Sucker Job

So yesterday I went to pick up all the cash that was supposedly coming my way via the DJ contest I placed in this weekend. I went with Ning Ning (the first-place winner) to the main office of Victory Plaza, the giant shopping complex that hosted the event, and we were like "yo, what's up, where's our dough?"

And they were like "oh, you mean the 3000 RMB we told you guys you won? that money... well, it's just not quite ready yet... wait a day or three........ no, that's okay, we'll call you."

I feel like Miss South Carolina 2004...


What was astounding is that they had the nerve to balk on the cash prize and offer us jobs as VJ hosts at the very same time. That is to say, offer us the chance at jobs: a seven-day trial period before a final decision is made. Or, put another way, "we won't give you the money we owe you, but you can work for us for free for a week, after which we might hire you full-time to work for wages that you may or may not actually receive."

More astounding is that we both lept at the opportunity. So it was that I spent three hours this afternoon chilling in a VJ studio at Victory Plaza, kickin' back with a crew of ultra-hip pop-star VJ's, spinning music videos and talking on-air about hip-hop, basketball, and various Americana.

I'm not entirely confident being "cool and chatty" on-the-spot and in Chinese and staring at a camera as I'm being broadcast over several hundred TV monitors, but it's good times anyway, and it will certainly help improve my Chinese presentational skills.

I keep telling myself: "this is only the beginning."