A Day In the Life of a "Booth Babe" 687
jfruh writes "Booth babes," promotional models paid to showcase products, are ubiquitous figures at tech trade shows. Ever wonder what they think of their jobs? Well, it may not surprise you to learn that standing up for eight hours in heels isn't much fun. Some enjoy the work, while others don't enjoy being the subject of stares. And one model adds that 'The industry is now moving towards making models show more skin.'"
Re:Hard to feel bad for them (Score:4, Informative)
Take CES for instance. I wouldn't take my 15 year old daughter to CES because it is a TRADE EVENT, mostly for corporate buyers and press. No 15 year old is going to be interested in that.
And if they are interested? Who cares? Why not "expose them" to a tech trade show? Because they might learn that sometimes companies pay attractive women to simply stand in their booths wearing skimpy outfits, because it will drive foot traffic and potentially lead to business? Some companies at trade shows put up strobe lights or serve free alcohol for the same reason. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
Re:Options? (Score:4, Informative)
*fewer
Re:Hard to feel bad for them (Score:5, Informative)
http://exhibitcitynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2471:evolving-from-booth-babe-to-exhibit-staff&catid=76:features&Itemid=142 [exhibitcitynews.com]
Maybe not, but they hire from the same agency they just put nicer clothes on them.
But hey out at the medical design and manufacturing show
https://twitter.com/1TradeShowModel/statuses/206122956412289025 [twitter.com]
guess they do hire them after all.. ooops..
another "insightful" post on slashdot.
Re:There was a talk show with models (Score:2, Informative)
A modern model, by definition IS a sex object. Most are being used to sell sexuality. They don't wear red lipstick because they are saying hi. That's the primative and literally way of saying I'm ready for sex NOW. And if you think I'm wrong in any way, you know nothing about human sexuality. Get some perspective. Learn something about the subject matter before you open your clueless mouth.
In advertising, its shocking just how must sexuality is consciously (what these models are complaining about) and sub-conciously being sold right in front of you. A lot of advertising goes for, even when its not obvertly done so, is done so on the basis of sexuality and education of product. For example, those old tic-tac commercials where the lady is bouncing it off her tongue over and over and over again - ya, that's all sub-conciously about oral satisfaction which has nothing to do with tic-tacs.
So please, be quiet, stop parroting your improperly placed and all too frequently ignorant politically correct perspective and bother to learn something about the subject matter. Seriously, its amazing how much sex is used to sell, even when its non-obvious to most clueless people.
Re:Options? (Score:4, Informative)
It could be a matter of finding the right drug.. or the right supplement.
I have used supplements to cure in a medical way, gout, high blood pressure, and hemorrhoids. By "medical", I mean the results were very fast and repeatable. Not, "take this for 60 days and there will be a 5% improvement".
The esteem issues may be related or unrelated to your depression. You might be able to reduce the size of your emotional problems slightly and make the total load easier. Esteem issues are often parent related. If you have any open issues with your parents, you might be able to resolve those and get some closure.
I had work induced depression last year and had to go on anti anxiety and anti depression medication. I'm still left with sleeplessness now that we are past that period. I think my adrenal glands are still messed up from so much stress. And the hemorrhoids came from sitting in a hard plastic chair for 70 hours a week for several months.
I hope you find something that helps. It sounds like you are intelligent, rational and successful.
Slashdot really living down to its reputation here (Score:5, Informative)
First, RTFA. There was essentially no complaining at all in the article, besides a little "it's tiring to stand in heels for eight hours" Really really sad the number of slashdotters who without reading the article just assumed that it was a bunch of women whining. Not to mention the number of posts here responding to accusations of sexism that were never made. Defensive much?
Second, to the parent post, you know what the one who didn't like it did? She quit and got a different job.
Given that like every third slashdot post is someone complaining about their job, you'd think people here would maybe cut these women a little slack. Or is it really that offensive to hear a women who's job is to be professionally pretty talk about it just like it's any other job?
Re:Options? (Score:5, Informative)
Now, the sometimes awkward bit. I'll put a TL;DR summary of the below here: For some people, depression is a different beast. We've struggled all our lives to understand it, to combat it, and there IS no "emotional problem" or "open issues with parents" that cause it. Much like a diabetic, it's just there, and just like taking insulin, we take our meds to lesson our symptoms, but these symptoms are always, always, always there, in good times or bad. Often, the best we can hope for is "Take for 60 days with a 5% improvement."; lord knows that the 5% improvement I get from my Lamictal and Depokote cocktail might just be what holds this job down by letting me stagger to the shower in the mornings, instead of sleeping through the alarm and feeling vaguely disappointed I woke up at all. The same goes for important relationships; I have my girlfriend and kids to love; even with my meds, it's a large task; without them... well, I already had one divorce, causing me to lose nearly everything. That is not something I'll risk again, even though it's still difficult. The symptoms themselves are less "horribly sad and emotionally troubled" and more "completely empty and motivationally lethargic" from what I've found, and that is simply not a feeling that's easy to convey.
The long version:
Another area of depression, though, is no "reason-induced" depression; it's just there. To many of us that have struggled with depression all our lives, our parents tell us that even as a very young child we were "moody". Of course we feel bad when we go through the normal struggles of life; job issues, deaths of family members, divorce, etc, just like everybody else, and we can get through those moments, just like everybody else. My dad's death and my divorce were rough, but at no time did I think I couldn't get through them, bad as they were, unless I was also feeling this second kind of depressed, too. I guess I had something of a rough childhood, but there's really no trigger point I can point to that says "Yup. That's why I got sad for no reason last Saturday and couldn't shake it until yesterday". Even "sad" or the common meaning of "depression" aren't the right words. It's more a feeling of complete and total apathy, lethargy, no motivation, just no... substance or will. I think of it more as simply and totally "empty" than "sad", and most of my focus group members have felt much the same.
In my early 20s I would wonder if I was "self-faking" it (something like the Dunning-Kruger link above) to avoid success, or that if I could just find the right supplement or eat right or exercise I'd feel better, but was the lack of motivation my problem? Everybody else seemed to think so, well-meaning or not. If I could power through and find that one thing I need to shake this shit off, would I feel better? I felt so hopeless after I'd let myself get dragged to various drug stores or gyms and find that the latest thing to "cheer me up " STILL wouldn't work. What a pain in the ass.
I had an epiphany one night in my late teens when all my buddies convinced me to take ecstasy. Being on the high-octane side of the bipolar coin at the time, I thought this was a balls-to-the-wall good idea. While everyone at the party was having a great time, I got nothing, all night and after 3 or 4 pills (I assumed the first 2 were duds). May has well have been a handful of Tylenol. In the 12 years since, I've tried q
Re:Options? (Score:5, Informative)
From your own link: In prescriptive grammar fewer is the prescribed comparative to be used in relation to grammatically plural, discretely quantifiable nouns, i.e., count nouns. The comparative less, it is argued, should be used when speaking of a grammatically singular noun (including mass nouns). Descriptive grammarians, however, are only concerned with the extent that this distinction applies in actual human usage.
"Fewer" is for counts; e.g. "fewer and fewer people know the difference between lose and loose". "Less" is for amounts, e.g. "I have less gasoline in my car than I did yesterday."
If you have fewer cornflakes in the box, you have less cereal.
BTW, the wiki article is incredibly badly written. Actually, I should have said "poorly written" but who the fuck cares as long as the meaning is clear?
I hope I've educated a few people.
That's modeling (Score:5, Informative)
That's modeling. Below the top 100 or so supermodels, nobody is making much money. If you've spent any time in LA, you've met actress/model/waitress types, competing for low-end modeling jobs. There's trade show work, like this. There's catalog modeling ("OK, the next item is S-3721, the beige skirt, and hurry it up, we have 50 more to do before lunch"), fit modeling for designers ("it's too loose in the back, stand still while we get the pins in"), and extra work in movies ("be in makeup at 4 AM, we shoot at dawn").
In the early days of Autodesk, the company was doing about 30 trade shows a year. They hired two young women to run the trade show operation. They were both California blondes with cheerleader personalities who liked to travel. They could do a small trade show alone; they knew how to use the software and do demos. For bigger shows, they'd have assistance, but for smaller ones, it was sometimes just the two of them. It surprised some people that they weren't just decorative, and it amused them to be underestimated.
They had booth setup down. They had a space-frame booth made in Scandinavia which fit into a large rolling suitcase. (Those were rare in the early 1980s) They'd roll their cases up to a booth space, take out the space frame, grab hold of the ends, pull to unfold it, and lock it open. Setup took about two minutes. One of the women described to me the look of anger and hatred she got from union labor at Chicago's McCormick Place when doing this. She grinned back, and wasn't intimidated.
Re:If they don't like it (Score:4, Informative)
There's a difference between expected job duties and conditions.. in fact, duties and conditions that define the job, and having a crappy boss that treats you like shit.
You don't see many techies complaining because they're exposed to too much technology, or that they hate all the programming they have to do... That's what the job is.