Rosy Economic Future Foreseen in Hiring Psychic Counselors
I had hoped to bring you cheery economic news this morning: of a growth industry in San Diego looking for eager new workers.
That will not be entirely possible. But then again, all is not gloomy either.
“I don’t know if you would call us a growth industry,” said Mark Sussman. “We’re more like a niche industry.”
The “niche industry” under discussion is metaphysics: an assembly of soothsayers, seers and other purveyors of knowledge from the nether realm of thought.
My inquiry began when I saw a San Diego want ad for “Psychics, Tarot Readers, Astrologers, Numerologists.”
The ad promised “New Positions Available,” a guaranteed commission, a warm, supportive work environment, and medical and dental benefits.
Say what you want about how sickly the economy has gotten, but I figure any country where you can make a living as a psychic, Tarot reader, etc., and get medical and dental insurance as well, has got to be a good place.
I called the San Diego number and talked to Claudia. She put me on hold for a long time and then came back and told me to talk to Mark Sussman in Los Angeles.
Sussman said he is vice president of the Psychic Marketing Group, which provides individual psychic counseling via 900-numbers (at $3.50 per minute).
He said the ad is meant to attract psychics, Tarot readers, astrologers and numerologists who are in private practice and want to shift to a team situation. Fewer hassles, no billing, that kind of thing.
Despite the ad, Psychic Marketing Group is not hiring by the boatload. There’s a semi-modified-limited hiring freeze even in the head-trip business. What’s more, all applicants must have metaphysical experience.
“I’m not a psychic myself, but we have psychics who screen all our applicants,” Sussman said. “I’m told they can sense in the voice if the vibrations are right.”
Good psychics, Sussman said, can make up to $18 an hour working a 900-number. (Which works out to less than 10% of a fully booked hour, but, hey, there’s overhead here).
If you get hired, you can stay here and don’t have to move to L.A. See, I told you there was good news.
Peyer a Paragon as Prisoner
It says here.
* Convicted killer Craig Peyer, a former California Highway Patrol officer who is not eligible for parole until 2004, is considered a model prisoner at the prison in San Luis Obispo and is studying electronics.
His wife, Karen, and their three children have moved from Poway to a community near the prison, so visiting will be easier.
This according to “Badge of Betrayal,” a just-published paperback on the Cara Knott murder case, written by San Diego Union reporters Joe Cantlupe and Lisa Petrillo.
* San Diego Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer is leaning heavily toward a run for the 3rd District supervisor seat being vacated by Susan Golding.
Wolfsheimer is doing a poll before making it final. Councilwoman Judy McCarty is already in the race.
* Mayor Maureen O’Connor and aide Sal Giametta are touring the high-tech libraries of Paris.
Look for a slide show at the Dec. 17 showdown when the Port Commission considers the mayor’s plan for a high-tech library for Lane Field.
* Next Wednesday the tabloid television show “Unsolved Mysteries” will probe the fatal shooting of Marine Corps Capt. Jeffrey Digman in his Temecula home in 1989.
The coroner says suicide; the military says the cause is unknown. Digman’s parents believe it was murder and have offered a $50,000 reward.
* The 99th anniversary approaches of the mysterious death of Kate Morgan at the Hotel del Coronado.
To celebrate/commemorate, the hotel is hosting out-of-town travel writers with a dinner theater production Saturday of the Morgan story. Complete with Champagne tour of the death room.
* Don’t tell Betty Broderick, but the number of attorneys in San Diego County increased 42% from 1986 to 1991, the largest jump of any urban county in the state.
So says the latest edition of California Lawyer.
* Religious graffiti are finding their way onto billboards pushing beer in coastal North County. Go figure.
Things That Go Bump
Bumper sticker on a battered Jeep in East San Diego: “I’d Rather Be Killing Communists in Central America.”
