2008 Woodie Awards
The problems of eBay
Mitch Surprenant/Online Reporter
Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Writers Outlet
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The worst job I've ever had was working for an eBay drop-off store, much
like the one in "The 40-year-old Virgin."
It didn't start off as my worst job. The people who hired me were really into the idea of selling things on eBay for who were, essentially, lazy people.
We would take their stuff, take photos, list it on eBay, sell it, then ship it, and take a handsome percentage. Then one day, I show up, and everything is in boxes. The owner's wife comes up to me and apologizes.
"I'm sorry, Mitch. There's just no money left." This was a surprise to me, as we sold and shipped every day, sometimes hundreds of dollars in one day.
I went unemployed for about a month, then I got a phone call from the owners.
"Mitch, we found a buyer for the store, and she's anxious to hire you."
I imagined she might be, as I had taken the time to learn the store's proprietary software.
Then, I met her. My boss was a young woman who had lots of faith in the franchise model set forth by the company, who I'm not going to name.
She had hundreds of new ideas for the store, many modeled after the other
store she owned.
Two identical stores was going to be hard to manage, but she seemed up to the challenge.
Apparently, though, she wasn't. After about a week, I noticed that she spent less and less time at my store, and more time at the store some 30 driving minutes away.
It begins: From that point on, I was given a key to the store and told that probably several days a week, I would need to open and close the store, a nine-hour work day.
From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., I would run the store. Everything from taking in items, processing payments for shipping, packing the stuff up and sending it. That's not to mention the photos I was taking and the listings I was writing.
She promised me that within three months, she was going to hire another person, and that things would change. They never did. For months, I opened the store expecting not to see her that day, and closed it at 7.
like the one in "The 40-year-old Virgin."
It didn't start off as my worst job. The people who hired me were really into the idea of selling things on eBay for who were, essentially, lazy people.
We would take their stuff, take photos, list it on eBay, sell it, then ship it, and take a handsome percentage. Then one day, I show up, and everything is in boxes. The owner's wife comes up to me and apologizes.
"I'm sorry, Mitch. There's just no money left." This was a surprise to me, as we sold and shipped every day, sometimes hundreds of dollars in one day.
I went unemployed for about a month, then I got a phone call from the owners.
"Mitch, we found a buyer for the store, and she's anxious to hire you."
I imagined she might be, as I had taken the time to learn the store's proprietary software.
Then, I met her. My boss was a young woman who had lots of faith in the franchise model set forth by the company, who I'm not going to name.
She had hundreds of new ideas for the store, many modeled after the other
store she owned.
Two identical stores was going to be hard to manage, but she seemed up to the challenge.
Apparently, though, she wasn't. After about a week, I noticed that she spent less and less time at my store, and more time at the store some 30 driving minutes away.
It begins: From that point on, I was given a key to the store and told that probably several days a week, I would need to open and close the store, a nine-hour work day.
From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., I would run the store. Everything from taking in items, processing payments for shipping, packing the stuff up and sending it. That's not to mention the photos I was taking and the listings I was writing.
She promised me that within three months, she was going to hire another person, and that things would change. They never did. For months, I opened the store expecting not to see her that day, and closed it at 7.
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