Starbucks Employee: Katherine, 26 yo

Katherine’s liberal arts degree from Macalester College, a private college in Minnesota, was advantageous while it lasted, but since college, she has worked as a florist, school photographer, teacher, caterer, barista, assistant, and another assistant.

Katherine currently works for Starbucks, where she says: ”I get mocha on my face and have to put on a hat that messes up my hair”. For her it’s not just a job, but a safe haven for health insurance and stability. Will she stay there through her twenties? Katherine yearns for a job where she can work with people, be creative by making things, or use her hands. But at Starbucks she does work with people: she rings up customers. She is creative: she makes lattes. She does use her hands: to clean the bathroom. She wants out. Download the film to find out if she gives up comfort for the risk of the unknown.

The Lawyer: Heather, 28 yo

Having endured stress from an 80 hour workweek at a corporate litigation firm , representing insurance companies, Heather witnessed colleagues with high blood pressure, additional health issues, and even a suicide. As a high school and college athlete at UC Davis, she was on the track team. In her working world, she learned of her competitive edge to run professionally.

Caught between 160,000 dollars in law school debt and her passion for competitive running, Heather currently works for a boutique law firm representing the little guy in workers comp and insurance litigation. However, with “part-time” hours as a lawyer she only makes 40 dollars an hour, but the flexibility allows her to work towards her dream of competing in the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

Heather is in the red due to rent, car and mainly school loan payments. She runs daily at 7:00 a.m., arrives at work at 9:00 a.m., leaves at 6:00 p.m., and runs in the evening. This lifestyle won’t last forever; if she doesn’t make it to the Olympic Games, she will be forced to go back to a full time law job – 80 hours a week – just to pay the bills.

The Artist: Josh, 28 yo

Josh has survived as a credible fine art painter for over four years. After 2005’s Hurricane Katrina left him bound for New York and New Mexico, he found himself couch surfing in Downtown Los Angeles. He pays his cell bill when he can afford it; otherwise it shuts off; he offers painting trades in exchange for dental work; he sets his eyes on school to become a physician’s assistant, but doesn’t commit. He tries to make painting work in today’s economy, but ends up exhausted.

Josh begins his jaunt, trying to find steady employment—in anything: mural painting, “ghost-painting” for another “artist”, as a bike messenger, teaching figure drawing classes, driving a hearse, working in construction, working on a train, bartending, working for underprivileged kids… you name it, he mentions it. View Josh Talbott’s work: http://www.joshtalbott.com/

To find out if Katherine will leave Starbucks in pursuit of her passion; if Heather will be forced to return to an 80-hour work week in lieu of training for future Olympics; and if Josh will give up painting for good and what job he will end up in:

Decide. Donate. Download.

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Submit Your Worst Job

What job did you have before you became who you are today?  Toilet bowl cleaner,  office assistant, telemarketer, car salesperson. . .

We want to know! Please include job title. A one or two sentence job description: including why it was your worst job & age you held this job.

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We all started out somewhere. Find out the worst jobs of Luke Wilson, Alan Alda, and Matthew Broderick.  Do you share any jobs in common with them?

Then SUBMIT your worst job on the home page.

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Jobs For Rent follows the emotional and financial journeys of three 20-somethings establishing their careers during an economic and generational time when instability is the only sure thing. Relate to the overachieving lawyer, struggling artist and wandering Starbucks employee as they each grapple between passion and practicality. The film is directed & produced by Michelle Paster and co-produced by Mark Myers.

The Starbucks Barista’s journey involves decisions her deciding between stability in receiving health insurance for working part-time hours and finding a new endeavor where, in her words, she can “be creative” and “work with people”.

The Lawyer works for a boutique law firm, as an underpaid associate. She struggles between paying off $160,000law school loans and her underpaid job, all the while training as a competitive track runner for the Beijing Olympic Games in the women’s 10k.

The Artist, a fine art painter who focuses on painting images of hands, needs to leave his art world to focus on a achieving nine-to-five job. He begins his jaunt, trying to find steady employment—in anything: mural painting, “ghost painting” for another “artist”, as a bike messenger, teaching figure drawing, driving a hearse, working in construction, working on a train, bartending, working for underprivileged kids… you name it, he mentions it. Will the artist find a nine-to-five and leave painting for good? The Jobs for Rent journey may lead them in the right direction.

Decide. Watch. Donate.

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