Re: Need work..ant suggestions?Jobs,JOBS,jobs!
Jan: There are many great opportunities for unskilled non-spanish speaking(ESL students like you) in Dominican Republic. Here is a list of jobs. You may not need a CV or resume:
1)ORANGE JUICE JUGUERO: The only requirement for this is to bring a black colored tricycle from your country and have it customized with a front tray and orange juice squeezer.You would have to hire a motoconcho to tow you every morning at 4am to your sales location, or pedal your way to the market to buy oranges and to your site location. The only drawback is that almost every corner of Santo Domingo has Jugueros, so be prepared for a turf fight with Haitians, the cornerstone of this business. Juice sells for $5. You buy oranges at .50Cents and squeeze three for a juice, you make $3.00.The other .50 is for cost of ice, sugar and plastic cup. Save enough for flat tires and police bribes. SUGAR CANE JUGUERO is also available, but the equipment is more expensive. You need a mini generator.Your garbage disposal can be done in the neighbors trash can.
2)SHOE SHINE BOYS:This is a highly competitive field. There are 40,000 of them. Every Dominican is a born shoe shine boy, but some of us decide for other careers. Among luminaries in this field:Sammy Sosa, Hipolito Mejia. You need to be really good in this field.You have to snap your shoe shine rag as fast as a Lamborghini running out of gas on its way to a gas station. Spit shine quality is required if you decide to work at Parque Enriquillo and Parque Colon. Clientele there is very demanding.Or you could walk around the entire city screaming......LIMPIABOTAAAASSSS! You need to make your shoe shine box in DR. Do not bring foreign made boxes unless you want to become the laughingstock of shoe shine. Do not bring a chair either. Just get yourself a 2 gallon empty can of oil for a seat. The rags are made from chino pants(cotton only)Buy Dominican paste, its cheaper and its better for the weather and apagones.$5 a shine. If you tell a story like the Sammy Sosa Baninter ad, you may get $10.
3)VERDURERO: Be a vendor of species, lettuce,rabano, zanahorias and other salad making leaves. Wake up real early.Go to mercado Modelo to buy your products. get yourself a huge rattan basket and wrap yourself a head turban like a Taliban to rest your tray in your head. Practice your equilibrium skills to keep the tray on top of your head(no hands) You could buy yourself a cow bell to announce your entry and scream...VERDUREEEEROOO,LECHUUUUUGGAA!
There are few left, so this is still a virgin field.
4)BUSCON/AGENTE TRIBUTARIO:These are the most obnoxious salesmen in the world. No used car salesman can match these guys.Your job is to help you find the documentation you need at government offices and make sure you dont stand in line to get your documents, like passports, birth certificates, drivers licenses,etc. This is a very competitive field, only for the slimiest con men with skills. Usual take is $100 pesos. Some graduate from Buscon to Agente Tributario, who are the guys that have briefcases and a mobile table and better inside contacts. For instance, the A.T.s at the Drivers License Bureau can get you a learners permit for $500. They use cellular communications to contact the inside man and send you in. You take the test, but the inside man strikes the keys in the computer for you.Exact time:30 minutes-no line-no studying the damn manual!
5)CONCHO DRIVER:Just get yourself a 1978-1983 jalopy car from a junk yard and bring it to DR. Have only the engine, transmission and tires functioning, place a cooking gas tank in the trunk for fuel and join our taxi corner to corner fleet of concho cars. You can squeeze as many as 8 passengers at $5 each and in smaller cars as many as 6. Cooking gas is $15 gallon, instead of regular gasoline at $32. No insurance needed. You kill somebody nothing happens. They figure you are destitute anyway.Take off the seat belts(take up space)No door knobs, rear or front lights are required. You just need a moving wheelbase with seats. be sure to learn how to swivel your wrist in a back and forth movement with your left hand to attract the passengers at the corner. You also have to learn how to obstruct traffic to get position to steal the passengers from others and how to drive two lanes. Count your money and check paper currency well, the passengers are as sneaky as the drivers.
So Jan, with these suggestions there is plenty here. Women are now moving into these macho fields, but other than these jobs women can only work in casesitas and caba?as picking up guys at the Malecon.
TW
