February 22, 2006

• Check out the 2010 Census. They're hiring people to conduct surveys now, they pay pretty well, and the work is extremely flexible. The downside is that it might only be for a few months, but hey, it could be fun!
• And it's bound to beat the crap out of waiting tables.
• How about hassling a few private music schools? A lot of that stuff is after hours.
• Heh.
• Retail is boring but relatively easy. Once you get into a routine (opening up, doing the tills, selling shit all day, being nice like ALL the freakin' time to punters, cashing up, stocktaking and closing up), everyday is the same. Your teaching skills mean you are used to working with other people and handling groups, crowds (ie queues). That is something to your advantage in interviews. As long as you can handle the above-mentioned skills, you'll walk into a retail job. Maybe you could work in a music shop? Somewhere where your expertise can be passed on to the happy shoppers is good. I worked in an art gallery shop / info desk for ages, and knowing my Poussin from my Poynter certainly helped. Or, like moneyjane implied, shake your moneymaker. Good luck, my brother!
• Take on students for private lessons? My wife and I have befriended a lovely Canadian couple -- he runs the community choir she sings in, and his wife gives her private voice lessons.
• Retail is like waiting but without the tips. Do it if you don't think your time is worth anything and you want to be treated like shit for no pay off. Some people do.
• Also, if you decide to do retail, get a job at a place where you'd get a decent discount, and would actually buy the merchandise. I had a very enjoyable retail job at a bookstore, where I had a 20% discount. I bought so many great books, which are now sitting in a box in a basement in San Francisco. But still. Also great for Christmas shopping. Everyone gets a book!
• Hahahaha, if I had to recommend a retail working place, I would recommend the DollarTree. I've worked elsewhere, but when I hit upon that job I kept it. They have a very diffrent philosophy. And hell, no prices to memorize! Everythings a Dollar! (or less)
• When I was in HS, I had a part time job at a Radio Shack. We had an engineer from a local company who just hated not working, so he picked up an evening (5-9) and weekend shift. I think he had a third job as well. They paid pretty well at the time (a percentage commission). If you're good at tech and good with people, it might be worth seeing if they have openings in your area. If not RS, then some tech store.
• Retail is like waiting but without the tips. Do it if you don't think your time is worth anything and you want to be treated like shit for no pay off. Some people do. Harsh and, for the most part true, but it needn't be so for what you're looking for, which is supplemental income. I'd echo Koko in looking for a place where you could get a good discount--and a place where you'd want to buy the stuff. However, I'd also look to see how that part-time job might also aid you in being able to get back to music and teaching privately. For example, is there a music store (instruments, sheet music, even specialty audio gear) that you frequent. Draw up a list and find out if they need someone. Does the city you're at have recreation centers and classes with those centers? In amidst the sports and exericise classes, they may have music classes. I'd also recommend doing some research in taking the part-time gig. I've heard good things about larger chains like Barnes & Noble, and not as great things about Best Buy. A small local music store might be great to work for as they will probably allow you more flexibility--but at the same time, they might be more flaky. Good luck.
• get a job at a place where you'd get a decent discount, and would actually buy the merchandise. THIS IS A VERY BAD IDEA!!! YOU WILL SPEND YOUR PAYCHECK ON BOOKS AND HAVE BIG BOXES OF BOOKS ALL OVER YOUR HOUSE AND YOUR WIFE WILL BE MAD AT YOU!!! YES I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE!!! ALL CAPS BECAUSE THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!
• I will pay you $1 a week to be my personal minstrel. You must follow me around providing entertaining and diverting musical 'skits' and 'turns' on my whim. You will also have to wear the full kit - multi-coloured tight, pointy hat with bells etc. No health care plan. Sorry.
• Old kitfisto made a request For monkey-Bone to serve his behest He gathered his funds to pay for a week a dollar a term and a kiss on the cheek but lo and behold the monkey was gone... with a name like "Bone" he was more cut out for pr0n. /capers
• I'll do it for free! ♫ Brave kitfisto ran away... bravely ran away away... When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled. Yes, brave kitfisto turned about, and valiantly, he chickened out. Bravely taking to his feet, he beat a very brave retreat. A brave retreat by brave kitfisto. ♫
• Um, that's not really what I had in mind. Orf with her head! NEXT!
• *slow motion jumping* NOooooooooooooooooo!!!
• Do you enjoy anything related to home-improvement? Two of my friends are now happily employed full-time at Home Depot, with benefits. Try visiting stores where you are interested in shopping. Believe it or not, some awareness of the products sold will put you leaps & bounds ahead of the average applicant. Managers will understand how you're looking for extra $$ by picking up a side job - they're just looking for someone who can work and understand the duties. You should get training, anyway. Not sure what hours you mean with "night" work but another friend of mine picked up a paper route that brought in around $600 a month with very little effort. Just an idea.
• Maybe being a singing waiter would be the most lucrative? Or better yet, advertise karaoke lessons. Private lessons for people who don't want to embarass themselves in front of friends/coworkers/strangers. Is karaoke still big in LA? Anway, those are my ideas. Good thing I'm still in school, huh?
• Is your teaching job at all tiring? Retail jobs aren't exactly hard labor, but they're physically more demanding than desk jobs, simply because most retail management is hell-bent that its employees never, ever sit down (for fear that they'll "look lazy" to customers). Bookstore jobs doubly so, if you get stuck shelving. People tend to think about books conceptually, in terms of the ideas they contain, forgetting that they're blocks of paper that are on the heavy side for their size and that most bookstore management doesn't want staff to stand around and look at the merchandise. The job is more similar to stacking bricks on shelves one-by-one at a home improvement store than it would appear at first glance. Also, many many bookstore employees are bright, but many others read nothing but series romances or the latest issue of Maxim - don't assume that by working in a bookstore, you're automatically going to be working with people who Just Love Literature. (Um, do I sound jaded?) A friend with lots of bookstore experience, like me, took a Barnes and Noble cafe job that he kept just one or two nights a week, for the discount. He thought it was easier than working on the floor, and easier than trying to be a waiter in a real restaurant. I'm kind of curious to know what's "different" about Dollar Tree. In your situation, I might try the music store as suggested, or I might try to find a part-time office job, maybe second shift, that integrated well with my hours.
• (sorry, I don't mean to imply that ppl who read nothing but series romance and/or lad mags can't be bright - i should have said "interested in literature." in my experience the typical bookstore employee is just as likely to be a fan of Dan Brown as of Pynchon or Murakami or Dickens, that's all. I don't have a very high opinion of Brown. the thing about bookstores is that they are more seriously RETAIL than LIBRARY. and being asked over and over for crap books by customers will break your heart.)
• Good suggestions, all... thanks! I am going to check out some local music stores, but in my experience they don't pay all that well... it'd be weird only getting $20/hour for teaching lessons when I was making twice that teaching privately on the weekends in FL (unfortunately, it will take time to drum up enough students to where teaching out of my home will be lucrative, and I don't have a lot of music contacts in LA yet, so that's not an immediate-type solution, alas). That being said, I'm within walking distance to a few of those types of places, so it wouldn't hurt to look into it. I particularly appreciate the info about bookstores. verbminx dispelled all of my notions about what it would be like to work in a bookstore (and that's not a bad thing). and as for moneyjane's/nickdanger's ideas... as much as I would like to pick up porn or gigolo work, I can't see how I'd be able to establish a paying clientele; over the course of my life I've given away far too many "free samples."
• Well, the, how about some retroactive payment collecting? 'Hi, yes, it's me The Bone. Remember that night two months ago? Well, under my new fee program, you qualify for a flat fee of...'
• One thing that verbminx didn't mention about retail: Retail is more tiring than heavy labor in certain ways. With heavy labor, you are exercising while you're on your feet all day. With retail, you're just standing there... for eight... hours. Although you get muscle fatigue from heavy labor, you get irritating back fatigue from retail. Which one would you sleep with easier? Exercise gives you energy, standing around doing jack-squat gives you apathy. The comparison is steel construction labor (goon) to bookselling. I suppose if you're used to making 40 an hour on your supplemental you should really get a job where you are going to make something above minimum wage. What's the minimum wage in your area? From personal experience, having to pick a lower paying job really bites, but it's not so bad if you avoid falling directly to the bottom where your co-workers can't avoid complaining or hating life.
• Alnedra, I believe I'll be needing the deluxe HUNDRED TON HAMMER for just a moment... Free samples are the ONLY thing keeping you from tricking?!
• honey...you are NOT getting a job in retail if I have anything to say about it. the phrase "most degrading/least pay" comes to mind. and getting a job at a cool record store in a major city like NYC or L.A.? not unless you: A) know the lyrics to every song ever written and who produced, wrote, and performed every song ever recorded B) have your own band and are desperate to get signed C) are willing to work for minimum wage DJ Barbeau from dirty sanchez works at the amoeba records and he showed me the "folder" of applications...it is two filing cabinets and a big stack. STAY AWAY FROM RETAIL IN ALL ITS MANY HIDEOUS FORMS!!!! your self esteem may never recover! it may be a little harder finding a position, but waiting tables pays at least double what you would make in retail and bartending at least triple. there's lots of production companies that work late late late at night...you could start a business doing craft services (how easy is it to set up a card table with tasty treats?) you could call it 'midnight snacks' does the morning news need music editing? and etc FUCK RETAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• *Buffs up 100 TON HAMMER™, offers it to Space Kitty* Hope that Space Kitten is doing ok! *hugs* Ditto on the no-retail. I find that working in small sized cafes and eateries are quite nice, (depending on who are you working with). It can be quite hard work during the peak hours (handling unruly customers, smiling at rude people, carrying heavy trays, shuttling stuff back and forth repeatedly), but you get to move around, and usually take breaks when it's quiet. Even if you have to be doing something when not waiting on tables, it's something you can sit down and work on, like folding napkins, drying utensils and plates, or changing the menus. The retail jobs I did were mind-numbingly boring, involved very little exercise 90% of the time, and I had to interact with the customers so much more, meaning I had to paste that cheesy grin on my face so much longer. Never again. Also, even if you're working for a small brand, but as part of a large mall or department store, you will get treated like crap by the store middle management. All of us sales staff were treated as if we had already stolen stuff; we had to show receipts for everything bought within the store with two signatures (immediate supervisor and floor manager), we couldn't use the normal entrances, escalators or lifts, and our bags were riffled through every time we went off shift.
• Aw, thanks Alnedra! Space Kitten's gearing up for surgery on Monday. Everybody send good thoughts!