So You Want To Be In Pictures?

Looking for a job when you're over 50 is not an easy task! So many ads say 'looking for youthful assistant' or 'must be peppy and energetic'...come on, these are catch phrases to screen out my less than youthful and older self.  Will I be reduced to applying for jobs that are at best bizarre or working for a boss who is such a tyrant no one else will work for him unless they are desperate? So as I was searching a variety of web sites for a new job and lamenting the lack of employment opportunities that fit my qualifications, I came across this ad:

Have you undergone extreme body modification to dramatically alter your appearance?
• Do you want to look like an elf, a mythical creature or a science fiction character?
• Do you have pointed ears? Forehead ridges? Eyeball tattoos?
• Are you more comfortable looking like a non-human?

A non-fiction program is currently casting individuals who've created alternate worlds/identities for themselves. We are interested in featuring people who are going to extremes to change their appearance, including looking more like science fiction or mythical characters.

This series will allow individuals that engage in body modification to educate viewers on their motivation and dedication to this form of self-expression. We'd like to know the challenges and rewards of looking different, and how this transformation has changed your life. We also hope the program will become a non-exploitive outlet to showcase lifestyles and sub cultures that people would otherwise never know about.

OK, I've seen the women who are addicted to plastic surgery, the teens who think they need surgery at 13, but people who WANT TO GET SURGERY TO LOOK LIKE AN ELF? Please say it isn't so!  And the idea that they're going to do a television show about people who have created alternate world identities? I thought Jersey Shore was over the top!

Photo courtesy of Instructables

OK, maybe I'm just getting old.  Maybe this is an 'in' thing with the younger set.  (shuddering!) But somehow, the idea of getting surgery so I look like an elf, E.T. or Mr. Spock... not my cup of tea.  So while I have to send in the names of places I've applied for work in order to collect my unemployment, this one won't be on the list.  A woman (even one over 50 and desperate for work) has to have SOME standards! 

How desperate are people getting in this economy where the available jobs have hundreds, if not thousands of applicants for each opportunity?  How low would you go? Would you get plastic surgery to look like an ELF just to score a job on a television show?  Oh you might get...famous, no infamous maybe, maybe you'd get your 15 minutes of fame...but....please no! So while Congress is debating cutting unemployment, stop and think...is this what a lot of Americans have been reduced to? ELFDOM?


(BTW, this ad appeared on Craigslist, I have no idea how credible the poster is, so if you apply and get hacked up by an ax murderer, ...well you can't say you weren't warned it was a bizarre post! I take no responsibility for anyone who chooses to take part in it! You are on your own!)