Volunteering

I was thinking of volunteering for a good cause. "Give back something to the community", and all that: Work in an office or school, or out the field for a caring, community-based organization...for nothing.

Then I had this sudden apprehension: I would be shunted off in the corner, tolerated and placated as another aging, assumed-to-be-bored, need-to-get-out-of-the-house well-intentioned do-gooder fit for only handing out candies to kids or cleaning the toilets at the local school.

I decided to think out of the box: apply for a similar job with the same kind of organizations. But instead of volunteering: I would offer my experience and services for a fee. My potential employers would evaluate my resume, estimate how fully my abilities filled their needs, and they would or would not hire me. If they did, we would negotiate a salary commensurate with my skills. If the price was right, it would be a done deal...all the time, of course, keeping to myself that the anonymous check that they would be receiving at their organizational office every week was from me, sending back a charity donation equivalent to my salary.

Why would I go through all that trouble, engage in all that subterfuge? If I did, I'd probably get a better, more respectful job; there would be no candy hand-outs or toilet bowls jobs for me. You know the old adage: nobody respects what they can get for nothing.