What is this thing called Turk? That was my question when I ran across an article about “turking”. I read it and was interested enough to check it out. I am one of the recently downsized 50-something executives that must now find out what I want to be when I grow up. I do know it won’t be stuck in an office deep in the middle of corporate America. I want to do something creative. Or fun. Or something that actually uses my brain. Turking has certainly helped me to remember that I have a brain. I go for the ones that make me think. I love words, so I gravitate towards the rewrites. I love to get one with multiple hits so I can follow the yellow brick road – or the thought process of the requester. I am not exactly getting rich from turking, but I am able to fill my gas tank. It’s better than aimlessly surfing the web or playing games to rack up points but no income. Watching those pennies add up is fun and it gives me something to look forward to. Even when I eventually find a “real” job, I will continue to turk. It’s something new every time I log on. And who knows, maybe someday I’ll get to be a requester on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Hey, maybe I’ll make business cards that say “Ms. Downsized, Professional Turker” – might get some conversations started!