Starting this semester, I decided to have two jobs. I work on campus and I work a job back home, which is an hour away. I work on campus 16 hours a week when I am here, and when I go home I work 8.5 hours there. This may not seem like a lot to a normal person, considering that full time is 40 hours, but there are many factors besides working that fall into play in my life.
The drive is a big factor in me working both jobs. Although I only live and work 1 hour away, with the driving and traffic that is 2 hours a weekend and roughly half a tank of gas. This means that I am using a minimum of a tank of gas to get home every month to keep my job.
On the bright side of driving, the time I have in the car lets me get my frustration out. I can just be on my own and focus on the road. I just throw on some music and get everything out.
The hours at my job are not the best but are also not the worst. Where I work back home, we are only open six days a week, Monday to Friday and then Sunday. From Monday to Friday we have one shift which is 4-8 p.m. and on Sunday we have a shift which is from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. I work Friday and Sunday at home as a server in apartments for older people. I only work those two days when I go home and this makes it only 8.5 hours a week. This may not seem like a lot of hard, however, I have learned that older people are not that easy to work with and can be very demanding.
When I work on campus, on the other hand, I work Mondays and Thursdays from 5-10 p.m. There are times where I do not have a meal until later in the night because most of the time I come in right after class or doing homework. On top of that, I work every other weekend from 9 p.m. – 3 a.m, because we close at 2 a.m. and it takes us a bit to close everything up. The time either goes by fast or very slow, it depends on how busy we are and who my co-workers are. My co-workers do influence how the job goes each night.
Finding time for homework has been a little tougher this semester. In my classes, I will have homework due either Friday or Sunday depending on which class it is. I had to drop a shift on campus this semester because I was overwhelmed and only had off Wednesday before I had assignments due. Only one day stressed me out and luckily my managers were understanding and let me drop some hours. With going home, I would have been working 5 days a week when I went home, but now I work only 4 days. I have made more time for homework, but I did have to drop a shift to make this possible.
I have no free weekends when I work. I go home on the weekends that I do not work on campus and when I work on campus, I work a shift until 3 am on Sunday morning. This makes it hard to make plans with friends on the weekend. I either work when they are off or they are free when I am sleeping, either before or after work.
This has caused me to try to find different times to hang out with friends. It has been harder to be social because of schedule conflicts and the amount of work I have to do in my class. I really only see my friends who live in my dorm just because of convenience.
Relationships can be hard, especially new ones. Making time for my boyfriend has not been the easiest thing because of everything going on. We are both full-time students and work opposite schedules. Luckily, he has been very understanding of everything. Trying to balance it all is hard, but if it is worth it, you make time. Which is what he and I have been doing. It has not been the easiest, but being with someone who understands what you are dealing with is the best thing there is.
I think making time for myself has been one of the biggest factors of working two jobs. Yes, I do give myself time, I watch TikToks and catch up on my YouTube. I feel guilty when I give myself time and am not working on homework. I am the biggest and best procrastinator there is. I have learned to write papers in only a few hours and have gotten passing grades. (Thank you journalism for teaching me this.) I do need to learn better ways to give myself free time. Instead of napping or watching videos, I can do something beneficial and helpful to my life. I need to de-stress but in a healthy way.
Although working two jobs has added stress to my life, it has also opened my eyes more. I am lucky that I am doing all this because it is teaching me to manage, or try to, my time better and more useful. I also get to see my family when I go home to work. This makes me feel less disconnected from everything going on.
All of these factors have made it difficult, but in the end, having these jobs is necessary to me being a student.