how to make quick money, (very) short term job?

September 15, 2010 6:06 PM

Short term (two week) work/money making ideas

I work in a very old building. Its right in the middle of downtown, and spans almost the whole city block. The floors are built on wood, which is on dirt, with no concrete foundations. We're basically ready to collapse in on ourselves.

My boss (the owner of the business) has worked out a deal with the owner of the building so he, another manager and myself will be compensated while the whole block's floors are dug up and fixed, which will be about two weeks.

I'm trying to think of some sort of short term work/money making idea I can do for the two weeks, as right now I basically live paycheque to paycheque with a very small savings. I'd like to be able to build up my savings a little bit and have some extra holiday money.

The work I do now involves cooking and I'm an assistant manager, but I'm open to almost anything (except maybe construction as my knowledge there is pretty limited). I guess I'm looking for average-person-jobs

I don't really want to hand out resumes and then just quit after two weeks but I'm not sure who'd hire on such a short term.

I also don't plan on becoming rich or anything, but anything to add into my savings would be great.


Any ideas mefites?

posted by addelburgh to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Best answer: Check the Gigs section of Craigslist for your area.

See if there are any events that need temporary help--there are fairs going on in my state, for example.

Or you could take a whirl with Amazon Mechanical Turk. It's not a pile of riches, but it all adds up over time.
posted by dragonplayer at 6:19 PM on September 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sign up with a temp agency. They'll find you work of some kind, if you're willing to do it.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:25 PM on September 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If there's a college nearby and it hasn't started yet (or started very recently), apply to work in its textbook store.
posted by CutaneousRabbit at 7:08 PM on September 15, 2010

Best answer: There may even be a temp agency in your area where you can register as a casual server/bartender (if you have experience in that area.) This may be a good way to supplement your income as you can get called in to work at special events such as concerts, football games, banquets, etc.
posted by Flying Squirrel at 7:25 PM on September 15, 2010

I'd look into catering companies, especially since you have cooking / food service / customer service skills.
posted by quadrilaterals at 7:30 PM on September 15, 2010

If you can't find anything else, you can hang out outside the Home Depot with everyone else looking for day labor.
posted by CathyG at 9:08 PM on September 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I second catering jobs or other events organizers.
posted by jander03 at 9:31 AM on September 16, 2010