*The below first appeared on Hey Holl on October 1, 2008. Enjoy!

Have you ever had someone walk up to you and offer to sell you something that seemed too good to be true? Discounts to your favorite restaurant? Perhaps, even tickets to a sporting event? If not, you are about to get a first hand glimpse into a day in the life of a solicitor because yes, my friends, I unknowingly signed up to shadow one of these lovely people.

Here’s the story: I responded to a job posting that was looking for “Entry Level Sports & Entertainment Marketing Reps.” It seemed perfectly suited for me and I am desperate for a job, so I figured what the hell. I made the hour trek north to West Palm Beach (which will be WPB from here on out) on Monday for my interview. I walked in to find a small jail cell sized room filled with numerous other twenty-somethings (as well as a few who were a tad older), all dressed to the nines, vying for the spot that I wanted. Game time! My name is called and I walk back for my interview. Little did I know that this was just the PRELIMINARY interview. Fine, I can deal with that. The company and position were both “explained” to me (it all seems cool) and I agree to come back on Tuesday (yesterday) for my second interview, which is a 9-5 all day interview that entails me shadowing an Account Manager to see how they interact with clients and to see how the company is run. So it’s back to Miami having wasted my quarter tank of gas for something that they could have just done over the phone.

Now it’s Tuesday morn, and once again I have made the hour trek north to WPB for my 9-5 interview. This time the jail cell sized waiting room is scarce….only me and two other guys. There is music BLARING from the back office, as I think to myself “what kind of a conducive work environment IS this?!” Lord! The room quickly fills with more twenty-somethings all back here for the same thing that I am. We were all kept waiting for about 40-45 minutes before we were told what was going to happen. One by one we were called back to meet with our “buddies” for the day, mine happened to be Leslie (at least that’s what I’ll call her here). She seemed cool, so it looked like it would be a good day. We got in the car, making our way to downtown WPB to meet with clients.

The day had FINALLY started!