I needed the money
Desperate for money, most college students are willing to do just about anything for extra cash. Of course, there are the standard waitressing, fast food, and retail jobs that keep most students going during the lean years.
And then there are those other jobs. Those bad jobs, weird jobs, or just random jobs
that you do because, well ... you're in college and you need the money.
For example, I have a friend who donated plasma
pretty much as a part-time job. She went in twice a week. I swear she earned enough to file taxes! Yikes!
One summer I was an unpaid intern
at an advertising agency. A fellow intern and I were so strapped for cash, we actually volunteered to mow the lawn at the agency. I think our bosses were a little stunned that two 21-year-old women needed $20 that badly, but hey—back then $20 would fill a car with gas ... twice!
My "night job" that same summer was announcing games for a women's softball league. I introduced the batters, ran the scoreboard, kept the book, and consumed vast amounts of hot dogs, chips, and Laffy Taffy
from the concession stand.
My collegework-study job
was in the microbiology lab, cleaning test tubes and Petri dishes that smelled like bad breath. Not the ideal position for a journalism major who much prefers the aroma of printer's ink.
Then there was my summer as a meat cutter. I spent three months working in a meat processing plant, chopping big hunks of beef into the tidy little steaks you get in the grocery store. It was one of the better-paying jobs for a college kid in my hometown, if you could wield a knife and didn't mind the sight of blood. I was actually much more troubled by the fact that I had to wear a hairnet for eight hours a day.
Now, there must be plenty of you students and former students out there who've done weirder jobs than I have, so share. What are you doing (or what did you do) to earn money during college?


