Well, it all started when I broke out for home after not being able to find a job in south Florida while I was in Tallahassee. Then mom got on my case about coming home and what not. I love my mommy like Eminem hates his, so I decided to leave. Problem is, my job wanted me to stay. There wasn't much discussion, because I thought I was not coming back. So's I left.

Then I started looking for a job in earnest: doing job fairs, interviews with the resume and the portfolio booklet and such. What I got back in terms of feed back was horrid; not because it was damaging, but because it revealed so much about the area and how much respect people have for a product. Here are some examples*:

• Carribean Sun-Ray Graphics on NW 2nd Avenue(US 441) by the barber shop called Pizazz
  Those rat bastards. I went to them with the hopes of finding a job down the street from home. I get to the counter and some Coolie with an affliction due to poor diet takes me back to talk; do a little interview and I'm good. He then sez to contact him on Wednesday at 2pm. No big, I'm on it. Wed, 2pm rolls up and this fuck is nowhere to be found. The secretary doesn't know where he is and it's getting late. Doesn't show up at all on Wed or Thursday, so I end up getting him on Friday. He then tells me that he said to call him on Thursday, not Wednesday. What the fuck ever. I was pissed 'cuz their graphics suck & I wanted to give back to the community. Unfortunately, people will prove without a shadow of a doubt that they love crap. Unconditionally.

• Shlomo Wannabe's on Commercial Blvd. & SR 7(US 441)
  God, these crackers got on my LAST nerve. I drove out to go and interview for them. I have my doubts as to whether these folks actually have any ad accounts whatsoever. Problems with these folks as I walk towards and into the place:
  (a) they're set up behind a porn shop…
  (b) in an abandoned building
  (c) workers chillin' on the stoop after lunch is over
  (d) no evidence of work, much less work that they're proud of
  (e) a rude receptionist
  (f) they suck, and––
  (g) the manager.
  This bitch here. Typical barrel-chested Hispanic fellow; got by on muscles and lying. Bilingual capabilities helped him out also, but that's OK. I show my portfolio and my resume and he proceeds to give me a lesson on what I need to do. He's telling me I need to go and get some experience when the ad in the classifieds wanted someone with at least 2 years experience in QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator(which I have). Versions are negligent at this point, because he seems to make every point for me not to work there. I live too far away, I'm asking for too much money( I ask for $30,000 w/ benefits; $32,000 is national average for starting graphic designers), yadda yadda bla bla bla. Then he proceeds to tell me about how I gotta know how to use a PC. A PC? Did he just say a PC? I have the utmost respect for PCs, but Christ on a crutch, a PC to do graphics in a professional setting? That's not right at all. PCs are undependable when it comes to kicking out graphics. Try and coax it, but it's not just gonna flow like a Mac. I can hear all the PC users kvetching in the distance and the indifferent ones mumbling, "I don't care". Back to the subject: in order for me to be able to work there I've got to be able to repair my PC in the event it crashes.
  Wait. I have to do my own tech support? I'm glad I left when I did, because this bastard thought I was actually gonna go and get better for this rude, bootleg-assed company. Indeed.

• The Miami Hollerer on Biscayne Blvd
  I tried getting a job there once, but to no avail. The opportunity presented itself again during my stay. My contact there was an ass the first time around, so I made a point not to apply directly to the Hollerer but to its lesser branches. I skipped over the Miami Commonsense (a mag with good reporting/research that is WAY overwritten) to talk with the people at Boardwalk Magazine. Their HR person was being a weirdo, what with the high readership taking him away to do more important things. I let that one go, but I didn't quite give up on the Commonsense, because that paper has another branch in Central Broward. I tried that one & the prospects looked real good, to his tune: The paper had tried to hire a graphic designer -- but they never showed up. They tried to hire again (that's where I come in). After I tried out, I called to see if I made the cut. They fed me a line about how "they have already made a decision, but it's not a final decision."
  What the Eff-Uck?
  That's probably the reason why the last one didn't take your job despite being hired: 'cause you're shady.

Interestingly enough, I felt I had to find a job that would get me money so I could continue looking for a job in my field. I found that job to be a balance to all of the rejection I would receive while looking for a job in my field. That job? Working as a stockperson and as a cashier at the K-B Toys in my mall.

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*names have been changed to protect the guilty