Бесплатный фрагмент - Hard money

Luda has been looking for a job for more than a month. She came from a village and hasn’t been able to get a job.

Her parents didn’t give her any money because they didn’t have enough to live on themselves. Luda had been working part-time while she was still in school, and she had managed to save some money. With the money she had saved, Luda was able to pay for two months of rent on a small apartment in the most remote part of the city. She also had some money left over for groceries.

She wanted to find a good job, something prestigious, so that she could show off in the village where she came from that she was working in an office. But according to Lyuda’s calculations, she only had enough money for a week’s worth of groceries and not enough for the next month’s rent.

She had to find a job quickly, and time was running out. Previously, she had been looking for office jobs with high salaries. However, when asked about her education during interviews, Lyuda would start talking about her experience and her ability to learn quickly. As a result, she would not receive a callback, and she would go on to the next interview. This continued throughout her time of unemployment. Eventually, she decided to look for a simpler job with a higher salary, as she would soon have to pay for her rent.

The vacancies with a good advance were described with excellent conditions. But when Lyuda came to the interview, her pride shouted that she should go home, because the conditions voiced were not at all those that were written in the description of the vacancy.

At the interview for the last internship, they said that the employees would receive more than 60,000 rubles, while Lyuda had to pay 25,000 for her apartment. This meant that the advance payment would be sufficient. However, after the interview, additional conditions were revealed. The salary was 19,000 for the first month of work. The remaining amount was a bonus that had to be earned by exceeding the plan. The plan was set to be impossible to achieve. It was necessary to make calls and offer to buy a product to customers from a cold call database. Moreover, the bonus was supposed to be paid only after a month of work and at the next salary.

During an unpaid internship that lasted two weeks, Lyuda asked her new colleagues about their salaries. It turned out that their salaries did not exceed 25,000 rubles. Of course, they did not quit for various reasons. Some of them lived with their parents and spent their salaries on entertainment. Someone rented a place for a couple with a cohabitant, with whom it is simply profitable to pay the rent in half and live, playing the «family», creating an ordinary symbiosis of two consumers, not even loving each other and just convenient to each other. But Luda would not have had enough money, because she lived alone and there would be nothing to pay for the apartment and food.

Overcoming her pride, Lyuda started looking for jobs that required physical labor but paid less than the prestigious and socially acceptable ones. However, there was a problem. Working with food required a medical certificate, which took a lot of time and money to obtain. With a salary that was barely enough to cover the rent and a meager grocery budget, Lyuda worried that she might not be able to pay her rent on time and end up homeless.

There’s nothing to do, so I urgently need to look for a good, or just any job, just to urgently get money.

Looking for a job in a hurry and stress, Lyuda updated her resume and published it in the open access. Suddenly someone will call her himself and offer a great option. Suddenly it will be fate.

In the evenings, she sat on dating sites in the hope that she would find a roommate for a profitable living together in a rented apartment, so that she could split the bills in half and save the saved money for the initial mortgage payment. Housing prices are rising by leaps and bounds, and the interest rate in banks is huge. The longer you delay buying a home, the less likely you are to ever own your own home. But first, you need to save up for a down payment for many years, which is also increasing due to rising housing prices.

And so Luda found a partner in her interests. It was Evgeny, her new boyfriend from the dating site. He was just as pragmatic as she was. He also had a cynical attitude towards life and believed that love didn’t exist, and that one should only look for benefits in life.

They had been chatting for a long time and had many similar opinions. She felt that she could trust him and that it would be beneficial to form an alliance with him.

Suddenly, a call came in from an unknown number. Luda assumed it was about her resume. She swallowed nervously and replied in a quiet voice:

— Hello!

— Hello! — came the rough voice of a man, by the feel of it, about eighty years old.

— Who is this?

— I’m calling you about a job. I saw your resume, and I’m interested. I’d like to ask you a few questions to get to know you as a person. This is an unusual format for an interview. If you pass this phone interview, I can invite you to a personal meeting. This will be the second stage of getting to know you. Are you satisfied with my offer?

— Yes.

— It says here that you don’t have a higher education or work experience. But you’re willing to learn and adapt to new skills, and you’re open to different work formats. Why haven’t you worked with such talent before? Was someone supporting you? Are you from a wealthy family? Let me be clear, we’re not interested in such candidates. We need proactive employees who are willing to climb the corporate ladder without relying on family or a husband. Are you being supported by anyone, or are you ready to achieve success with our company?

— I’m on my own and have to earn my own living. I came from a village, and my parents can’t give me money. I don’t have a very good relationship with them. I have to survive, and I want to become a career woman and earn my own apartment.

— That’s fine. I’m okay with that. Which is more important to you? Your career or your family? Do you plan to have children? Are you planning to get married?

Do you have a boyfriend?

— No. I don’t have anything, and I don’t plan to. I’ve seen bad examples from my parents and relatives, and I don’t want to live in poverty like them. I’m going to pursue a career.

— Are you ready to travel? For example, to work abroad? Or is there someone who will discourage you or need you here?

— I am ready, but only if the business trips are paid by your company. No one is interested in my life or holds me back. I live on my own, like a cat. I walk where I want.

— What is important to you in a company?

— Good pay.

— Tell me about yourself. Only be sincere. I’m interested in everything, honestly. Where you were born, how you lived, grew up, and everything that motivated you to come to the city, work, and leave your family behind for your career.