People who leave a stove out to rot on their curb while they remodel homes are not, as a rule, the most concerned with the environment. I learned this while canvassing for the Sierra Club two summers ago. I've never been a particular advocate for the environment because I am unable to conceptualize total global decimation, but I am an advocate for having more than change in my piggy bank. That's how I was enticed by a Craigslist ad promising anyone with a resume A Great Summer Job While Saving the Environment! When I asked the overzealous human prawn who interviewed me if this was some horrible door-knocking gig, his reply was: "It's not horrible. Who told you it was horrible? They lied. Canvassing is the most revolutionary thing you can do!"
I probably should have known after he said "revolutionary" that working for this grassroots environmental group was like Communist Russia. Everyone was expected to happily do their job and participate in implicitly mandatory after-work camaraderie. But we got paid much more than the Ruskies, so in that way it was nothing like communist Russia at all.
The day-to-day work was not what I expected. Although we did spend a lot of time cheering for trees and getting high, there was also a remarkable amount of conniving doublespeak to learn and implement. The first thing we learned is the carefully worded pitch you give at 100 doors a day.
"Hi, I'm Zoe with the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental group..." I went on autopilot right away. This was sometimes a problem when people had questions about things other than where to sign. Once, a man listened to my pitch and then asked me what global warming really was. Like I had the inside scoop.
Most of the money we took in never affected anything but our own paychecks. When I was doing it, we got a $300 weekly paycheck if we raised $300. Anything above that quota got us 30 percent commission. I once made $1060 in a week thanks to a particularly rich neighborhood full of hybrid vehicles.
The reason people gave me money wasn't just guilt; Sierra Club canvassers are wording champions. The urban studies grad students who run the training sessions teach three carefully-worded lessons: memorization of the pitch, second tries, and bump-ups.
This is a bump-up: "It's great that you want to get involved! But if you could make that $50, it would make that much more of a difference in our campaign." I once bumped a guy up from $250 to $500 that way. We also had thousand-dollar-Thursdays, when everyone was encouraged to ask for $1000 once the giver had decided to give. There was a rumor that my boss had actually gotten one, but I don’t know.
The largest percentage of the money made goes to infrastructure: canvassers' paychecks, mailings, and clipboards. Canvassers got a 30 percent cut of the money they raised above and beyond their weekly quota, and the quota was roughly equal to our weekly pay. I don't know how this money benefitted the trees or the global warming, but it helped me buy magazines and gasoline for the summer.
ZOE DANIELS
That's not a stove, it's a wall oven.
Posted by: Aims | 30/04/2009 at 19:55
Who are you, Martha Fucking Stewart?
Posted by: @Aims | 30/04/2009 at 20:31
not quite sure about "revolutionary" but the money does sound appealing
Posted by: zero | 30/04/2009 at 20:37
my friend olga did this for working families party. i don't know how much she made, but they sent her to the ghetto. i went to the WFP office years ago when i was 17, but my parents didn't want me walking around sobro late at night so i couldnt do it. she really enjoyed herself, but she's russian, which proves the initial commie point.her and everyone else would get beer in dumbo after, and she would get hit on by short men with glasses
Posted by: anonymous | 30/04/2009 at 20:41
I did that shit for a couple of days when I was a teenager, but I was to stoned to be persuasive, and also I noticed the only people who ever got paid out well where the pretty girls. I call bullshit on the Sierra club and their revolutionary summer jobs. Want to make money this summer??? If you're a lady wait tables in a decent restaurant if you're a dude sell weed or wash dishes in a decent restaurant and try and bang the waitresses. ( there is no money in the later but your bangen' the waitstaff, sweet!)
Posted by: Paolo | 01/05/2009 at 01:23
Not too much different than selling CUTco knives. Except people actually get something for their money with cutco.
@Paolo: Pizza delivery for dudes. Make bank. Be alone and listen to whatever you want 80% of the time, smoke weed, maybe bang a hot recent HS grad.
Posted by: craigspissed | 01/05/2009 at 03:58
Nice to know where my money goes. First to the person I'm talking to.
I had a similar job once, where I had to go from house to house too. It depends on the area where you have to go, if this is a good job where you get money for your effort or if it seems like you're working for nothing.
About the man asking question: A good tip is to collect what you know about it and spice it with big words and long sentences. Most people can't follow this.
Posted by: Flug USA | 13/05/2009 at 12:58