Researchist Round-Up

This past week I had another batch of market research studies that I participated on. I know, you're not supposed to do these within 1 year of performing one, and it might be ethically wrong to participate in these things 1 day apart from the other, but it's not my fault these recruiters don't keep accurate records. If they call, and they offer me money, I'm going to do it. Bills don't pay themselves you know.

The first one I had this week was on Wednesday. It's my favorite type of market research. Videogame testing. I know, I got paid to play a videogame?? What? What sort of utopian society did I accidentaly stumble into? It wasn't a terribly engaging game, but the hundred bucks I netted as a result of attending was more than enough to let me enjoy it. What was the game? Unfortunately, I can't go into details. Non-disclosure agreement. All I can say it was very Diablo-esque, and it will be coming out this year from THQ. I think the contract I signed said that if I go into too much detail, they'll sick Nicole Ritchie and Lindsay Lohan on me . . . and those bitches would tear me apart in a minute. They both look extremely hungry and I hear . . . have a taste for human blood. Allegedly.

I do have to add that on that night, I was extremely close to the Reasearchist Holy Grail, which is getting let go without doing the research, but still getting paid. Unfortunately for me, some jackass wigger (yeah, I said wigger) made a big tiff about how he had to take the bus home and no one told him he'd be there past 10:00 PM. Fucking pussy. I think he was ticked off also because there was another group in the holding area with us that was for IT professionals, and they were getting paid two hundred bucks for the participation. Oh well.

Last night, I had another one where I went to North Hollywood, watched a television show, filled out some questionaires, and got 70 bucks for it. It only took about an hour to do, so that's pretty good money. What did I watch? Some lame-ass home improvement show on the DIY (Do it Yourself) network. A retarded family had started a bathroom renovation project that got out of hand for them, and 2 years later, their master bathroom was still in shambles. I did luck out in not being chosen to discuss the show afterwards, because that would have meant me staying for an extra hour for the same amount of pay. Apart from the snooze-inducing show we watched (which is an occupational hazard I guess, last time I did this . . . I got to watch a pilot for the Sarah Silverman Programme) it was enjoyable.

I do need to comment on the type of people that attend these things. Freaky. Not all of them though. Just about 80%. Most of the people that go to these things look like they're looking for fast cash for their next illicit drug score. It's kind of funny if you like to people watch, but for someone like myself, that hates people in general, it's a little unnerving. Also, kind of scary, because they hand out checks made out to CASH, and you never know when one of these crackheads are going to get greedy and try to jump you for your not-so-hard earned money. Luckily, it was early when the group was let out, and I made it to my car without a problem.

I highly recommend anyone who is looking to pad out their income a little to try these market research groups out. They don't try to sell you anything. It's not a time-share presentation-like environment (which I need to do again . . . I need a new DVD player), and it usually pays upwards of 50 bucks/hour. You can't say no to easy money. Unless you're a communist. You're not a communist are you? You're goint to make Uncle Sam cry if you are.