Working Man

This summer's experience has marked my first true job. Granted, I've held jobs at other places before, working the lunch shift at B.B.'s Seafood and Poboy restaurant in Ocean Springs last summer, and stints with The Daily Reveille and a part-time position at the LSU Honors College, both of which have given me great experience. But those were all secondary in priority to schoolwork, and, though paying, were part-time positions.

My job at Deveney Communication is a 9-to-5 job, with those hours actually being more like 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. I'll generally leave work at around 5:30. And on Tuesdays we get to work at 7:30 a.m. for client debriefing meetings, where the whole team crowds into the DC Conference Room to go over our clientele. (I say crowded because the summer intern class of five is the largest they've ever had, and they recently hired former intern Shannon Corrigan to work full-time, so our boutique firm is not-so-tiny).

So this is a real job. No breaks in-between classes to stop by your apartment to chill, to take a nap or to play the Xbox. This is what it's really like in the working world, and though at first it was pretty tiring, I'm getting the hang of it. I'm no longer staying up till 2 a.m. on weekdays, which is shocking to me because I never thought I'd be able to break that habit. I enjoy listening to NPR on the morning and evening commutes.

Having a 9-5 job makes you feel that much more mature. In a way, I also enjoy paying bills. I certainly don't like money being taken out of my paychecks for taxes or out of my checking account for bills, but there's a sense of fulfillment when you write that check. It's verification that you're being responsible for yourself, and that's rewarding. I'm not so scared anymore of being totally on my own once the safety net of college is lifted.

And there's a difference when you're not balancing courses with work. Part of the stresses of working on campus are having to do just that, so you can excel at a job you love while also getting the good grades necessary. It can be very taxing as many of you and I can attest. But at a job, there are no real major distractions other than life's daily stresses. You can focus completely on work and get an incredible amount of stuff done.

That said, I still don't know if I'm gonna be ready to give up the university atmosphere after May 2009. I'm still considering graduate school or even continuing my undergraduate experience by picking up a minor or major, but time's running out on making those decisions. I may end up forcing myself into working, because we all know that you have to pay for things, and money doesn't grow on trees.