working promotions

so my former roommate and current bff jennifer works in promotions. she doesn't actually work event promotions, like handing out free samples of vodka, but she works on the management side through her company based in boston. right now she's working on an account for a new cell phone company, helio.

they are doing all these events in nyc right now, and the other day she asked me to maybe work an event. i said sure. a couple extra bucks in my pocket is never a bad thing, especially when i am moving in two weeks and know i'm going to blow a bunch of cash.

last night i went out to edgewater, nj after work to be trained about the helio devices we'll be demo-ing at the event sunday night. i was told to take the ferry. i've never been on the nyc ferry, and it was very confusing. first of all, i had to walk from 8th ave, where i got off the subway (they don't go further west than that) all the way past the lincoln tunnel traffic to 12th ave. i walked up 40th st, and it was kind of scary because no one else was walking along the same streets as me. when does that ever happen at 5:30 pm in nyc?

anyway, i left my office at 5 and didn't get to the ferry until 5:40. once i got to the terminal, there were no signs or anything. there was a tv that told you what time ferries were leaving, but it didn't tell you which dock number they were leaving from or whether they were coming or going or what. there were also no ticket machines, and only one person manning the ticket window. she was the info person and the ticket seller. the ferries come every 10 minutes and i missed the one that was there at 5:40 because i had to wait on line and ask directions. so i wasted time for 5 minutes until the 5:50 arrived.

i was so overheated! i have been getting like that a lot recently, but i was really sweaty and gross by the time i got to the terminal. there was no a/c in the terminal because it had these big windows that were open, so i just couldn't cool off. i felt disgusting, and then i had to go meet someone who is going to be my boss!!

the ferry itself was very fast. i arrived in nj around 6. then i called the hotel where i was going for a free shuttle ride there. i waited 20 minutes for it to show up! needless to say, i was 30 minutes late for my 6 pm meeting, but it was ok.

so we talked about phones for two hours, and i got paid $50 for the night. tomorrow (sunday) i have to go to this club in the meatpacking district and stand around for 7 more hours, getting people into the phones. i figure with my recent luck of people wanting to come up and talk to me for no reason, it shouldn't be too hard to get people's attention and talk to them. but then again maybe they'll avoid me if i'm wearing the blue helio tank top and dogtags.

there was one other woman there learning about helio phones for the event. she was asian, with an accent, like she had been raised in china and learned to speak english there (turns out she was born here but raised there). anyway, she lives on staten island and had driven to the hotel, so she offered to give me a ride back to the city. on the way there she asked if i smoked pot. i said no, and she was like, "oh you're such a good girl!" but she meant it in a nice way, not really mocking (i don't think). she asked if i minded if she smoked in the car. i thought she meant cigarettes (she had smoked one of those before we left) and so i said no. she pulled out a blunt and proceeded to light up while driving towards the lincoln tunnel! i guess i've seen weirder things.

anyway, i think this promotion thing could be the start of a very beautiful relationship. i'm personable, i could do this work, and its good money if you can find it. i think i'm going to be practical and save the money i make sunday, or put it toward my move or my vacation. i like that i have this extra money coming in, right when i'm going to be starting to save more money from my cheaper apartment.

i hope it goes well on sunday!!