What it’s like working as a student at Rutgers
Werblin Recreation Center is the best place to work on campus
I didn’t realize how little money my parents were actually making until I had to fill out FAFSA, which made me realize, “Damn, I’m going to need a job.”
I never had a “real” job before my freshmen year at Rutgers. Silly, I know. I was scared for my life when I had received an email asking for an interview. Next thing you know, I started working at Werblin Recreation Center during the second week of school as a front desk assistant and learned there are so many perks working at Rutgers.
Money, obviously
Though I could only earn a certain amount per semester, I was able to use the money for anything, whether that be for tuition, books, or food.
Nothing feels better than knowing that you aren’t completely broke. The majority of my money went to concerts and The George Street Co-op cause who doesn’t love organic cookies? Though I don’t drink, if we ended up in Stuff Yer Face, I’d totally buy you a fishbowl.
My body is in high demand for caffeine so I’d end up Starbucks on George Street was my go to study place too. I’m a gold member now.
I can’t go out to party, I have to work
The only downside was my hours – I had to open Thursdays, AKA party day, and Fridays at 6 AM. Never in my life did I take naps until I started working. I had days where I would pull all-nighters because sleep was less important than getting my Expos paper submitted before my 6 AM call time. I hated hearing my friends complain about not having enough time to study when all they did was spend nights on College Ave.
Though this was a sacrifice, watching the sun rise through our glass windows was always beautiful.
The beautiful front desk view.
You get to know the diverse Rutgers community
Though it may only be a two-second interaction, you meet all kinds of people. You fully understand the diversity at Rutgers. I can now better communicate with people who don’t know English. Many professors and faculty swing by for a lift and it’s fantastic to see all the departments in which they come from.
You’ll learn a ton
With that said, it can be annoying when many things happen at once. You’ll have ten people walking in throwing their ID’s in your face, and someone is calling cause they can’t find the time for Spinning on the website, and someone just passed out in the hallway.
Once you get the rhythm of it all, though, any job becomes easy. Some days you get stuck doing the more bizarre thing, like taking care of one of the professional staff’s puppy while he’s in a meeting. At least I don’t have to serve people food during takeout.
His name is Tucker.
The Mega Fair is the worst day
I made the mistake for picking up the entire shift for the Mega Fair. It’s hell on Earth because there will be over 800 students in the gym by 10:00 a.m., while a ton of companies are trying to set up their tables asking us for favors we aren’t responsible for and no, we do not have our own Wi-Fi.
We are family
Patrick Potter AKA the coolest supervisor and wizard.
Coming to Rutgers was kind of scary. I felt out of place because I didn’t know anyone. I learned how to come out of my awkward shell through my coworkers who are all such genuine people. We all discuss many of our personal lives with such ease. We are all so comfortable being complete dorks around each other too.
We spent mornings blasting Mr. Brightside or watching Spongebob with no shame at all. It takes away some stress from the buses never coming in on time and all the school work and I wouldn’t want it any other way.