Time Wasted, Lesson Learned

So after wasting 2 hours on mechanical turk - a website that Amazon has where people can offer other people small sums of money for doing different tasks. These task range from writing a post for someone on their blog to trying to find upcs for different products. Now at first this website may appear to be a cool idea. However, spend some of your valuable time on this site and you will see that it is clearly evil. After spending about 2 hours on the site - which is now hard to admit - the most money I could make if all of my hit submissions are accepted - a whopping 30 cents. That's 30 cents well earned, yet 30 cents I wish I didn't bother to earn. I could have been looking for a real job instead - which would have made a lot more sense. But since I am in denial about getting a real job, this website managed to keep me occupied for 2 hours that I spent thinking I was making money and doing something with my life. Want to be task doer beware - DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON MECHANICAL TURK! Look at the website and admire (and be jealous) of those who are making real money off the tasks you are doing for mere pennies. When I think about it now it almost seems illegal working for this little money...

The one good thing that came out of my experience - I was able to vent some anger out on one of the people who pay people about 2 cents to write a blog entry for them. Is that guy smart - yes - because he is getting people to do his work for him while he reaps the benefits. People are brought to his website even if they don't choose to write for him - increasing his hits so he can then increase his ad revenue. And if one is stupid enough to write for this reject while then it merely keeps his blog going. Makes me angry because to me it seems so unethical and cruel - just my business ethics minor getting the better of me? Although, recognizing that this guy can pay people pennies literally while probably make a decent profit (considering he is doing nothing seems like he has to be profiting pretty well) makes me almost wish I were doing a the same thing. Key word - almost - I have a conscience and even though people may be willing to write for pennies - I'd rather see them doing it for free - getting paid pennies is kind of like a slap in the face in my opinion.


Lesson #1: When you think something may be a waste of time and you should be looking for a real job - trust your instincts...

P.S. Speaking of slaps, how about a high five?