2008 Woodie Awards
Putting Passion into a crappy job
Shaking your money maker
Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Editorial
Most students are poor. It's a fact most of us deal with sometime or another during our college careers. To combat this financial shortcoming, many of us seek part-time employment because the extra cash comes in handy to pay bills, tuition, and any other lifestyle accessories that we can't live without.
If you're lucky enough to snag a part-time job that doesn't include cleaning bathrooms or preparing fried food, you should hold onto it until graduation day. The rest of us will find ourselves in one of the categories aforementioned or worse.
Regardless of the dead-end, soul-sucking job you end up with, it's important to remember that attitude is everything. I'm not going to give a Tony Robbins-type lecture asking you to paste a goofy grin on your mug and greet every customer you encounter with the enthusiasm of a Chili's waitress after three double-shot espressos. But I promise that if you embrace the horrible truth about your awful job, things will go much smoother. As a wise man once said. . . It's all about perspective.
Take for example, the brave souls employed by local pizza and mobile phone businesses. How could standing out in the sun playing an inflatable guitar to boost pizza sales be better than your job? It's not. It's much, much worse. Yet these employees come up with the intestinal fortitude to deliver face-melting solos AND give you a quick, delicious dinner idea with a smile and a nod.
Maybe you've seen the T-mobile sign guy throwing down on a sidewalk around town? Here's someone that's decided he's not just going to stand there listening to his Ipod while he holds his sign. No, no, no. He's giving 110 percent and showing us some of the best choreographed, in your face dance moves that the streets have ever seen. He's practicing a skill while he does his crappy job. Do you dance when you're at work? Chances are, unless you're Waldo the Wildcat, the answer is no.
The point is, most of us will have a job or two throughout college that royally sucks rocks. But it doesn't have to be something we dread doing. If you have a Dwight Schrute in your place of employment, some light-hearted teasing or practical jokes (within legal confines) is a good way to pass the time and get to know people. Before you go into work, think of a joke or something funny in the news. A quick joke or story at the beginning of your shift can set the tone for the whole day and relaxes your co-workers.
Trust me kids, this is a lesson that will serve you well in college and beyond, especially you English majors who are still going to have crappy jobs when you graduate. Keep an open mind, a positive attitude and some perspective. These really are the best years of your life, so act like it.
If you're lucky enough to snag a part-time job that doesn't include cleaning bathrooms or preparing fried food, you should hold onto it until graduation day. The rest of us will find ourselves in one of the categories aforementioned or worse.
Regardless of the dead-end, soul-sucking job you end up with, it's important to remember that attitude is everything. I'm not going to give a Tony Robbins-type lecture asking you to paste a goofy grin on your mug and greet every customer you encounter with the enthusiasm of a Chili's waitress after three double-shot espressos. But I promise that if you embrace the horrible truth about your awful job, things will go much smoother. As a wise man once said. . . It's all about perspective.
Take for example, the brave souls employed by local pizza and mobile phone businesses. How could standing out in the sun playing an inflatable guitar to boost pizza sales be better than your job? It's not. It's much, much worse. Yet these employees come up with the intestinal fortitude to deliver face-melting solos AND give you a quick, delicious dinner idea with a smile and a nod.
Maybe you've seen the T-mobile sign guy throwing down on a sidewalk around town? Here's someone that's decided he's not just going to stand there listening to his Ipod while he holds his sign. No, no, no. He's giving 110 percent and showing us some of the best choreographed, in your face dance moves that the streets have ever seen. He's practicing a skill while he does his crappy job. Do you dance when you're at work? Chances are, unless you're Waldo the Wildcat, the answer is no.
The point is, most of us will have a job or two throughout college that royally sucks rocks. But it doesn't have to be something we dread doing. If you have a Dwight Schrute in your place of employment, some light-hearted teasing or practical jokes (within legal confines) is a good way to pass the time and get to know people. Before you go into work, think of a joke or something funny in the news. A quick joke or story at the beginning of your shift can set the tone for the whole day and relaxes your co-workers.
Trust me kids, this is a lesson that will serve you well in college and beyond, especially you English majors who are still going to have crappy jobs when you graduate. Keep an open mind, a positive attitude and some perspective. These really are the best years of your life, so act like it.
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