TORONTO - A condom company is looking for 1,000 volunteers to test its products and report back on their findings.
It opened the job competition Monday and will continue accepting applicants until Nov. 4. "Applicants will be asked a series of questions to make sure they are a good fit for this dream job," the company said in a statement.
"Questions include how often do you use condoms? And why do you want to be a Durex condom tester?"
In an interview, Steve Mare, brand manager for Durex Consumer Products, conceded that it's more of a contest or survey that will help the company gauge consumer satisfaction and preferences than an actual job offering.
"There's certainly an element of fun involved with the program and we don't want to deny that, " he said from Norcross, Ga.
The testers will be sent a variety of products in the mail. They will have to log onto a website and provide feedback to the company, including what they liked and didn't like.
To get the job, the company is looking, in particular, for creative responses to the question about why they want to be a condom tester, Mare said.
"That'll be the primary way that we differentiate applicants from each other."
BOSTON - It was the crossword puzzle fan's version of getting his marriage proposal plastered on a stadium Jumbotron.
Aric Egmont and Jennie Bass were working on a puzzle titled "Popping the question" in the latest issue of The Boston Globe Sunday magazine. Bass spotted her sister's name and her best friend's name, but initially thought it was just a coincidence.
Then they got to 111 across: "Generic proposal" (Jen Aric generic). The answer: "Will you marry me?"
"We get to the 'Will you marry me?' clue, and I said, 'Will you marry me, Jenny?' I got up, got the ring, and got down on one knee and she screamed, and hugged me. It took her a minute to say yes," Egmont told the Globe.
Egmont, 29, of Cambridge, contacted the magazine this summer to ask if the people who create the crossword puzzles would write a special puzzle for him.
Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, a married puzzle-writing team who have been writing Globe magazine crossword puzzles for years, agreed. Their puzzle included several variations on proposals; for example, "Macrame artist's proposal" was "Let's tie the knot."
The tricky part was writing an entire puzzle that would be clear to the happy couple, but not obscure to all the other readers who do the puzzles.
Bass, 29, said there was no reason for her to suspect anything when they started doing the puzzle.
"Then he got up and came back with a box and it was pure elation," she said.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Firefighters had to tear though a wall to rescue a man who became stuck while trying to climb through a chimney into a home.
Alejandro Valencio said he was drunk when he climbed down the chimney about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday to see a woman who lived in the home. "Everyone do stupid things sometimes when they're drunk," he said.
The woman, Connie Deweese, said she had known Valencio for about seven or eight months but told him to stay away. She said she locked the door to her home, but "somehow he got to the roof."
"I've dated a lot of psychos in my life, but nobody like that," Deweese said.
Firefighters requested assistance from police officers after they arrived because they said Deweese was blocking the fireplace. She received misdemeanour citations for charges of disorderly conduct and interfering with a firefighter.
"I told them to leave him in the chimney and let him die," she said.
Valencio was taken to a hospital after he was removed. He later returned to the home, where a television crew captured Deweese hitting him with a garbage can and pelting him with bottles.
"Get off my porch, and don't you ever come back here," she yelled.
Valencio said he would help pay for the damages incurred from his rescue.
|
