Something beautiful happened today.
So I’m looking for an additional job. Until then, I’m strapped for cash. And I found a painless, easy way to cushion my paycheck: focus group studies.
I called the number today and gave some essential information: I’m 26 years old. No, I don’t smoke. Don’t have kids either. “Okay,” the woman said. “I’ll do a little research, see what matches you, and call you back.”
When she called me, just about 20 minutes ago, she wanted to know if I was interested in participating in a group about grocery shopping. Since grocery shopping is one of my all-time guiltiest pleasures, I was happy to oblige. But before she could place me in a group, I had to take a short survey.
She began by listing grocery chains, and I was supposed to tell her which ones were “convenient” (by my own definition of convenient) for me to shop at. Easy. Next, which chains do I actually shop at? Etc., etc. The questions started to turn towards finances and my perspective on the state of the economy (e.g., “Do you agree or disagree that we are in a recession?”)
Then she said, “What do you dislike about the economy, and why?”
“Oh, um, gee, that is a very, very hard question for me to answer. It’s very complicated. Maybe we should skip that one. I have so many… so many… unorthodox views on topics like these. But basically, I think we should have a different social structure altogether. Like with no money, more like … (searching for an approximate phrase for describing tribal “economics”) … a barter system.”
And her response, AND I QUOTE, was, “Ha, yeah, I don’t like money either! It creates so many problems, and fights.” (Me, “And it abstracts things unnecessarily…”) She continued, “It’s too bad we have to deal with money, I mean, unless you want to live in the forest with a group of people who all share that same view.”
I didn’t say anything, mainly out of glowy awestruck feelings, but I was thinking, “I never said I didn’t want that!!”
The things people say sometimes, so ingenuously! It’s a lot to chew on.