The Human Condition

I was recently asked to manage some of the outsourcing for an ecommerce site. I'd been meaning to sign up on a couple of freelance sites anyway to try and fill some open time and what I see on these sites is a real eye opener on the human condition.

Now I fully understand the global economy and I'm not about to start ranting about wage differences but people working for 50 cents an hour? I don't know what a computer and a copy of MS Office, Photoshop or whatever costs in some third world ghetto but I'd be willing to bet 50 cents won't cover it.

Far worse than those who are apparently working with pirateware are the unscrupulous employers on these sites. These are just some of the things I've seen in a couple of days time looking at the other jobs posted:

• Looking for someone to post false reviews
• Looking for someone to modify copywrited material to make it their own
• Looking for someone to copy someone elses web site
• Looking for someone to manage someone who’s not getting the work done on time
• Looking for someone to remove bad publicity on the internet (ripoff report, etc.)
• "I don’t know how to do it but it should only take you a few minutes" (this one's always my favorite)
• "You need to make as many revisions as it takes at no charge until I say it's right"
• Ridiculous time frames

Probably the worst of all are employers trying to get out of paying $2.00 hr when a deadline is missed. I'd be willing to bet the instructions were all of two sentences or the deadline was unrealistic.

All this just goes to show there are untold masses ready and willing to fill Hitlers shoes given the opportunity.