A New School Student Doing Something Odd Is Not New

by Walter Ancarrow

Listen!

In the future, everyone will be pleasured for $15. Until then, as one New School sophomore knows, it’s going to cost something closer to $1500, and that’s not for anything kinky.

Perry Gregoire, who chose her pseudonym to match her company’s French theme, works as personal assistant for the owner of an upscale New York city-based escort service. Gregoire doesn’t escort herself, but knows that, even when filing paperwork, her job is far from ordinary.

Traditionally, the collegiate crowd clamors for internships, or jobs as barista or salespeople. But some college students are taking a different path and snatching up unusual positions at odd jobs in order to stand out from the crowd and avoid cookie-cutter resumes.

For Gregoire, a typical day includes writing saucy bios about the escort (a personal favorite: “allow her legs to lead you for a night out, or let them keep you warm on a night in”), or doing background checks on clients, or interviewing people to find out what they can do with a prostate. While the whole thing has become second nature to Gregoire, starting in the business was a bit of a shock.

“As I went in I was like, ‘Am I really doing this?’ but eventually it was no big deal and [I] stopped thinking about it,” she said about her initial reaction.

But no matter how comfortable Gregoire gets with the job, the lives of escorts (and the men who love them) never get humdrum.

“One day a woman couldn’t do a photo shoot on the scheduled day because she had bruises all over from a wrestling match with one of the customers. And she just acted like it was no big deal,” recounted Gregoire.

She could go on and on with bizarre anecdotes and, in fact, she’s planning on writing a novel which does just that. A writing major, Gregoire knows her job gives her insights into a business most people know very little about. And that’s what makes her often times ridiculous job so valuable, Gregoire believes.

Cheryl Mazlen, an administrator at the Wasserman Center for Career Development at NYU, said that students looking for creative jobs might benefit from unusual experiences, as they help students stand out to employers.

“Take the transferable skills – the skills that could be marketed to the mainstream and put that on the resume,” she said.

As personal shopper for a 5-year old, Charlotte Simmonds hopes to somehow market her current job to future employers.

Simmonds, a sophomore at NYU, buys clothing for the girl, whose name Simmonds didn’t want to mention, approximately every month, though it’s usually less frequently. Because the girl’s parents work full-time and the girl’s nanny is older and foreign, Simmonds was hired to take care of the girl’s wardrobe. Simmonds is told how much she’s allowed to spend, but otherwise she’s free to make her own choices and bases her selections on personal tastes with an eye towards upcoming trends.

Simmonds would like a career in art, either as a curator or gallery owner, and believes her current job relies heavily on design.

“Basically, this job is about design and I’m designing an image for [the parent’s] child. The parents want the girl to project a certain image,” she said.

Although Simmonds loves what she does, she’s aware of the absurdity that comes with it.

“I find that kids have tendency to be really materialistic if they’re allowed. It’s such a naturally seductive thing for children. They don’t have a sense at all really of what it’s worth and why some people can have these things and others can’t,” she explained.

She added that some people might not agree with what she does.

Mazlen suggested leaving anything potentially controversial off the resume, instead, highlighting the good that comes with any job. However, before taking the job, students should decide for themselves if an odd job is beneficial by questioning their motives and considering the consequences.

Gregoire said she would stress the responsibility, multi-tasking, and people skills that come with her job and would just list “personal assistant” on her resume.

The stories about escorts will have to wait until her book.