On my way home this afternoon, I swerved to avoid a smushed bird in the road. I could only tell it was a bird because of the large black-and-white primary feathers sticking up out of the remains.
As I was trying to think what kind of bird has primary feathers of that size and color, I spotted a Canada goose standing vigil beside the road. The roadkill was its mate.
Since classes are done, I’ve been hitting the job boards again. As with my last job search, I’m running into far more scams than legitimate offers.
Today I got a response to my application for a Craigslist posting for an inventory clerk. Yeah, it’s got nothing to do with accounting, but at this point I’m just looking for anything I’m qualified to do that doesn’t involve phones or retail.
Red Flag #1: They wanted me to go to their web site to apply (jobscreening.org). Okay, I used a throwaway e-mail address and didn’t fill in my address or phone number, just to see what was what.
Red Flag #2: “Do NOT use your browsers back button…” As I mentioned yesterday, if a site can’t handle basic rules of English, its credibility score goes way down.
BIG BIG RED FLAG #3: “Due to the sensitive nature of the position you are applying for, our client has hired us to verify qualified applicants. Our client requires all applicants to obtain a standard credit check and identity check.” And they only wanted to charge me a dollar to steal my information run a credit check.
That noise you heard around 3:42 Eastern? That was me rolling my eyes. I don’t think so, asshats.
I’ve noticed that when I’m reading a web article, regardless of the site… if I run across a spelling or grammatical error, like “their” when it should be “they’re,” my perception of the site’s credibility immediately plummets. Basic language mistakes like that, to me, communicate “this site is a one-man operation that can’t even afford a proofreader, never mind a fact checker.”
I mentioned this prejudice to my husband, who pointed out to me that most web sites now are not publishing articles to be informative, but to churn out content in order to generate click-through revenue. And considering the low rates I’ve seen offered for “web writers,” it’s not too surprising that the authors of such articles aren’t exactly producing stellar work.
So I guess I’m a language snob. And I’m okay with that.