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ousy jobs cause grief,
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TtBY STEPHEN WELLS
The Battalion
\
student finds a slip of paper in their desk just before sitting
down to sleep through a biology lecture. It seems somebody is
looking for a bright, motivated individual with team skills in-
rested in succeeding by applying sound success principles and ris-
hilosopfyE.g u i management position. Also, the ad says beginning pay starts
nine bucks an hour — not too shabby.
or Tom -I What begins as a chance flirtation with easy money quickly de-
arolina Stai: ends into the sinister beast thousands of college students fall vic-
“Denv-nlo every semester — the annoying and thankless job.
at 3:45 pi Sometimes, the shortcomings of a prospective career are painfully
Call Garyaiiovious at the outset. Dave Osmond, a sophomore electrical engi-
a informat! aering major, said he once worked for (a pornographic video rental
ore.)
ation of Bar “For most of the day, it was just a normal nine-to-five type job,”
^Vewillhav smond said. “But there were times each day when something would
"viceat7:2: iPP 011 an d make me wonder why I didn’t just quit. People would
nter locate )met ' mes be touching themselves right in front of me, and I had to
ain. Call DaJ t0 be polite when I told them to stop.”
")i details Other times, the dangers can be more subtly hidden but manifest
lemselves almost immediately.
Just Peaces < r ^' le s t° re I worked in also had a private video room
, hefe people could go and pay to watch for a while,” Os-
onjd said. “1 had to clean it up at the end of my shift. Some-
mep, 1 would find dirty underwear left behind or a mess
: tey didn’t bother to clean up.”
' : Some jobs start out just fine, but the tedium of repetitive
ioi|es takes over, changing a normally vibrant worker into an au-
_ ., imaton performing mind-numbingly boring tasks. Tom Brechener, a
rflday r y an resident, said students should be aware some jobs can quickly
Philosopln «| rem ember being excited at the beginning of the first day of tele-
F here will be Jj-Ufing an d hating my job eight hours later,” Brechener said.
Professo' everybody I called hated me instantly. By the end of the day, my ear
orth Caro |' rom the pressure of the phone receiver, and I could barely talk
entitled %cause my voice was worn out.”
Debate at 2 Those experienced with telemarketing jobs are all too familiar with
ocker. Ca resboss who fails to see why a credit card with a low limit and high
"or more info" m
interest rate will not sell like hotcakes.
“The only job I would have liked less than mine would
be my supervisor’s,” Brechener said. “Talking on the phone with a to
tal stranger was easy to handle. I don’t think I could smile and tell a
room full of people who already hate me they have to do better.”
When the boss is not watching, employees who dislike their job
are likely to act out against the establishment in the pursuit of hap
piness. Even if they are caught in the act, losing their job becomes
another interesting story to tell their friends.
“It didn’t take much for us to rebel a little,” Brechener said.
“As soon as the supervisor stopped listening in on our calls
and would go for a break, we would stop trying to sell peo
ple stuff and instead make prank phone calls. As soon as
somebody got caught, we would stop for a while until every
body got so bored they didn’t care again.”
But telemarketing is only one way of hawking merchan
dise while interrupting peoples’ private lives.
Combine it with endurance walking and the door-to-
door salesman emerges as the leader of the pack of harsh
sales jobs. Terrence Demetrie, a junior finance major, said
his temporary job as a sports equipment salesman was
doomed to failure.
“Avoid a job like that like the plague,” Demetrie
said. “The people 1 did it for made me buy the stuff I
was showing to the customers, and I’m pretty sure I
never broke even. It’s pretty obvious who gets rich
when you take that job.”
Some students find themselves in jobs that
threaten their physical health. Jacob Palos, a
freshman math major, said students should be
wary of job requirements going into a
new occupation.
“I got
a job working for the highway department when 1 was in high school,”
Palos said. “Part of the job was going out to clean road kill up off the
road. Supposedly, we were supposed to take turns because everybody
hated the job. Because I was the youngest, I ended up cleaning dead
animals off the road every time a call came in.”
Still, even the worst jobs can give the unfortunate students forced
to work them some light moments, making the daily grind more bear
able.
Michael Wagener/The Bahai.ion
“I had a terrible job, but I saw some of the funniest things I’ve ever
seen in my life when I worked,” Osmond said. “I never run out of stories
about the people who came in, and it’s fun to laugh about how far they
would go without even thinking about it.”
One redeeming quality of a terrible job is that those who are trapped
in them can be fired with no regrets.
“It’s good to know that at any time you can pull something stupid, get
fired and leave without a second thought,” Palos said. “That’s the free
dom you have in a really bad job, and getting the last laugh is the best.”
s, Photo Edito j
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OARKANSAS
HEY!
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SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER...
0 Is your activity an educational experience?
0 Does the activity promote or conform to the
values of the organization?
0 Will the activity increase respect for the
organization?
0 Do new and initiated members participate
together or equally in the activity?
0 Would you be willing to allow parents or
University officials to witness the activity?
0 Would you be able to defend the activity in a
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To report hazing, contact one of the following offices*.
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The Department of Student Activities: University Police Department:
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members of a recognized student organization.
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