. I cancelled at the last minute my planned attendance at a focus group this morning.
Why? Mainly because it's a 50-minute drive one-way, something I wouldn't normally think twice about, but now I'm thinking I can't afford to put unnecessary wear and tear on my car, not to mention the gas, unless I have good reason. It's a 12-year-old car.
This focus group wouldn't be paying me cash; they give you their products, supposedly between $50 and $100 worth of stuff. When I answered the Craig's List ad, it sounded kind of fun. When a woman contacted me via email, I asked what the products were and she never responded. It wasn't until she sent the attendance confirmation that I saw that it was a company doing its own product focus group, not a professional focus group outlet. I checked out the company's website and saw that they're a small nutritional supplement company. They only have about a dozen products, which are tinctures, ie, small, 2-ounce bottles of concentrate. You use a dropper to put the liquid in either hot or cold water, and drink it. They have different tinctures for prostate health, urinary tract health, heart health and so on.
It's not something I would normally waste...umm, spend my money on, and the more I thought about it, the less interested I became in going to their focus group, where they are trying out some new flavors.
So I sent them an email early this a.m. telling them I wouldn't be able to make it. I felt a little bad doing it, but I'm sure it happens all the time, and I think I need to conserve my resources for things that matter.
I feel I have a lot of longish driving trips already in my future. I reconnected with an old friend I'd lost touch with 10 years ago and we have tentative plans to get together next month. She's just a half hour away. But I also have lunch plans next week with a woman I've never met but connected with through her Craig's List ad. She's a writer like me, about my age and also looking for work. I'll be meeting her at the halfway point between our towns, about a 45-minute drive.
I also still have a number of long drives associated with my UConn nutrition study research project, for which I am getting paid.
So I think meeting up with friends on occasion is worth it, as are paying jobs, but to get 2 or 3 little bottles of a questionable health supplement? I don't think so.
Instead of going there today, I will do the following:
1. Reseed the lawn where I dug up two large shrubs.
2. Walgreen's, to use my rewards points
3. Shop Rite
4. Apply for GE job
5. Put recycling out at the curb.
6. Post Office, to return 2 items for a $15 refund.
7. Turn in the press release I wrote.
Luther in the laundry basket.
I don't usually do this sort of thing, but...
August 24th, 2011 at 11:06 am
August 24th, 2011 at 02:19 pm 1314195579
I probably would have done the same thing and decided to conserve my time and gasoline!
August 24th, 2011 at 03:21 pm 1314199283
August 24th, 2011 at 03:34 pm 1314200059
August 24th, 2011 at 05:15 pm 1314206127
August 24th, 2011 at 05:16 pm 1314206215
August 24th, 2011 at 10:51 pm 1314226285
August 25th, 2011 at 03:36 am 1314243403
August 26th, 2011 at 01:08 am 1314320915