About a month ago, I started an internship with a tradeshow production company. Basically, if you have ever been to The Mart in Atlanta, we recreate something like it in Miami, but way cooler, obvi. For those of you not in (or interested in) the fashion industry, a tradeshow is an opportunity for brands from all over the country to come together in one location (in this case, South Beach) so that retailers can come and see what those brands have to offer. The retailers then place orders with the brands at wholesale prices, and then, voila! Everything shows up in time to be sold to the (un)suspecting public at twice the price the retailer paid for it.
So this is a relatively small company I am working for, but I am not the only intern. In fact, I think there are more unpaid interns than there are actual employees. I am one of seven minions who got suckered into working for free (so I feel slightly less bad about it). Since we started, the majority of the work we have done has been going through shoeboxes of business cards (some more than 4 years old) and determining if the contact info on the card is correct, and then if it is, putting them in our database. This seems like a pretty straightforward task, but somehow this process took 7 interns almost 3 weeks to complete. I choose to blame this too on the economy. Here is why:
The economy has gone to shit. Shitty economy equals businesses closing. Businesses closing equals extra work for me. Why? Because if I call the phone number on a business card and it is disconnected, I have to spend an extra 20 minutes trying to Google the nonexistent company to see if they are actually defunct or if their number has just changed (and 99% of the time, it isn't the latter). So I spent a good chunk of the last month becoming best friends with Google. We're on a first name basis.
Moving on. Now, we finally made it through the mountain of business cards, and we all got promoted (yeah, right) to new tasks. One of us (who will remain nameless) spent four days scanning brands on retail websites like ShopBop.com and Bluefly.com to see if they were in our price point and would be appropriate additions to the show. A few others (including myself) have spent more time on the phone talking to retailers. We have been calling all of the stores who came to the show in September to pre-register them for our upcoming show in March. Again, you would think straightforward, but nonetheless, it couldn't be more of a pain in the ass.
For some reason, there are people who we have in our database as having come to the show just mere months ago, and yet they have no idea who we are or what our show is. Maybe it's just me, but that makes no sense whatsoever.
Me: Hello, Nancy? How are you? I see that you came to our show in September.
Idiot: Yes, I did! It was wonderful.
Me: Are you interested in pre-registering for our March 09 show?
Idiot: Wait, what show? Who did you say you were again?
Fucking retards. I think I've had that conversation 27 times.
The other problem we are coming across is (again) the economy. Retailers who live in LA can't afford to fly out to Miami for a weekend of fun in the sun/fluorescent glow of the Miami Convention Center. It's sad, but true. Maybe by the time I get a job that actually pays, these companies will be able to attend the show again. Sigh.
There are other miscellaneous aspects of my job (all of which I prefer to calling idiot retailers and confirming contact information) but they aren't nearly as entertaining to complain about, so I will refrain from boring you.
Above and beyond my internship, I actually have some wonderful (or horrible, depending on how you feel about my blog) news. As of next week, my time for blogging will be be severely depleted. Heavens, no! Say it isn't true! Alas, it is true my loyal followers (and I love you all dearly). 'Where is the wonderful part of this news?' you may be asking. Well, I got another internship (yes, I will be doing two internships at one time). And this one is a doozie: JEZEBEL Magazine. My ideal. Be still, my beating heart. I'm actually going to get to write. For real! Not this blogging nonsense (though I do love that I get to say things like 'fuck' and not get in trouble for it).
But fret not. You can't get rid of me that easy. Honestly, just tell me you love reading what I have to say, and I won't be able to stay away for long.
2 comments:
congrats on the new internship! and no i didnt just read the first and last paragraphs. ..... i also read a few sentences in the middle. something about a retard, the word fuck near the word shit near the word economy (which i respond to with the word poignant), and someone named Nancy toward whom i sense some antagonism.
and i think my wife probably misses you. so i guess we'll have to throw another wedding soon.
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