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Case of the creepy Philly Craigslister: Attractive sales girl to receive ‘personal’ benefits

This is no April Fools’ joke. Craigslist has always been a strange, strange place. This Philadelphia posting sent creepy chills up my spine.

This is no April Fools' joke. Craigslist has always been a strange, strange place.

Last week a posting appeared in the Philadelphia Marketing/Advertising/PR jobs section of the site that sent very real chills up my spine.

A person, who did not identify as male or female, advertised for "a new/attractive sales girl" who could uphold the duties of this fast growing tech company, like presenting, making sales, and jumping on client calls. They emphasized that job perks included "'personal' benefits" and a "'personal' relationship around the office". The poster noted, "discretion is required". They also requested that interested persons must be attractive and should send photos along with a resume.

Here is the original post:

Fast growing tech company in Philly is looking for a new cute/attractive sales girl who can help with making customer calls, following up on sales opportunities, generate proposals, and present well. You would be spending a lot of time with the boss and would have a close "personal" relationship around the office with "personal" Benefits.

Would like someone attractive, dresses well, flirtatious, intelligent, and outgoing. Need to be organized , have good communication skills, be pretty tech savvy, and have your own transportation.

Discretion is required and assured on any "personal" related matters.

Will pay salary between $30k-$40k plus bonuses (First year expected $75k+), cover cell phone, laptop computer costs, and expenses.... 

Please send resume with brief description of why you are the best for this position, a few pictures, and the top 4 things about you that draw the boss and/or the customer into you when meeting with you.

Looking to fill this position immediately ASAP and full or part time and picking the best girl for the opportunity.

Horrified and curious, I reached out to the mysterious poster to try and pry out some "actual" answers. Here is how our email conversation went (note: all replies the poster sent were through Craigslist's converted anonymous email address):

Hi there, 

I was reaching out in regard to your job posting seeking an attractive sales girl for your company. Would you be able to give me more details about what the job would entail? I see that there are some "personal" benefits and I was curious as to what that meant. Sounds special. 

Feel free to give me a call if you would prefer: ###-###-#### - Thank you! 

His response:

Of course it sounds special :-) It is special.  Pretty much I am looking for a cute/sexy kickass sales girl who is up for the challenge of helping me grow my business.  This includes cold calling new clients, calling on existing clients to sell them additional products and services we offer, preparing proposals, making presentations/demos to prospective customers.  We sell business phone systems, voip, and communications services to businesses throughout the area.

Additionally I am looking for more personal fun around the office from her and creating a very close and fun environment.  Of course this would be when nobody else is around and kept 100% completely between us.  :-P

Let me know what you think and we can talk more from there.

I told the Craigslist poster that I worked for Philly.com, and that I was interested in finding out more details – such as the name of the company – which, of course, cut our correspondence short.

Wait.  lol  This isn't for you?

________

This is borderline workplace sexual harassment, but what if the interested party is willing to subject themselves to this person's sexual office fantasy? At first I thought they were seeking out a woman for a work-themed porno, just in a weird coded-speak Craigslist kind of way. But once we shared that first email exchange, I was pretty confident that the poster was dead serious about what they were asking for.

What happens when this "personal" relationship they insisted on, and is part of the job description, wears thin? And how can two people who work for the same company (the same office) maintain any kind of healthy workplace environment when sexual activity is involved? What happens when the company starts to grow – do they hope to create the ideal Bunny Ranch workplace business model? This is in no way logical or ethical.

Cowardly seeking out sexual conquests by using your business as a way to lure females in is not okay.

You can see the original Craigslist post here.