Working Freshman Year: A Memoir

By Timothy Hayes on January 21, 2015

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Freshman year brings lots of new challenges.

You have now graduated from a four year institution where you likely spent most of your day walking between classes in a regimented schedule and might have had some other responsibilities like sports or some other extracurricular activity. Now, instead of a regimented daily schedule dictated by your superiors, you are a free bird able to make your own choices.

One choice you may have to make is whether or not to get a job. Maybe for tuition, rent, or books, no one can deny that having a job is essential at some point in college. For some, this might be the first job they’ve ever had. Others might just see it as one in a long line.

In high school, I got a job in the kitchen of a newly renovated sports bar and family pub that the owner had changed over from an Italian restaurant. My sisters had worked at the Italian restaurant, so the owner and managers liked my family reputation when I applied.

I didn’t keep the job for long after because my schedule got busy. I tried job hunting for a while after that, but I never found one. Immediately after I graduated high school, I went looking again. I tried Craigslist, walk-in applications, online applications, and finally, employment agencies.

The last one landed me a job in a factory over the summer. I had two days off a week, a usually consistent schedule, and a good manager, but I was still glad to leave.

Right before I came to The Ohio State University, I spoke with my sister about getting a job at the chain where she worked as a manager since the company had a store on campus. Since she knew the general manager of that store, she gave me a good reference and I got in right away.

First semester, I started out with 13 credit-hours of schoolwork and 25 hours of work at my job. That nearly killed me. I had coworkers also enrolled at Ohio State who worked anywhere from 10 to 30 hours a week. What was interesting to me though is that everyone was older than me. Known as the baby, most of my coworkers were sophomores at least. I was an exception.

When talking with my peers about where I worked, I found only one other classmate was employed, and she by the university. Most of my peers talked about settling into school and then getting a job next year.

For me, there was no option. I had to work to pay the rent on my apartment. I had gotten a housing exclusion and found a cheaper place away from the university, but unlike campus housing, I paid it monthly.

My work was actually a lot of fun first semester. My first day, I had had a rough day in class and I got to work in a bad mood. That didn’t mean my first day was awful.

You see, when I wasn’t working in high school, I had been doing extracurriculars. Most of them had to do with performance in some manner or another. I learned from them that you treat your problems like your shoes; take them off at the door and pick them up on your way out. So when I’m at work, all my problems are gone until I leave. Work became my happy place.

Working for 25 hours a week takes a lot of planning. As soon as the schedule would come out, I’d get my phone and set up an alarm to go off one hour before my shift every day I worked.

On work days, I would make sure I had time to get back to my apartment to pick up my uniform or made sure to bring it if I was too busy all day. I had to learn bus schedules for all the routes to get me to work. A watch was my best friend that semester.

Work itself was fairly simple. I took orders, garnished food, washed dishes, ran trays and bussed tables. The only hard part was how busy it got. The restaurant got lots of business on the weekends and game days especially. I had to plow through orders faster and faster. Tables had to be quickly bussed and guests needed orders quickly. Just like getting to work, punctuality and effort counted doubly.

The semester began, the semester ended, and I had a good experience to learn from. Working freshman year allowed me to gain useful experience in a number of fields.

You may have noticed some recurring ideas throughout this article. Throughout it I’ve talked about time management. It’s the most important skill I learned. I now know how to deal with scheduling conflicts, calendars, prioritizing, and deadlines like a pro. I used all the tools at my disposal like my computer calendars and reminders, my phone and a good old-fashioned notebook.

You might have also noticed the value of networking. Two of the jobs I’ve had are because I know someone who could get me recommended. For me it was as simple as knowing my sister. For you, it might take some work to associate with hard working, well placed people to keep going. It’s not about what you know. It’s about who you know.

The last thing I learned this past semester was the value of hard work. The saying goes, “You can do a good job once, or a bad job twice.”

I found that my hard work and diligence in my job began translating into my schoolwork. As I worked, I gained an appreciation for sweating through tough stuff and I was able to keep a stiff upper lip through finals.

Ultimately, working freshman year was very difficult. I had to deal with frustrating customers, game day rushes, long hours, and lots of stress. I’ll be the first to say that it’s not for everyone, but what it can teach you is more valuable than your entire education.

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