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10:37 am - Sun 10/10/04
Cheated And Demeaned

Cheated And Demeaned

Sun 10/10/04 (12:45 a.m.)
Okay, I get tired of hearing myself complain about Borders all the time...so I'm going to let Chad B., another Borders employee, do it for me.

The following is an email Chad--Who I've never met--sent me on the 28th of last month, reprinted with his permission:

Yeah, I dont remember how I stumbled upon your journal ( I probably typed in Borders Sucks or something like that) but every once in a while I check back because it reminds me that I'm not the only one that hates my job at Borders. I also work for this shitty wanna-be company that strives in keeping its employees too poor to ever take the chance of getting a new job. Well, someday Borders will be out of business and we can have our souls back. I for example, work in the music department of my store (bi-level, so we have music and book sellers sperately). The other full-time music seller quit and the manager position was removed, so I dread everyday of work because I now shoulder the entire load with a part-timer. We do all the merch, new releases, gls...EVERYTHING! It is so stressful because I have a bigger workload than the supervisors, and am not soon going to be getting a raise...stuck at a miserable $7.75. I was kicked out of my house (I'm 19), and I live in an apartment next door to the store. I cant afford to drive, or eat much besides ramen. I do nothing besides work and sit alone in my room after work. It is pathetic, but I'm too poor to buy nice clothes to go apply at otherstores. Too poor to buy a car. Too poor to go out with friends. I feel like a slave. Well, whatever, just remember you aren't alone man, I think we all feel the same as you.-Chad
.

Well, I thought I was going to provide some insightful commentary after Chad's letter, but all I can think to say is "Amen, Brother!"...
(9:37 a.m.)
A couple more things about Dramatic Audition, then I'm going to "let it go":

1) I forgot to mention that some TNT people interviewed me while I was in line. It was pretty stupid, but I tried to have fun with it (When they asked if I was wearing shades because I was trying to be Tom Cruise, I replied, "Yeah, cause I'm all about being the next Tom Cruise". Then looking straight at the camera, I said, "So watch it Tom! I'm coming for ya!". So who knows? Maybe you'll see me "playing the fool" on TNT, even if I'm not going for the big cash prize...

2) While I was in the lounge of the Henry Fonda Theater, waiting for my group to be called up, they were playing the "callback auditions" of people who had gone before. Some were fine, and some were miserably bad, which I imagine was no accident (Half the "fun" of this sort of thing, for some people, is in watching the performers crash-and-burn, though for me, watching people perform badly is not fun...unless I'm competing with them for a part).

Of course, I was particularly interested in any "character guys" who came up; there were a couple during the hour or so I was waiting in the theater, and they stunk, which added to my conviction that TNT was "stacking the deck", and really didn't want some ugly old middle aged guy (or gal) winning.

3) I still feel cheated and...well, demeaned by the whole experience.
If I had known they were going to pull what they pulled, I would have tracked down someone with a video camera and taped my audition, which was one of the options listed on the TNT website. But�stupid me�I thought I'd have more of an impact doing it live (And why not, after all? It was all going down just a couple miles from my apartment).

While this experience won't stop me from "going for it" if something else like this comes up, it will make it...harder.

 

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