Complaint Review: Child Safety

Child Safety, Inc. is a company full of liars and scam artists. I worked there for a week, pulling 10+ hours a day, standing out in the blazing sun, and talking to strangers who hated us because they knew who we truely were; a rotten band of brain-washed scammers. I was so ashamed.

I wasn't allowed to sit (or frown, for that matter) while my partner and I were standing outside CVS or other retail stores in the middle of the 2006 summer, directly in the sun. There were no breaks. We were scared into believed that we were being constantly watched by the 'big guys' in the company. One time, I got a sunburn that was so painful, it made me sick. I wasn't allowed to be out of work, nor did they care. I wasn't even allowed to go home, or even sit down when I nearly fainted. That still isn't the worst part about this company.

I saw their ad in the paper at the beginning of the summer for an 'event planner'. It sounded like a unique, exciting opportunity. So, I jumped right in. I got an interview the next day.

When I showed up to the office, I was amazed at how ramshackle and dirty it was. There were makeshift signs taped to the walls and construction-grade carpeting all over the floors. This was a big warning sign to be, but I made myself believe that they were under construction. (As a side note, I drove by there recently on the way to my new, amazing job, and the place looked the same.)

Then I met the lead liar, Christina Steele-Kurtin. I am pretty sure that isn't her real name, because it is just too ridiculous. She's the 'president' of the company (I must've met at least five 'Presidents of Child Safety'). She convinced me to go out on a trial day to see what the job was like. She was vague.

The first day was boring, but ok. We set up a D.A.R.E. table at Panera in some town about an hour away. I tried to ask the girl who took me to the job site questions about the 'event planner' posistion, but she refused to answer any, saying Christina would take care of it. She said she made pretty good money, and constantly bragged about how much she loved her job. To this day, I'm not quite sure if she was talking about that one, or her second job. We left after 7 hours, and the entire day ended up being around 8 and a half hours long. Christina insured me that that was the average length of a day, and that I would be making AT LEAST $350 a week when she saw the look of horror on my face after I realised that that was the posistion described in the paper.

The morning meetings were a joke. The pumped rap and hip hop through a dirty old stereo in the corner, and got everyone hyped up about peddling useless crap on the street so that the 'president' could buy another BMW (Nobody over the age of 24 worked there, except Mrs. Steel-Curtins. Fancy that.)

Sometimes they'd send in a motivational speaker to help us 'better realise our potential'. One of them tried to tell us that we could afford a Mercedes on our budjects. He told us to aim high. He just wanted us to buy Armani suits so we wouldn't look like the scum of the earth pushing junk on people outside of Wal-Mart. If you put a dog in a Versace gown, it's still just a dog wearing Versace. It just looks ridiculous and un-natural, kind of like the smile I plastered on my face every morning.

So, after suffering heat exhaustion, dehydration, 12 hour days, unbearably stupid speeches, and pretty much complete, burning hatred from the rest of society, all I got was a paycheck for $50 and a cynical view of so-called 'charity companies'.

The $50 would even cover the therapy I have to go through to get my personality back.

Hannah
Enfield, Connecticut
U.S.A.