Man, college was hard. Between chugging beers, sleeping until noon, and occasionally doing homework I don’t know how I found time for anything else. It turns out that instead of trying to motivate myself I was taking the wrong approach - I just needed a personal assistant. One Georgetown University student recently posted an ad on the school’s employment board. In the ad, the sophomore (!) listed the qualifications required for his assistant:
As my PA you will receive an email once a day by 9:00 am with a task list for that day and a time estimate for each task. Important tasks will be bolded on the list and must be done that day (even though everything on the list should theoretically be finished on a daily basis) …
PA example tasks -Organize closet -make bed -Drop off / pick up dry cleaning -Drop me off / pick me up from work -Do laundry -Fill up gas tank -bring car for servicing -schedule appointment for haircut -Pay parking tickets -manage electronic accounts -shopping and running errands -other random tasks.
Preference will be given to applicants who are comfortable with city driving (car will be provided) and who are available when I need to be picked up and dropped off for work. Preference will also be given to Georgetown undergrads for convenience.
I was going to rag on this guy, but an excellent blogger for the Georgetown Voice has already beaten me to it. That said, no college student needs a personal assistant. The only exception is Van Wilder.
I wrote this as I didn’t think he needed to be attacked as much as he had been on the comments section of the link you posted. It’s not as if the job is to work for someone who has real power to help or hurt you, it’s a job between two (almost) equals. Another student can tell him to fuck off if he becomes obnoxious and can negotiate a higher per hour rate rather than look for “bonuses.” I think it’s up to the person who might need extra cash to be assertive enough to negotiate and not take crap, which Mr. Cooper may or may not give - we don’t really know what he’s like:
“While his ad may be a little off-putting, he has a right to seek help as he is paying for someone’s time. It is up to the person who might respond (who needs the money) to negotiate. Certainly expecting someone to charge a half hour for work that takes 1.5 hours is wrong, but that can and should be negotiated.
“Tasks such as doing laundry that involve a lot of waiting around (time when you could be doing other tasks or doing your own stuff) will be counted for the approximate amount of time it would take to do the labor involved. For instance, laundry will be counted for half an hour even though a laundry cycle takes 1.5 hrs to complete.”
He’s wrong in that it’s not time the assistant can be doing their own stuff. The assistant can do other things he [Cooper] requires but it is not their own time.
Stop calling him a douchebag and analyse the job from a business perspective. From both sides. That will teach you all what it’s like in the “real world” as you put it.”
Katie,
He is a douche bag — I’m a full time MBA student right now and have analyzed the business. Are you his girlfriend? Did he pay you to defend him? Although, I do thank Charlie for reinforcing the stigma attached to Georgetown.