Girl on the Brink: Surviving Desperate Times with Desperate Measures

Day 134 — Cheapskate

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Play it for me, baby. As in love and work, you should ask, “Am I involved with a cheapskate?” Ladies, Gentlemen and fellow visitors, Ann’s formula is proven—bar none. Let’s start off with relationships, in the love kind. My No. 1 test to determine a cheapskate guy is whether he’ll shell out [...]

Day 133 — No, Not My Underwear

When I was laid-off seven days before Thanksgiving 2008, I barely had enough time to gather my belongings. My exit was an orchestrated affair that humiliated and labeled me emotionally as a criminal. I had served the organization for 3-1/2 years and even spoke at one of its conferences, earning the highest of evaluation marks from the [...]

Day 132 — The Catch with the Catch

Some jobs, like men, look best from far away. From close up? Not so much. The shit jobs with lousy pay that hook you with glamour almost never—surprise!—lead to stardom and riches. I’ve probably had better luck attracting dynamic, neocelebrity boyfriends. Those, too, just seem to last as long as it takes for a rocket in a [...]

Day 131 — Hi There! Let’s Hook Up

I typically don’t answer the phone at home, because it’s typically a creditor, and I’m so not into that. Why give a creditor the satisfaction that he’s gotcha, when you can take advantage of technology—caller ID and voice mail—to send him to electronland? But yesterday afternoon, as I stood in the kitchen waiting for a hot dog [...]