gap in his teeth comes over and calls me and other guy out.
We get up and he takes us to the front door where we meet Gary (I think that is his name). From there I learn that Gary will be taking us to the Pell City Kmart where we will be working on fundraising for the DARE program. Gary will evaluate us and then decided if we make it to the 3rd and final interview.

Gary asks for my resume - I didn't have one and was told "all you need is a pen and notebook, hun." That should have been my second red flag - when the secretary called me hun. Anyway, he said that was fine, asked us a few questions about ourselves and said it was time to go - in our OWN cars, driving out of our way to Pell City (44min from Bham) to the Kmart. I was ticked about it but considered it something I had to do for the job - ya know, give a little to get a lot.

Well anyway, we get there, to Kmart, and out comes a fold up table, 2 gray tubs (1 empty and 1 full of DARE items like tshirts, book bags, calendars, ect), a folder, some id bags, credit card slips, and a DARE banner. Instantly reminded me of yearbook sales (although we never had a banner).
From there we set up the stuff at the door entrance of Kmart and start our fundraising.
Withing 5 min of seeing how the operations were going, I made up my mind I would not be taking the job.

Here's how their marketing went.

People would come in and out of the store - poor people. Not rich people that shop Summit of Midtown - POOR people. However, it's business so they continued to ask. As people would come in, this really ignorant girl with us would exclaim (literally, hand motions and all) "Hey you! Yea, you! Come over, yea don't miss out!" From there innocent poor people would come over. Then the girl or Gary, depending on who made the sale, would come over and pick up two dare tshirts or hand the people a clear DARE backpack and say, "Here's what we have for you - two tshirts all for the kids." The poor people would get excited - and who could blame them, they were under the impression that they were getting free tshirts or a free backpack. Then Gary would say, "All it costs is $12 per shirt, $20 per back or both for an even $30. You can keep the items or donated them back into the box for the kids that DARE works with. We take checks, cash, and credit cards." The people would say "No" and "I can't" and still be badgered going out the door for the item. Def. not something I wanted to spend the rest of my days and time doing. Especially if it was from 8:30am - 6:30pm Mon-Sat.

It was very embarrassing for myself to be there and to be even a remotely bit part of it. Then to find out they don't consider you and ASSET to the company for 5 months. Because they don't have to pay you - you work on commission for the events and take in 25 percent from what is made. Yea, events such as going to the local Kmart and begging, I mean soliciting, people for money and items that probably doesn't even get put back into the DARE program.

They called me back that afternoon at 5:30 and left a message wanting me to come in for a 3rd interview.

I never called back.