Rolling Stone Starter Job Tasks Include Assisting Spouse, Online Shopping, Serving Lunch

Are you trying to break into the glamorous world of journalism? Good news! Rolling Stone has a job available. Bad news: Sounds like you'd really have to check any of those lofty glamorous notions at the door. Although Advertising Age notes that the job title is "editorial assistant"(my first title, coincidentally), the position includes several decidedly non-editorial tasks, including: "online shopping," "make and confirm appointments—both business and personal," "assist spouse with requests," and "order lunch, plate/serve, and clean up." Helpfully, the ad points out, "on call availability 24/7" (like a heart surgeon, who actually make a lot of money to be on call all the time), and "common sense, no task is beneath you." I kind of shudder when I consider how low that could go in the typical average office, let alone at Rolling Stone. ("Clean the vomit out of that wastebasket!") It sounds like Devil Wears Prada without the advantage of the fancy wardrobe. Even I never had to pick up anyone's dry cleaning, and I was making minimum wage.

Let's face it, this ad actually sounds more like a personal assistant, which is fine. But call it what it is, RS, and throw in more than a $35,000 pittance salary in Manhattan (according to the New York Post). In fact, the Post posits that "multiple sources speculated that the job was to assist [Rolling Stone editor Jann] Wenner himself" (he does not have a current "spouse" but a partner, Matt Nye, and an ex-wife). While AA and other outlets report that the ad was taken down after subsequent online rubbing, a Google search still found it on indeed.com, if any brave soul wants to go for it. Godspeed.