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I need money blues
Working at a day camp over the summer for $3 an hour was a huge mistake. I thought I would be fine with the few hundred dollars that I brought with me to college, but I didn’t know how easy it is to spend money when there’s no one telling you to be frugal.
Twenty dollars for dinner here, $15 on there...it adds up. Fast. After only a few weeks of college, I was shocked to realize that my bank account balance had plummeted into negative numbers. I freaked out as I realized that I had bounced a check. The extra charges from my bank and the store meant that I was even more in debt than I originally realized. I had to do something.
I began to comprehend what it felt like to be a poor college student. Unlike some students who have their parents’ credit card to back them up, I was forced to figure out how to get some money on my own. And for a college freshman, this meant only one thing. Dining services.
People may tell you that working in the cafeteria isn’t so bad, but I dreaded it. I had worked at a restaurant a few summers before and had gotten fired because I was too slow and kept messing up orders. Returning to a kitchen full of dirty dishes, greasy food and grumpy cooks was my worst nightmare. But having no other choice, I sucked it up and got a red dining services apron.
I have to admit that, after a week or so, the job wasn’t that bad. I even got used to scooping mashed potatoes with an ice cream scoop and scraping half-eaten pork chops off plates with a rubber spatula. It’s definitely worth it so that I can stop irritating shopkeepers with bounced checks and begging my parents for money.
Caitlin McMullin is a freshman at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. Article provided by 
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