Amanda Howe
Life is expensive.
Life as a high school student is really expensive. You’re in that awkward phase
of needing money, but no longer able to just mooch off of the parents. That and
wanting a new thing every few minutes with a limited cash flow don’t mix well.
Books, games, tickets, food, clothes, computers, cars, etc. and then there’s
college looming in the nearing future. For many high school students, getting a
job is the only way to fund their extravagancies.
However,
being a teenager also limits the places that will offer jobs. With a confining
number of hours and restrictions on what you can actually do, attaining a job
is tougher than it would seem, but not impossible. And once you’ve found a job,
it can be quite fun. Kayla Martinez, a CCHS senior, works as a CYC counselor
for the after school program at Saddlewood Elementary. “I want to be a teacher
when I grow up so that’s part of the reason why I like [the job]. I get to
interact with kids and I think what’s really fun is that while you’re on the
job you still get to have fun and you can goof off a little bit. You don’t get
yelled at for playing with the kids. I get to talk to them, color with them, if
they want to play a game with me I’m allowed to do that.” Martinez says that
her favorite part is showing up to work and having the kids want to play games
with her, but she has to work three to six every day after school so she
doesn’t have a lot of time for homework and dinner.
If working with
kids isn’t great, there’s always food. Jen DuPont, also a senior, works at the
frozen yogurt shop, Sweet Frog. She likes the freedom of working on her own,
but the work can get a little tedious with the repetition of cleaning and
cashiering. Courtney Kerin, another senior, works at Macaroni Grill as a
hostess and opera singer and says, “I like all the people that I work with but
I don’t like when people stare at me when I sing or when I’m alone and people
take a long time to take off their coats so a line forms, because even though
I’m doing my job correctly, I feel like I’m doing it inadequately.”
And there’s always
working as a store clerk or cashier. Senior, Macy Waddingham, a sales clerk at
Aeropastale, loves cashiering best about her job. The only thing that bothers
her is, “straightening tables that are completely messed up because sometimes
when I’m straightening and cleaning up, a customer comes over and destroys the
pile that I just fixed.” Senior, Megan Vallee is also a cashier, but at Party
City. “I like being a cashier because I like talking to people, but I don’t
like cleaning the bathroom.”
Every job has its
highs and lows. But if none of these seem appealing, there are other options,
even whole websites dedicated to finding jobs for teenagers. Finding a job has
its difficulties, but just remembers that this job is a start, not necessarily
what you’ll be doing forever.
