Student slave labour (Student employment detracts from studies?)

Name: fangedwolf

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Student employment detracts from studies?
Date:	18/08/01 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: money for a social life and a decient standard of living

Disadvantages: no time for a social life because of the hours, and no time or energy for your studies either!

I moved down to University from my home town of Glasgow 2 years ago with my partner. Like many in such a position without the financial support of rich parents I was fourced to search for a job to pay the rent.

Lets face it, the student loan that is awarded just doesnt cover living expenses, even for someone like myself who lived too far away from Univerity to have a typical student social life (e.g. lots of drinking and nights out).

I soon found employment in the only place in my area that had a vacancy, a pub/ club as barstaff.

I was quite lucky in the fact that the course I took (Archaeology) gave you a lot of study time at home rather than many lecture times, so working here sounded perfect. I was only getting paid minimum wage, but I ended working so many hours that this didnt really bother me much. I started at 7-8pm and depending on the day I could finish either at 10pm or 1am - well that was when the bar closed, not when we actually finished. If we closed at 1am, we then had to clean up the pub, washing the floors (and toilets), doing the dishes and all the other nasty jobs that came our way as the bar had no cleaning lady. We were paid for half an hour to get all this done, but it always took over 1- 1 1/2 hours even though we worked flat out. He then made us sit and eat natchos and cheese and have a drink. I usually wouldnt get home until 4am as I had to wait for the others to give me lift home.

As a barmaid I worked very hard, putting my all into it, giving 110% if that's possible, for no credit at all from the owner/manager. I soon found out why he had such a high turn-over of staff. He was a skinflint and a nasty man. He knew that he could treat me any way he liked as I needed that job. While I was working there a girl stayed for less than an hour before walking out. This lack of staff in turn meant that the staff he did have had to do extra shifts and work all the harder.

As a result of thes
e long exhausting hours, both my relationship with my partner and my University work suffered terribly. My grades dropped, and depression set in, in full fource. I litterally could not concentrate on lectures. Catch 22: I couldnt afford to leave the job, but I couldnt afford to stay either!

It was at the millenium that I decided to leave. It really didnt matter how much he paid me, I finally realised that it was not enough for all the strife he put me though. I had to wait for new staff to come before I could leave, so it wasnt until the end of January that I finally left.

Although most students will thankfully not all get employers like the one I had, the long hours and basic wage is something that many WILL have to put up with. Like me, most students will find out that the loan just doesnt cover nearly enough; it might pay for the rent and gas/electricity bills etc, but not food as well, or nights out, (yes that means no booze either!).

One solution is to get a job that is ONLY on the weekends, and no more, or you might be sucked into the whirlpool of extra shifts!

Another idea is to work only in the summer and winter holidays, saving all the money for during the term. This works for many students, but not all, as there are courses (like mine) that make you go on compulsory field trips or work experience during the vacation.

The trick is not to let the job take over your life. You go to University and college to study, and it is for this that you get a job so that you might be able to live realatively comfortably, not the other way round.

Remember that you will get a better job with the qualifications than without. You might like the job enough, but you have to ask yourself: do I really want to work in this job for the rest of my life? and if so, will I be able to do so? Job security is an ongoing battle, and the better qualified you are the better the change of job security you will have.

>If you are concerned about this issue you will be able to get support though your university and college, and from a careers advisor.

Please write and let me know your opinions.

Summary: