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Poor college students unite and invest in the future
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This one is for you, the servers of this community.
You, who bring other people food on a Saturday night when everyone else is partying. You, the men and women who serve drink to battered souls and talk them through a hard day. You, who clean up after, cater to and indulge the public. Labor day was Monday and most of America’s labor force had it off, yet the masses still need their coffee, their food and their drink.
They still need gasoline and their car washed. Customer service is a thankless job but often it is the only option for starving college students.
The general day in the life of a college student is weird and wayward. He or she has classes scattered throughout the day and meetings with group members and professors spliced into the hours in between. These factors make it extremely difficult for students to find a job conducive to their lifestyle.
Those who attend the university find themselves in a catch twenty-two situation in that the student is in college to find a good job later on in life on one hand but on the other he or she needs to take a lesser job to get there. After high school, young people have a couple of choices. One choice brings them out into the workforce, making money at a 40-hour per week job.
The other choice is to go straight into school and live the life of poor college student.
It is a humbling experience to see your friends off in jobs, able to pay rent without question and buy what they want when they want it. As we get older those same friends move up in their jobs, make careers and start to think about buying homes and starting a family.
They move on and become “adults” while the college student continues to work with 18 and 19 year olds serving the public on holidays. The college student can feel disempowered and disenchanted with his or her lifestyle but like most situations in life, there is a sliver lining.
Going to college is an investment in the future. We who are attending the university have goals, if only academically. We seek to learn and grow socially and psychologically.
This is not to say that people who decide to go straight into the workforce do not grow, the college student just learns in a different way. College students become well-rounded people.
They learn about art, mathematics and science and gains valid experience in learning what they want to do with their lives. College teaches not only facts and figures, but also how to problem solve and any career will find the college student invaluable. Simply by virtue of getting a college degree, students can prove they have accomplished something of merit.
We take the customer service job now knowing that we are just a flash in the pan there. College students don’t have to stay at their job at TGI Fridays for the rest of their lives, but if they do, it is their choice and the university gives them that choice. The pursuit of higher learning is always a good choice and after you make that decision, your options open up wider than anyone could imagine.
For instance, if you go into a trade after high school that trade is what you are going to do for the rest of your life. You can get better at it and if you love what you do than you are already ahead of the game but there is little choice involved. A trade is a safe decision because people will always need a carpenter or a mechanic. Going to college is more of a gamble because you invest in yourself, go into debt and hope for the best.
However, remember that education is always worthwhile. Even if you don’t end up going into that particular field, you still learned how to learn. You are trained with the ability to tackle whatever crosses your path and overcome any problem that comes your way. Work in the customer service industry right now, college student, and be happy about it, for someday you will walk into that same place with a fantastic job and know exactly how the person on the other side of the counter feels.
BARRY FRANKLIN