Craigslist Ad of the Day: “The So What if I Don’t Pay, At Least I’m Honest” Ad
October 29, 2008 by Deb Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing
Honesty is the best policy, right?
awkward blogger needed.
Reply to:
Date: 2008-10-23, 9:03AM PDTOkay. We can’t pay you. Not even a dollar. However, we can ensure you will get some good laughs and possibly get a break from the 9 to 5 grind every once in a while. Hey, you may even have the opportunity to live vicariously through one of us and feel better about where you are at this point in your life. Either way, we need someone with the following:- awkward / inappropriate sense of humor
- basic knowledge of Photoshop
- ichatIf this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please check out what we have so far and send an email if you’re still serious:
- it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
Compensation: no pay
He’s funny right? And he tells it like it is. He can’t pay us one cent. But that’s ok, because he’s telling it like it is. Besides, how many times do we get to truly be inappropriate. Now, I know from the many deleted comments here there are indeed many people who don’t mind being inappropriate with their writing. I’m willing to bet however, that when the veil of anonymity is lifted, they wish to receive payment for their work.
Here’s a guy who is looking to load a website with funny bits and photoshopped images and he’s hoping to do so for free. Now, I saw said blog, and granted, the man is only looking for small bits of writing so there’s not a lot of hard labor involved. Also? It’s not very good, but the way I see it he’s getting what he pays for.
And why are we looking for awkward bloggers? Are we saying confident bloggers need not apply? Are we looking for the worst writers ever? Oh I get it, confident writers want something for their work. Other than the privledge of living vicariously through someone else, I mean.
Here’s what I don’t get about ads like this. They lay it all out for you and tell you everything they want from you. You have to have some skills and basic knowledge, right? But other than a break from the 9 to 5 (And really how does that happen? I mean if you’re not being paid by him, you’re still working right?) what does writing for this blog offer you? What are the perks? At least pretend to offer exposure or “credit”, for goodness sakes. Nothing makes me feel better about giving up the goods than false promises of glory.
Inappropriate, indeed.
I also love that ichat is required. You know, so you can be on call at all hours – and not get paid.
EPIC FAIL. I
But hey…at least I get to live vicariously…
Ummm….well…
Yeah, no thank you.
I’d rather be awkward and inappropriate on my own site. It’s been working for me for years.
I live vicariously in my own life, thank you!
Heck, I’m already writing on my own website, for free, why would I want to do it on his? No, thank you.
I just have to offer up a huge BWAH! to both mmeetoilenoir and John Hewitt! And Amanda, you bring up a great point! Because you just KNOW that this dude would be IM’ing you at all hours of the day, wanting to know when you can make your next inappropriate post for him. For free, of course.
Deb, thanks for posting this one, I needed a good laugh!
I think you underestimate the deep satisfaction of living vicariously through the brilliant website jockey who designed this magnificent ad. I mean it’s something I’ve dreamed of since I sat in the sandbox pondering what I’d do with my life. While I realize there’s only a chance that I’ll actually get to live vicariously through one of these tried-and-true heroes, it’s something I’m willing to work for. After all, the most successful vicarous-living professionals didn’t get to where they are overnight. I, for one, appreciate this great opportunity. I would love to feel better about where I am in life and giving away free work is just the ticket.
Any chance on getting the website involved here? I’d love to see what genius the pursuit of the vicarious lifestyle inspires.
I saw this on Craigslist in a few different cities as well, the concept of his / her site is there, but why no pay? Better question, why are they so cheap that they won’t even pay for webhosting?
Hmm.. Implying that we don’t live well-enough through our own lives seems a cheap shot at an already cheap recruiting strategy. Why on earth would we want to write for free, innapropriately none-the-less, when we could do the same exact thing to benefit OUR own career under any number of the free blogging websites out there. If we want to write innapropriately.. We could do the very same thing, without having to meet requirements, on our pen-named-blog.
Grrrgle.. I don’t see anything wrong with people writing for free to better their career or for charitible reasons, but to do so to better HIS career seems insult dropped atop insult.
Thanks for the post Deb, this is a good read for newcoming writers and experienced alike.
Bravo, Deb!
Thanks for cutting through the garbage and telling it like it really is!
Jeanne
Excellent post, Deb. Another thing that upsets me is seeing ads where they offer to pay $1 an article. Is anyone willing to work for that???
This poster isn’t looking for a freelance writer. He is looking for a person who needs a new hobby.
@Valerie – I just turned down a job offer after the guy forwarded an email he’d received from a woman, giving her email and everything, who outbid us all by offering him 50 cents per article for the job he needed done which was to look up information on a government Web site and then rewrite the news stories into 100 to 200 word stories. She ended up getting the job when no one else would match her price, so unfortunately there are people that work for that little.
Thank you for posting these ads Deb, they’re so funny (in a sad way of course, lol). Unfortunately for this guy most awkward and inappropriately funny bloggers are accustomed to getting paid fairly well for their sense of humor.
Have a happy Halloween!
Question… if this guy’s life is so great that we would want to live it vicariously, why can’t he afford to pay?