"Friend For Rent"

Everyone gets into a tight spot when it comes to finances. But what lengths will you go to earn money when job interviews don't go according to plan or businesses don't return your phone call after you submit an application?

I've been running into this for the last month. Applying for jobs that seem promising, from working at a desk to being a waitress at a local food chain, only to be left empty handed. Money is running out, bills are piling up, and it seems like there is no end to what I'm going through. With my wedding around the corner and pinching pennies like crazy, I went to my absolute last resort.

Today I signed up for a site that allows people to "rent" you as a friend to hang out with. No it's not a dating site, and there will be no sex. It's basically a site that you build a profile on to offer friendship to those who need it. You charge by the hour to go out and grab coffee, talk on the phone, offer advice, listen to the person, or (in my case) play video games with them and exchange books.

It's safe to say that I needed a shower afterwards, to wash away the scum I was feeling.

Making friends outside of the internet is something that I've always had a hard time doing. I'm outgoing, but holy hell am I awkward. While being awkward on the internet is not a big deal and is even praised at times, it doesn't land you many, if any at all, friends in real life.

I flipped through some of the profiles of people in my area, curious as to what they had to offer. Not to my surprise, they all had the same regurgitated phrases.

"I enjoy the outdoors. I'm outgoing and take no shit. My height is _____. I'll go camping and fishing." blah blah blah.

I live in Idaho, so this isn't any surprise to me. In my time on dating sites and Tinder (before I met my future husband, obviously), the profiles all sounded like they were written by one person. Everyone enjoys the outdoors, everyone loves camping, fishing, hunting, you name it. Everyone had at least one photo of them in Mossy Oak camouflage, holding a rifle or next to their "big kill of the season."

So, while filling out the "about me" section on this friendship website, I was honest. I wrote about how I'll meet up for coffee and listen to them and try to give them the advice they may be searching for. I told them that even if I'm not in town, they could call or skype me. I told them that I'll play video games with them, give them book reviews, and maybe even let them borrow a book of mine.

I'm not stupid. I know that this will probably not work. I don't expect it to. I don't expect to be able to make any money from it, honestly. And I know that there will be weird people who try to contact me. But at this point, I feel like I've tried everything, aside from selling all of my personal belongings. (Not that I haven't thought about it, but I'm sure not very many people would be interested in what I have around my room anyways.)

I'm stressed out and using this as my last resort. Once the wedding is out of the way and life goes back to normal, I'll be like everyone else and will be filling out application after application and keeping my fingers crossed.

But at this time, I guess all I can do is hope that my finances stay under control and hope that nothing unexpected comes up.