It was the end of my last college semester and I wasn't sure what step to take next with my life. The obvious move would be to find a nice summer teaching gig like many of my friends had at one of the local elementary schools, but I was craving something different. Being stuck in so many different classrooms for five years had made me exhausted and stressed to no end. I wasn't ready to get back into the classroom just yet, and so against my parent's wishes, she sought out some other opportunities.
I remembered that I had set up an account on care.com a few years ago, so I grabbed my laptop and began exploring the different job offers. "Let's see," I said to herself. "There's plenty of babysitting jobs, but they don't pay near enough". "Hmm, no one needs a nanny right now, a few pet sitting jobs". "Maybe I should try calling up some local daycares". I grabbed her temples with her hand trying to relieve her building stress when her cell phone started to ring. It was her close friend Cristyn.
ME: Hey girlie what's up?
CRISTYN: Oh nothing just packing for the beach and thought I'd see what you
Were up to.
ME: Oh yeah, time for your yearly beach trip with you Mom and Mamaw I guess.
I've just been searching for some summer work on Care.com, but haven't had any
Luck so far. I guess you're working for that year round school when you get back?
CRISTYN: Well have you tried looking outside of Morgantown? I know you've thought about traveling; maybe you could find a gig somewhere else.
ME: That's a great idea actually! Hey let me get off here and expand my search and I'll get back to you later.
CRISTYN: Ok bye!
I changed my search options to nationwide on the webpage and hundreds of job offers popped up. "Well looks like we're off to a good start," I said slightly smiling. There were so many options, so I clicked a tab that put the most recent offers at the top of the page. After the page finished loading a big header for the first job offer finally popped up. I clicked on the link to read the whole description:
SUMMER HOUSEKEEPER NEEDED: My name is James Summers and I'm looking for someone to look after my house during the summer. I work long hours during the day so I would need someone to clean the house two to three times a week, prepare meals each day and be able to help me with any secretarial type work when necessary. If you would like more information please email me at
j.summers88762@gmail.com
.
I looked beside the header for the job offer and it said the job was located in the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Corolla Beach. I had been to that beach before with my family and knew that some parts of the beach could be pretty remote.
Mr. Summers,
My name is Rachel Figueroa and I am a recent graduate from West Virginia University looking for summer for as well as travel opportunities. If you could email me back with some more particulars about your job offer or call me at 304-553-5085 I would be very appreciative.
Thank you for your time,
Rachel Figueroa
"There" I said. Now to wait for a response. I closed my laptop and lay back on my bed closing my eyes. I imagined Corolla beach, a nice bottle of wine and the sun setting in the background. Then I started to imagine the silhouette of a man walking down the beach. He's getting closer and leaning down to kiss me and then...
I heard a loud buzzing beside my head. BUZZ...BUZZ...BUZZ...BUZZ. I sat up and realized my phone was ringing. "I must have dozed off" I said to myself. I picked up my phone to see who was calling. "Hmm a 252 area code, that's weird". I answered the phone expecting to hear a telemarketer on the other end, but instead heard someone completely different.
ME: Hello?
MR. SUMMERS: Hello is this Rachel? I calling in response to your email about my job listing on Care.com
ME: Oh yes, Mr. Summers right? Thank you so much for calling me.
MR. SUMMERS: No problem, so let's get down to business. I own an engineering company in the Outer Banks that contracts homes and offices for vacationers and different companies. As you can imagine everyone's looking to build down here so that they can visit or work during the summer, so when the summer comes it's my job to greet the new owners and run through the property with them to make sure we didn't leave anything out of the buildings or need to add anything to accommodate the buyers needs. This means that I'm going to be at work at my office and at different properties from around 7-5, Monday through Friday, and on the weekends I will work from home. Your responsibilities would be to make breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Friday and dinners on the weekends, clean the house twice a week and help me with things like paperwork and organizing my office. Any questions?
I was stunned at how blunt this man was being. I mean I didn't expect to be best friends with the man, but I thought he might have some ounce of kindness. Despite my desperate need for a job, I responded to Mr. Summers rather annoyed.
ME: Well sir, considering you've given me less than five minutes to think about this job opportunity, I might need a little more of your time and patience.