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BY JEFF WOLFSHOHL
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aking this job couldn’t be that
bad,” someone might say to
themself. Money is lacking
ad time is there. The answer some-
mes seems so obvious.
: Once a student takes on the burden of a
[ad job, responsibility clashes with free
ill, attitudes change and the job becomes
[atan's handmaiden.
Elizabeth Green, a senior journalism
ajor, worked as an intern for a newspa-
er in Houston.
Green said one thing that can ruin a job
a complete lack of assistance at his job.
“There were about four people who
orked there,” Green said. “The guy who
wned the paper never came into the office
efore 1 p.m. I was the only person who
,ot there on time. ”
’he internship position was supposed
jo be a learning experience and benefit the
tern. Green said her internship was
©where near this description.
“I didn’t have any set job; it was just
hatever came up,” Green said. “1 was the
ceptionist until my boss arrived; then 1
ould clean up around his office. It was so
disorganized; it was ridiculous.”
I Green said she left the internship earli-
pr than she planned to because things
cached a breaking point — no pay.
“I also found out that the internship was
actually unpaid,” Green said. “It was my
understanding that this job would be paid,
but things changed.”
Things can change, sometimes for
the better, but for students it is usually
for the worse.
Keith Tomlinson, a senior mathematics
major, worked as an engineer’s assistant
during the summer and discovered a lone
ly cubicle can be a step up.
didn’t have an office for myself, so I
at in the hallway with the computer I
ised,” Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson said the worst days of his job
were filled with pointless routine.
“A set of blueprints, 600 pages long,
came in from an Army job the company
was doing,” Tomlinson said. “I had to
make copies of the sets, punch holes, sta
ple, and put them in notebooks. Everything
took three days to complete.”
If redundancy was not enough, Tomlin
son said the glow of the computer screen
haunted him every day. To make matters
worse, he possessed a unique skill for a job
requiring a great deal of squinting.
“For eight hours a day, 1 was staring at
a computer screen,” Tomlinson said. “1
had to write programming code to get the
company back on track because no one
knew how to do it.”
Tomlinson said his co-workers did not
even attempt to forge a relationship be
cause of his “intern” status.
“Everyone in the office was conde
scending when they did speak to me,”
Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson also said he is not one to en
joy an office job. He said that he would go
home and try to think of something he ac
tually accomplished during the day.
“I felt worthless for eight hours a day,”
Tomlinson said.
Why, considering the downside,
would students go through the hassle of
the worthless work experience in the
first place?
Leigh Ttirner, director of the Career Cen
ter, said students take bad jobs because it
is easier to take the first job offer they get.
“Looking for jobs for some can be a
painful experience,” Turner said. “So
when students, for example, hear about
a job from a friend, they see it as a vi
able option.”
Abby Johnson, a junior theater arts ma
jor, said students also take wretched jobs
in order to make some quick money.
“That is the only reason I took the job
that I had,” Johnson said.
I .
lir
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GUY ROGERS AND ROBERT I
Johnson worked as a telemarketer, sell
ing Sprint long distance plans, said she dis
liked the disrespect she received.
“I called people up and tried to con
vince them to change to Sprint, and most
people just said, ‘No, just go away you
bitch,”’ Johnson said.
Johnson said her job was terrible be
cause of the constant exposure to neg
ative attitudes.
“I quit because I called this one guy and
he completely cussed me out, beyond
what I have ever heard anywhere,” John
son said.
Johnson said as if the antipathy of
the customer was not enough, she was
also subject to random inspection by
her superiors.
“There are cubby holes and you are
very cramped in the small space you
have,” Johnson said. “The overseers will,
without notice, listen to your conversa
tions with the potential customers.”
A telemarketer has to also work
with names, which means there are
likely to be problems with gender-neu
tral monickers.
“The computer brought up the
name ‘Stacey,’ but left out the title, so
I assumed that it was a female,” John
son said. “When I asked for a ‘Ms.
Stacey,' the man who answered the
phone said it was ‘Mr. Stacey,’ then
hung up the phone.”
Johnson said another downside to her
job was a lack of any freedom of action.
She said there were times when hanging
up on an irate customer would have been
appropriate, but rules prohibited her
from doing it.
“1 had to wait for people to finish, so
1 could conclude the call, even if they
were cussing me out,” Johnson said.
As terrible as a job may be, sometimes
there are moments that make every job
worth remembering.
“1 figured out that one guy I was
speaking to actually was getting off to my
voice,” Johnson said. “1 didn’t care if he
was masturbating; I just wanted to sell
because there is commission every hour
that is constantly pushed on the workers.
When he climaxed, he just said, ‘No
thanks, I already have Sprint’.”
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