On Today's Episode Of Temporary Jobs...

vanarchist (55)in #vanlife • 6 years ago

I battle a possessed seagull and the elements to collect data for a parking study.

I found a gig on craigslist to collect data for a parking study in the Bellingham area. It's for two days this week and yesterday was the first day. Didn't sound too bad and the pay is decent at $15/hr. Basically, you are assigned a route around the city and walk around with an iPad entering partial license plate numbers to keep track of how long cars are parked in the various parking spaces. You make a round every hour and it takes ~45 minutes to complete a round. I did 9 rounds yesterday but was there for a total of 11 hours. On one part of the route there was a seagull perched on the corner of a building and as soon as it saw me approaching it would begin it's attack. It kept swooping down and circling me, shitting all over the place. The first couple rounds I managed to avoid getting shit on but had a number of very close calls. The next round it got me, shit all over my hoodie, pants, backpack, and new Nalgene bottle. After that, I modified my route to avoid the area. The damn thing would follow me too until I got far enough away from it's perch. It only bothered me, other people would walk by just fine, I still don't know why. It's also been hot this week and yesterday was no exception. The sun was beating down all day, but at least there were some areas along the route with shade.

So, to summarize:

Pros

Decent pay @ $15/hr
Get to be outside
Don't have to deal with people (except those who think they're getting a ticket or think you're gonna steal their vehicle)