With MTV making a sweep of their permalancers so as not to have to pay them any benefits, we thought things couldn't get much worse for those still working from gig to gig. Not true, says a tipster, Blackbook (which honestly? That's still around?) has managed to screw her out payment for five months now because the CEO is "out of town." Now the office is run by the savage comptrollers!

I figured this is standard procedure, especially for BlackBook, who isn’t known for it’s timely payments. But then after following up again last week, I was told that the matter was out of the hands of Chris Mohney, and into the hands of Joe Friedman, the controller of the company. After a leaving a voicemail and sending two emails, I received a response from Joe, who is now refusing to pay me at all, citing my alleged breach of contract. According to him I had not completed my work by August 1, 2008 - despite the fact that this is their own fault - and therefore I would not be paid the outstanding balance of $1,440 at all.

Naturally, we feel sorry for anyone who has to haggle with disreputable publications to get their money, but seeing as this lady has already admitted she once waited eight months for another Blackbook check, why continue to write for them? I guess in this economy, a job's a job, even when it isn't.