THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 14, 1994 TAG: 9411120034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
WILL SLIDES INTO the chair, takes a sip of coffee, then picks up the phone to make his first call of the evening.
It is here, in this small, cluttered room atop the Wells Theatre in Norfolk, that Will spends his evenings, 5 to 9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. He's a telemarketer, convincing faceless voices to purchase season tickets for the Virginia Stage Company's winter season.
It's a perfect job for Will, a Princess Anne High School senior who wants to be an actor himself. Especially since it ends in mid-November, just in time for him to audition for a play at the Governor's Magnet School for the Arts, which he attends every afternoon.
``O.K., tonight's the night. Let's make it good,'' says his boss, telemarketing manager Mike Prodan, as he passes out white index cards.
Will's parents told him he didn't have to work, but he's earning money for a trip to New York City - and Broadway - in February.
Last year, he worked in a local restaurant as a busboy. The money was good, but the work was physically draining. Here, he just sits for four hours and talks on the phone.
``It takes people like me, who really don't care, to do a job like this,'' he jokes as he hangs up the phone after another rejection.
Michelle Boyd
It took Michelle Boyd just one day in September to spend her first paycheck - $101 - from her job as a cashier at the Farm Fresh on Airline Boulevard in Portsmouth.
She can't even really remember what she blew it all on. Clothes and such.
``I don't know what happened to it,'' she said.
She's since resolved to be a little smarter with her money.
She's banking much of her $4.40-per-hour pay for Christmas presents or for more clothes for herself.
Pretty soon, she's going to have to change her hours, maybe even cut down on working, to accommodate her real career as one of Deep Creek High School's star basketball players. Tryouts for the team begin today.
Most likely, she'll have to give up her sweet hours, from 3:30 to 8:30 or 9 three or four nights a week. That allows her about an hour after school to finish her homework before she has to report to work.
She'll have to go to a later shift, or weekends. Giving up the job is not an option, considering it is a requirement for her marketing class.
That's OK with her.
``I like the people I work with,'' she said. ``It's all right working out there.''
Robbie Scott
He wouldn't mind clocking a few more hours at work to bring in some extra money. But for now, the five to 10 hours Robbie puts in at A & N Stores each week is enough to keep a little change in his pocket and some gas in his tank.
This is his first job. And for the most part, it's no sweat.
He hawks everything from footballs to jeans to sneakers as a salesman at the sporting goods business on North Main Street in Suffolk. He applied for the position late last summer after he noticed a ``Now Hiring'' sign in the store during an outing with his mother.
A job never entered the picture before because playing in the school band always took up most of his time. But Robbie put down his saxophone last year when homework started to pile on.
Because he doesn't work a lot, juggling schoolwork and employment is not a problem, he said.
But $4.25 an hour doesn't make for much of a paycheck, he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Will Dickerson
Michelle Boyd
Robbie Scott
by CNB