How to Start a Strike Against Survival Jobs
I don’t have a “survival job.”
I know. Hate me.
I actually … really like what I do!
My brother said it best: “Just do what you like.” It’s so simple yet so true. I know it’s sometimes impossible to stick to this at all times especially when desperate times call for desperate measures (in which case, I suggest becoming a stripper ….. kidding! … Well, unless that’s what you’re into). But, if you’re at work and you feel like Alexander from the children’s story, Alexander and The Terrible Horrible No Good, Very Bad Day, I hope you’re looking for new options!
(Photo Cred: Alexander and The Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Illustrations by Ray Cruz.)
Make a job out of your hobby – whether you find it or create it yourself. I loved dancing off my lil’ tush, so I got certified in Zumba. Hello job options! My brother loves fishing. Now he writes Ebooks filled with his overload of fisherman knowledge, charters fishing trips, and fishes commercially during striper season. I once met an actor who was into concerts/music and working from home. He’s now raking in tons of money buying and selling concert tix from his living room a couple of mornings a week.
How you spend your time is so vital to your basic overall mental health! If you are over stressed or unhappy in an environment you frequent for several hours per day, it will take a terrible horrible no good very bad toll on your artist self/career! (**material for angry monologues and bashing-filled poetry slams aren’t worth the misery!)
“And then, then … *sniffle* my boss made me cry!”
So find what you like, (may I call it your “hobby niche?) and do it. Something really truly might come from it! For example, I love the gym; I love fitness, healthy bodies, working out, and flying endorphins, so I … *drum roll*… work at a gym! And if it’s not so easy (and it won’t be), try your best to find the positive in your survival job, while still following what you like outside of work. And imagine how great it would be to have a job that supplements your artistic career?
“Sometimes these weights are heavy and my arms are tired, but I’m still a happy lady!”
No one deserves to be miserable (well, I guess I COULD name a few people), and just because we’ve followed our callings to be artists, things so horrible that they’ve been labeled “survival jobs” shouldn’t be a required trade-off.
Never settle; you deserve more than that, and I assure you, the universe will align and a better opportunity will arise. Follow what you like as though they’re bread crumbs on a trail. They’re there for a purpose – bait for life to lead you to what you are meant to be doing.
Onwards and Upwards,
Pink Feathers and Spit
As I wrote in a previous post, I worked as a journalist before going back to school to train as an actor in London. So it would have been silly for me not to continue freelancing in journalism as a survival gig to support my acting career.
Yet, in those early months, fresh out of drama school, I was determined to leave the old self behind, and work only in acting or in survival jobs that I thought “suited” an actress: waiting tables, retail, temping……. To go back and freelance as a journalist, despite the healthy pay and flexible hours, felt like I was cheating at this “being an actress” thing. And to be honest, I think I feared that I would get sucked into that world again fully (because journalism, like acting, is a demanding mistress).
So, short of shredding and deleting all my journalism contacts, I did try to archive that part of my life and start fresh.
That is, until the spittle incident………
I’m not one to complain about any job that involves even a modicum of performing. After all, that’s what I love to do most. But even my most optimistic self found it hard to get enthusiastic every day, walking around, stopping often to balance on one leg while pretending to peck at weeds.
Yes, my first paid gig out of drama school was as a theme park costumed character… a talking flamingo to be specific.
There is a funny thing about human beings when confronted with other human beings dressed up as animals… it kind of freaks them out. And when humans are freaked out by something, they often act out their fear in not very nice ways.
So my days as a flamingo often involved any combination of the following: being taunted, tripped, pushed, kicked, hit with stones and spit upon…. all while I maintained a graceful smile and one-legged stand.
My colleagues and I in this roaming acting company of theme park characters tried hard to protect each other from the indecencies and the violence inflicted upon us by some of the customers. But we couldn’t always succeed. So one hot day when the park was packed and a small child (yes a small child) had spit on my colleague (also a talking bird) one too many times, the penguin-attired actress grabbed the kid by his shirt, pulled him in close to her black and white painted face, and through her huge orange bill, said to him quietly and calmly, “If you spit on my one more time, I will &%^-ing kill you, you little &%@#.”
Needless to say, the entire company was reprimanded and reminded that the customer comes first!
(I still dread to think of the penguin phobia that kid must have developed.)
Still, the incident made me (and many of the other actors) re-think our work situation. And while I still am grateful for the lessons learned on that job, it wasn’t perhaps the most auspicious way to start my acting career.
Still, there are two important things that I gained from the experience….
1.) my British Equity card
2.) the realization that freelancing as a journalist was not a bad way to make a living while still fully pursuing acting work….that is, acting work playing only HUMAN roles.
So as my theme park contract was winding down and I was icing my bruises each night, I dug out some old journalism contacts. As I was in London, it made sense to start with the BBC.
On the back lot of the park, the place where we actors in costume could eat, smoke and curse about the kids on the other side of the wall, I sat down one afternoon and made a call to an editor at the BBC World Service:
“Hi Michael, this is Tara, I used to freelance for you in New York. I’m living in London now and would love to do some shifts for you. Can I come in soon and have chat about that possibility?” I asked, wiping some kid’s spittle off my pink tights.
“Actually we are short of freelancers and would love to get you in soon,” Michael replied. “Can you come in this week?”
“Ah, this week?” I fretted. “Um, I’m actually working another job for the next two weeks, but would love to come in as soon as I finish up this gig,” I said, holding my breath.
Michael (curious that I must be working for a rival news organization) inquired, “sure, but can I ask, what job are you doing now?”
“Oh………” I hesitated.
Then realizing that the BBC values truth above all else, I replied, “I’m working as a talking flamingo.”
“Ok.” Said Michael, without flinching. I’ll see you in two weeks from Tuesday then.
And I’m happy to say that I have been able to freelance successfully for the BBC for the past nine years without it interfering with my pursuit of acting work. In fact, BBC staff members are some of my biggest fans and supporters. Especially as they know that I’ll always tell them the truth. No matter how many pink feathers and spitballs I’m covered in.
Survival Jobs — Working as a TV Extra
TV Background Extra work is a great way to earn some extra money whilst auditioning or between contracts. Let’s be fair, you won’t be winning any Oscars for a background performance and even if you know which scene you’re in, you could blink and miss your moment of glory. However, a set is the perfect place to network with other actors, directors, producers and journalists. There are often a few ‘normal’ people who are extra’s who simply enjoy the experience as a change from the monotony of their banker/ receptionist/ housewife jobs. I even managed to earn my SAG card (which is when you can actually start to make real money and wish for overtime!).
How I Survived Summer Camp
Being the youngest here, I haven’t had many jobs, at least not official jobs. I’ve done your carnival face-painting gigs and moving furniture, character meet and greets, baby-sitting, teaching kindergarten art classes but my paid, resume-building jobs have been far and few in between due to a bad economy and a constantly changing location.
Survival jobs are usually the kind of jobs you pick up to afford working in theatre. My survival job story is short and about the job that I struggled to survive a summer working at. There’s an old show business rule along the lines of never work with children or animals. That summer three years ago, the children were animals as far as I was concerned and I, as the day camp counselor, was the zookeeper.
In a perfect world, working as the Arts and Crafts counselor would actually be fun: there’s scrapbooking, magnet making, jewelry projects, sun catchers, dream catchers, eye of god toys, collages, picture albums…you name it, we’d make it. And there were trails we could walk, outside play time while the glue dried.
Except the kids didn’t want to be there. When I was a kid and went there, we were allowed to have fun and play dodgeball but these days, the Health Department deemed it “too dangerous” and now we had bored, bratty children with very little for them to do. We were supposed to be working with children only aged 7-12 but somehow we ended up with four and five-year-olds who are simply too young to keep up with the program yet they are old enough to ask me questions about my sex life? Don’t even get me started on the brats who whine and refuse to play with the other kids and then try to run away—you can run, but you are half my age and can’t out-run me and I will catch you but I’m not allowed to discipline you with a time-out, so it doesn’t matter anyways. And if the kids (or my co-workers) weren’t bad enough—we were robbed and vandalized by some local teens. I got to sit and watch the security tapes with the other counselors to identify them for the police. Then there was the lice epidemic. 200 kids shrunk to less than 40 by the end of summer. Luckily, I stayed lice-free, much to my relief as I was working on a show at the same time (which also had children, much better behaved children then the ones at the day camp. I find children who appreciate theatre are by far, much better behaved).
In short, that’s my survival job experience. A summer of minimal wage and major drama (not the theatre kind) and not one I plan to repeat. Thankfully, I start my new job for the summer working for a theatre where the only children are in the audience and with an adult.
The Best and the Worst of Survival Jobs
I’ve had my fair share of side jobs, mostly of the babysitting variety, but my experience includes (but is not limited to):
Selling coffee and donuts to cranky customers (this was my very first job in high school!); waiting tables in a small, family-owned restaurant; working as an administrative assistant at a government contractor in D.C.; temping as a receptionist (kill me now); walking dogs for a woman who owned a dog walking business; working special events; and, of course, the aforementioned babysitting, which I did part-time for the better part of 10 years and full-time for over a year.
Waiting tables and serving food was just not for me — having to keep a bright smile on while being degraded by customers who obviously thought I was beneath them was just too much for me, and I admire the patience of people who do it every day. Or maybe I just worked in the wrong places, who knows?
Babysitting was always something I was really good at — I started when I was 11 years old, and kids and moms alike always loved me. And I’ve always loved kids, too. How can you not love faces like these:
Admittedly, these are my sisters, so I’m a little biased…but you get the point.
Over the course of my 10+ years of babysitting and nannying, I watched sweet, little newborns, and super active toddlers, and even 10-year-old twins. I loved being a part of their lives, and getting paid to have fun with kids.
But once I graduated from college and needed to do it full-time? It was exhausting. Being a “mother” (or especially a mother) all day is a LOT of work, and I was just so drained at the end of the day. There wasn’t enough left of me to make a career out of acting.
So with the help of my brilliant and business-savvy mother, (thanks, Mom!), I started my own dog business called Midtown Bed ‘n Biscuit. Thinking it would supplement my income so I didn’t have to babysit as often, after less than a year, I had surpassed what I was ever making at a day job.
So I want to encourage you to keep searching for that perfect survival job if you haven’t found it yet. And if it isn’t out there, start your own business! I promise, it’s not as hard as you might think. And to me, finding the perfect flexible-lucrative-enjoyable survival job is one of the most crucial things you can do for your acting career.
What are your creative survival job ideas? Have you ever considered running your own business?
P.S. Is this post overflowing with cuteness, or what?!?
Surviving….
“So what do you do?” — The question we each must hear weekly, if not even more often than that. While I stand resolved behind my response, “Oh, I’m an actress!” we all know there are so many more job descriptions to add to that one. If I stopped to list all the jobs I’ve worked to support my acting then this blog would be far too long. Highlights on the list include TV extra work, retail jobs, front desk jobs, babysitting, and the ever boring and long hours spent filing papers as an office temp.
But my favorite survival job of all would be as a dance teacher. The beauty of this job is short hours and good pay per hour. And also it keeps me active, constantly working out and stretching as I motivate my students to do the same. I really enjoy picking up extra hours subbing for other teachers, because I get to have fun with the kids, and not worry so much about building on what they’ve been working on in previous classes. The one drawback is that it’s not as flexible as a job at a restaurant or other retail business, where you can call out of a shift completely at the last-minute. When I am the only teacher, I HAVE to be there, and sometimes it seems impossible to get a sub when I have less than 24 hours notice. But thankfully the studios I’ve taught for understand that my first love is performing, and if I give enough notice there isn’t too much trouble finding substitute teachers so I can make it to that big audition or attend a workshop. And one of my favorite things is seeing my students grow and discover a love of performing and dance. They inspire me to pursue what I love. And they are also some of my biggest fans!
Editor’s Note: Survival Job Post Series This Week!
This week, all of our fabulous bloggers have written posts about survival jobs! They’ve responded to the following prompt:
Survival Jobs. We’ve all had ’em — good, bad, and ugly. Share your funniest/most humiliating survival job tale, or your best tips for landing the perfect day job! Bonus points for awesome photographic evidence, as always.
Feel free to share your survival job horror stories and successes!
The British Dancer – Waiting For Broadway To Call
At 2 years old, my mum would play the ‘Bad’ Michael Jackson album on the LP player and I would frantically dance around the lounge like I had ants in my pants. She decided then to put me into ballet class every Saturday and I haven’t stopped dancing since!
Fast forwarding a few years, I graduated from Cambridge Performing Arts England (Bodywork) as a DADA scholarship recipient, achieving distiniction in my musical theatre national diploma and winning the award for ‘Musical Theatre Student of the Year’ after performing my favourite role of Peggy Sawyer in ’42nd Street’. Whilst still at college, I auditioned and booked the title role of ‘Snow White’ at the ‘Jumeirah Madinat Theatre’ in Dubai and so my combination of travel and career began.
In order to save up enough money to move to London, I worked as the Personal Assistant to the directors of an online designer fashion company in the city. I could have easily stayed there and started a new career as a buyer, filling my closets with Louis Vuitton, Prada and Versace. However, when sat in the audience of a show at my old college, I cried. I cried because I was not fulfilled pushing papers and staring at a laptop screen, especially when compared to the rush I felt on stage. As Martha Graham said, “You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something wonderful has been lost”. I handed in my notice, my agent got me an audition and within 3 days i had booked a job as a dancer in the European Tour of the Dutch illusion show ‘Hans Klok and The Beauty Of Magic’ (my favourite contract to this day). I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.
I went on to join the cast of the ‘Spirit Of The Dance’ UK Tour before moving to the USA where I have performed regionally in theatres and casinos and on tour. I feel truly blessed that my career has taken me as far as Australia and I have done everything from musicals and magic shows to extra work and modeling. I have lived in 3 of the most prominent cities in the world (London, New York, LA) and , therefore, have many experiences to share while I figure out my route to Broadway!
I’m currently donning some geeks chic glasses as ‘Kate’ and a frizzy permed wig as ‘Chutney’ in ‘Legally Blonde The Musical’ and will be touring Mexico with ‘The Illusionists’ later this year (I told you I end up in musicals and magic shows!)
We’re all just trying to, as Tim Gunn would say ‘make it work’ . The city is tough, this business is tougher and sometimes it’s nice to know that we’re not alone in our struggles to ‘live the dream’ or in reality, just survive! Enjoy.
The Green Room 