Girl on the Brink: Surviving Desperate Times with Desperate Measures

Day 111 — Be Nice

Being unemployed affords me with all sorts of time. Use it wisely, right? Or lose it. I decided to use it after an experience last week at the post office on M Street Northwest in Washington, D.C. I handed the clerk a small box to mail, labeled with a Priority Mail label that I had altered. I [...]

Day 110 — Overseas Employment

You got to hand it to overseas employers. They call it like it is when defining job requirements. But, hey, if you’re selling “lifestyle” products, which I take to mean condoms or something involving family planning, then wouldn’t you want a male with an MBA to target teens and yuppies? Lobo Management Services, a recruiting company [...]

Day 109 — Honey, I’m Home

It never ceases to amaze me how many parallels exist between your love life and work life. Take, for instance, when you come back very late from lunch. You darn well hope that a co-worker doesn’t say something, or your boss catches you. That shameful and uneasy feeling as you sneak in is similar to how I [...]

Day 108 — Vanishing Job Leads

My most promising job leads vanished last week, and I’m crushed by the thought of starting over with my job search. A call from a recruiter and email from an HR director told me I’m being passed over for more promising candidates. Eight months have lapsed since I lost my full-time job, and it’s getting harder [...]

Day 106 — Job Recruiting, Indian Style

U.S. job recruiters need to take matchmaking lessons from Indians, not the Native American kind. There are so few left. My finger points to the people in India. There are so many. They also know how to reproduce—and stay married. India’s population tops more than a billion—the second largest population in the world. If matchmakers in [...]

Day 105 — Ann’s New Take on Work

Christie Brinkley is a woman after my own heart. Insightful. Inquisitive, and invariably right on. Did you hear what the 55-year-old supermodel said about men? Yep, you’ll find it in this month’s issue of Ladies’ Home Journal. Brinkley, who ditched her fourth husband for cheating on her with a teenage assistant, said, “Right at the beginning of [...]

Day 104 — This Ends It

And when we say–Yeeow! A-yip-i-o-ee ay! We’re only sayin’ You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma–O.K. Okay, so I’m moving to Oklahoma. My choice was between Oklahoma and Tennessee, two states where you can’t go to prison for unpaid debts. I chose Oklahoma because it sounded better, and I think the weather is nicer. I also bet those cowboys [...]