I had quit my job as a dishwasher at the small bistro restaurant Bijou's on Cass Avenue in October because I insisted it interfered with my schoolwork. Though my parents, especially my father wasn't happy with my determination, he laid off on pressuring me to get another job until towards the end of the school year. Then it was all "when are you going to do your part to help out the family" crap.
I got a job that summer with John N. We worked after school in a small "call center" on Main St. of about 20 people from varying age ranges, calling up people who we found in the phone book and letting them know that they "won" a fabulous prize. We would only need to have our representative come by and collect a small sum of money from them to compensate for the cost of the advertising campaign, usually around $20. In compensation for this they would receive a valuable prize (a coupon book) supposedly worth more than $5000! (Ya, right!)
Here's a sample of our pitch:
"Hello Mrs. Smith?"
"Yes, this is Mrs. Smith."
"Congratulations! You won an opportunity to have an all expense paid trip to the Bahamas valued at over $5000!"
"Oh my! Really?!"
"Yes, that's right Mrs. Smith, if you can guess the answer to the following Grand Prize Quiz question, you will be our next winner!"
"Oh my, I don't know, well, ok."
"Mrs. Smith, your question is...What President's face is on the one dollar bill?"
Believe it or not, more than a few people got it wrong, so we had to give them another question...
This then required tougher sales "techniques".
Bells on our desks were rung whenever we got a "sale" and balloons were popped which gave us the dollar amount of our commission hidden on a slip of paper inside, and it was all very festive and for the the time, very lucrative. John and I were making about $350 a week. That was great money back then. Especially for 16 year olds! But soon, Channel 12's News crew was barging in on the scene since the business was using shady practices to get money from unsuspecting victims. Oh well, the end of that job. Luckily, the employees were never held responsible.
We just became instantly unemployed.
I got a job that summer with John N. We worked after school in a small "call center" on Main St. of about 20 people from varying age ranges, calling up people who we found in the phone book and letting them know that they "won" a fabulous prize. We would only need to have our representative come by and collect a small sum of money from them to compensate for the cost of the advertising campaign, usually around $20. In compensation for this they would receive a valuable prize (a coupon book) supposedly worth more than $5000! (Ya, right!)
Here's a sample of our pitch:
"Hello Mrs. Smith?"
"Yes, this is Mrs. Smith."
"Congratulations! You won an opportunity to have an all expense paid trip to the Bahamas valued at over $5000!"
"Oh my! Really?!"
"Yes, that's right Mrs. Smith, if you can guess the answer to the following Grand Prize Quiz question, you will be our next winner!"
"Oh my, I don't know, well, ok."
"Mrs. Smith, your question is...What President's face is on the one dollar bill?"
Believe it or not, more than a few people got it wrong, so we had to give them another question...
This then required tougher sales "techniques".
Bells on our desks were rung whenever we got a "sale" and balloons were popped which gave us the dollar amount of our commission hidden on a slip of paper inside, and it was all very festive and for the the time, very lucrative. John and I were making about $350 a week. That was great money back then. Especially for 16 year olds! But soon, Channel 12's News crew was barging in on the scene since the business was using shady practices to get money from unsuspecting victims. Oh well, the end of that job. Luckily, the employees were never held responsible.
We just became instantly unemployed.