Job: Beauty salon sweeper.
Duration of employment: “About three hours.”
Salary: “Maybe $3 an hour. I was hoping to flirt with the customers and get better tips.”
Work experience: “I was a beauty school dropout. No graduation day for me! But I know about scalp treatments, and I'm good at nails. The salon was called Dramatics [in New York City], and I thought, Hey, I might as well work at a place that epitomizes my personality.”
Skills: “The ability to sweep. But I'm no good at it. I was hoping to graduate to manicurist.”
Job perks: “Not after three hours!”
Job hazards: “Hair splinters. Hair can get under your nails and cut you. They're worse than real splinters. Horrible!”
The boss: “The owner was in theater and he gave everybody a ‘stage name’ — he felt that spiced up the atmosphere. I was a little willful. He told me, ‘Your name is now Echo.’ And I was like, ‘Excuse me? Why's that?’ He said, ‘Because I said so.’ I was like, ‘OK, um, I have to go out to make a phone call.’ I got on the bus and went back to my apartment. And that was the end of the job.”
Current line of work: Carey's The Remixes CD is on Columbia.
