False Starts are not the End of the World

This past month has had its share of false starts. Spring may have started, but in Saskatoon there’s no guarantee that it will be snow free.

On Monday, the ground was no longer covered in white, so I finally took down the holiday garland hanging above our front door. It was time for new seasonal decor to shine. Tuesday night, it began snowing. It is now Thursday, and the snow is still falling. 

While it is pretty frustrating to have to dress for winter still, it doesn’t help for me to focus my energy on being angry about it. Like Mel Robbins says in this video, as obvious as it may be, you can’t control the weather. So why stress about it? Mother Nature has a mind of her own and eventually the warmer weather will return. Hopefully it doesn’t end up like this.

What you CAN control however, is your reaction. This, of course, is easier said than done, especially if you’ve developed the bad habit of reacting negatively to something. But it just requires you to choose and develop a new, better reaction. 

Plus, I’ll just blame Mother Nature for Spring’s false start. But maybe humans are to blame for that.

Speaking of another unsuccessful start, last month, I mentioned a potential job on my plate. Excited by the prospect of a new illustration project, I replied to the inquiry from “Stanley Johannson” and waited to hear more about it. The details seemed too good to be true.

RED FLAG #1: Only five illustrations over the course of about two and a half months for $5000 US.

RED FLAG #2: They would pay me up front so I would know that I had the job.

RED FLAG #3: All I needed to do was provide them with a contract along with my contact info AND… banking information.

Sometimes you have to learn to trust your gut. What I first suspected to be a tad sketchy (no pun intended), turned out to be just that. After I drafted up the contract – a waste of a day – WITHOUT my banking info  and emailed Mr. Johannson back, I was ghosted. I wondered if I had messed up the contract somehow, overstepping by asking for payment so soon. He did say he would pay me right away, so no, that couldn’t be it. 

The job was supposedly for a private school in Florida. I had asked Matt if he thought this was legitimate. At first, he said it could be, because they needed to spend their money before the end of their fiscal year. But after there was radio silence on the other end, it seemed like something was off about the whole thing.

Feeling bold while we were out at lunch on Monday, Matt decided to call Stanley up at the number he provided. It had been over a month, so even though the job didn’t happen for me, maybe we could find out why. The guy on the other end was not Mr. Johannson – so he said – and had no idea how to contact him. 

This morning, Matt called up Montverde Academy to see if we could get in touch with Stanley Johannson. Well, the woman we spoke to told us right away that there was no one by that name who worked for the school and that we were not the first to call about him. The job was a scam and it has been running for about a year. WHAT?!!

So many reactions! 

First, who does this kind of thing?

Apparently people who don’t know a better way to make money. They were also targeting students. Most artists and college students are not swimming in cash. Are they a bitter artist? A former bitter private school student trying to drag the school’s name in the mud? The woman at the Academy thinks it couldn’t be a fellow American, but someone or a group of people from a foreign country and that their government must be involved. (I did not hear that part, but Matt says she mentioned it). 

Secondly, there are people who have actually fallen victim to the scam. So I guess that’s why they’re still doing it.

I almost did.

Really, I should have called the school from the start before pursuing the job any further. Instead, I googled “Stanley Johannson”, found an obituary as the top result, but reasoned that not everyone is searchable. But I will make this name searchable! Mr. Stanley Johannson, learning facilitator, whatever that means.

Thirdly, it’s a pretty elaborate scam for not a whole lot of money. He went through the trouble of detailing what he needed from me, starting an email conversation. There were about three emails back and forth between us. He made sure to stroke my ego by asking me to produce work like the sample he pulled from my website, waiting for me to bite and divulge my banking info. Because I didn’t, he moved on.

If I had, they apparently send a very convincing counterfeit certified cheque that they want you to cash. But then they contact you again saying that they’ve changed their minds about the job and want you to return the cheque. That’s when and how they would get the real money.

So I suppose for about a day’s work and maybe a few weeks’ waiting time, that’s a pretty good payday. But if this is how you make your living, then that’s a pretty sad existence. And while I’m miffed that this was not a real illustration job, hopefully I can help stop others for falling for this scam.

Next week, the forecast is predicting temperatures in the high teens! So it’s not the end of the world, just the end of winter… AGAIN!