Consider this a public service announcement; there are only four days left until the next of Apple's famed "Demo Days" events, and apparently the effort is seriously understaffed. According to MacCentral, an "unidentified source" reports that MarketSource, the company that Apple hired to throw together these shindigs, is embroiled in a "desperate search" to rustle up staffers willing to demonstrate Macs at Circuit City stores this coming Sunday. If you're a "people person," you know your way around the Mac, and you're willing to sacrifice a Sunday to the almighty and benevolent gods in Cupertino, take a gander at MacCentral's looong list of as-yet-unmanned stores to see if you're needed at a Circuit City near you.

Sad to say, while the Burlington, MA location is a mere fifteen-minute drive from the AtAT Studios, unfortunately we're... uh... washing our hair that day. And anyway, we're not quite right for the job. Oh, sure, we know Macs, and we know how to sell them-- we've persuaded dozens of people to buy them over the course of the past several years. But the last time we considered volunteering for Demo Days, we were stopped cold by the dress code, which actually required that all participants wear dress shoes to the store. No offense to MarketSource, but personally, we'd never take computer advice from a guy in dress shoes. Real geeks wear sneakers. Or sandals. Or they just go barefoot. This absurd "dress shoes only" requirement may have changed since then, but if it hasn't, does "Barefoot Steve" know about it?

Then there's the issue of compensation-- meaning, cash. Apparently volunteers for this Sunday's gig will be paid $75 for eight hours of work. Granted, that's more than minimum wage, but frankly, most of the Mac-savvy, customer-friendly people who would actually be worth putting out there on the sales floor could earn more money working at their Macs for an hour or two than by standing around under fluorescent lights all day. In dress shoes, to boot. If MarketSource is really so "desperate" to fill those 168 vacant Demo Days slots, one would think they'd pony up more dough.

So let's recap: if you're a Mac-savvy "people person" who's willing to spend eight hours of your Sunday standing around in uncomfortable shoes and chatting to passers-by about Apple's current product line, all in exchange for $75 (and hopefully a free shirt), by all means, volunteer your services and do Apple a favor. Unfortunately, we've got way too much on our plate to sacrifice that large a chunk of time and sanity right now; maybe next time around. Provided we can wear comfy shoes, of course...