Love literacy? Love standing six hours a day?

I saw an ad on Craigslist this morning with the heading “Love the written word? Love jewelry?” Yes and yes. I clicked it open and found a jewelry store in search of a counter jockey. Why was this placed in the Writers section? Because the jewelry has lines of poetry written on it, and the ring monkey would have to “assist customers with finding the perfect piece of jewelry to suit their mood, sentiment or special occasion.”

I know there’s no category on Craigslist called “People who can read and that’s about it,” but this still doesn’t belong in Writing Gigs.

I do have other, better job sources now, but the Craigslist format is so darn seductive that I keep coming back. I like the plain, clean screens. I like the anonymous flagging that allows me to narc on bad kids to my heart’s content. Most of all, I like looking at the three new ads in the morning — one for a Spanish translator, one for a prohibited data entry scam, and one for a brand new website offering “exposure” instead of payment — then sighing about how there are no jobs out there and returning to my book.