Is money burning a hole in your pocket? Flowing through your hands like water? Are you in the red? Running low on funds? Well, maybe you need to find a J-O-B. Oh no! Not the J-word! Yes, I said it. Breathe, it will be alright.
Now, I am a working woman, and am more than happy to impart my words of wisdom on the wary ways of the working world. Every terrible college kid job out there, I have done. Waiting tables, folding clothes, babysitting and an on-campus job, just name it, I can tell you all about it.
As of the moment, I am a dual-income family in my own right, just without the family part. I have a lovely work-study job at the Health Center. My job entails filing, running errands and driving around town in the Health Center Van which I nicknamed the “Blue Bomber.”
I have worked there for three years and the wonderful ladies at the Health Center is like having ten moms away from home. I report on what I did the past weekend, what I had for dinner and how I am getting along with my housemates. The hours are flexible, the work is not too taxing and the pay isn’t bad.
On-campus positions consist of a variety of jobs, ranging from organizing books at the library, sitting at the info desk, filing and office work, tutoring, selling tickets at the Quick Center or swiping cards and folding towels at the RecPlex. You could easily find one to suit your interests.
As many people know, these on-campus jobs usually consist of doing homework or getting paid for many hours that you didn’t work. Consider yourself lucky to get one.
My second job is playing Mom for a couple hours a week. I regularly baby-sit for a nearby Fairfield family. Four kids, ages eight months to eight years old. Basically, it’s a nuthouse and I love it. I get to watch Disney Movies, play dress up and crawl on the floor making “Vroom Vroom” car noises. What more could you want in life? Not to mention, I get paid $10 an hour for my car noises.
Sometimes, babysitting is not so fun. After little Jimmy was sick and throwing up, the baby would not stop screaming and precious Angela threw a full fledged tantrum, you are glad that you get to leave at the end of the night. They were your temporary children and you get to leave with your maternal yearnings fulfilled and your pocket full of cash.
If it’s an off-campus job you seek, Fairfield’s scenic town center provides many employment opportunities in customer service. There is a store for everything and everyone in Fairfield, from high end fashion to books to hiking and camping gear.
I have been a clothes folder at The Gap and Ann Taylor. In all honesty, I hated every minute of it. Retail was my nightmare. As a retail clerk you are on your feet all day, folding clothes and folding clothes and folding some more clothes. It is mundane and monotonous.
However, EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT. Those magic words healed my wounds better than Neosporin. 40-50 percent off all the new lines, it is heaven to any fashion forward person. Beware of those magic words, however. I found that I did not make money when I worked retail because I spent all of it on clothes. I was the best dressed broke kid I knew.
Last but not least, there is always the old college staple, waiting tables. I liked waiting tables because the tips are unbelievable. The shifts fly by because you are constantly talking to people.
I did not like waiting tables because some people are just plain rude and they always seem to sit at my tables.
So if you are going through money like it’s your job, maybe it’s time to get a real one with the good, the bad and the paychecks.
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