My Crazy Sexy Cool Career

Divining the depths of Craigslist for writing gigs can be a downer of an endeavor, considering that many ads suggest that the writer get paid nothing. Or close to nothing. Of course, I live in the land of low wages. Mexican minimum wage is, I believe, five dollars per day. Most people make more than that, far more than that, but the kids at the tortilleria down the street? Probably 50 pesos for a day's work. Which is about what some of these writing jobs pay--one cent per word, including all research and editing time.

I saw a funny response to one of these low-paying jobs on Craigslist:

IN RE: Horse Racing Article Writer Wanted

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Reply to: gigs-836217168@craigslist.org ^[?]
Date: 2008-09-10, 11:08PM PDT


So,

You are looking to hire a person with extensive knowledge of horse racing and excellent writing skills. You want to pay $0.01 per word through paypal.

This might become a long term gig.


OK ... lets me get this straight - YOU WANT TO PAY ONE CENT PER WORD.

Since I am a writer, I am terrible at math. Hang on, let me get my calculator...


......


Back ... OK, for a 1000 word article, you are willing to pay $10.00!

You have a deal! Here is my first article:


And the Horse You Rode In On.


Please credit my 7 cents to ... pay_me_you_cheap_bastard@yahoo.com


Please let me know when you are ready for my second article.