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Show All the Variables & Other Love Stories 119 interview. She says that's how she got her job. She works for a bill collecting agency. She says she doesn't feel bad for people who write a bad check for cigarettes-it's the ones who're fifty-thousand dollars in debt because they had a heart attack and the insurance company doesn't see why they should have to provide their clients with insurance-those ones bother her. I tell her about the interview. She admires my idealism and is saddened by my disillusionment. I am grateful for her compassion, so I say I love her. She loves me too, she wants me to know, but makes sure I understand our love will not pay the rent. I wonder if it's just Utah and consider asking Greta how she'd feel about moving out of state. Then I talk to my friend Matt. He's a graduate of several certificated technical programs, and a computer genius, he tells me. He recently moved back to Utah from Oregon because the only job he could find was at a sandwich shop. He says in Portland, in order to create more jobs, they've started hiring gas pump attendants and made it illegal to pump your own gas. Greta says the bill collecting agency is hiring. This wouldn't work because I can't handle outbound telephone jobs. A month ago I worked for one day calling people to manipulate them into buying cellular phones whether they wanted one or not. The trick is not to ask if they want one. You tell them they need one. The reality of it is the cell-phone company needs them to want one. It's a very laissez-faire philosophy: create a supply and make your demands. "But it's not really pressure sales," my supervisor said, turning the CTR ring on his index finger. "We just have a superior product and believe in it strongly. We want |