Should I be grateful I have a job at all? Even if it’s retail? /u/MarathonMarathon CSCQ protests reddit

20M, junior at T50 state uni, E Asian born in the USA. My winter break is about 1 month in length, mid-December to mid-January, and I’ve been spending it applying to internships, tinkering with projects, prepping for a cert, pre-studying for my spring classes + a program, and… working behind the counter at a shop run by an in-law of a friend of a coach.

It’s not my first paid job. Nor is it a new job; I started working it last summer. During school, I’ve worked it part time, but since I’m on break I’m showing up full-time. It was pretty hard to land ngl and I think I sort of lucked out. I spent the summer beforehand looking for chill temp work, more for the money than actual experience, and I kid you not, the search ended up becoming this wild goose chase that lasted from late April during sophomore spring all the way to early August. Was religiously browsing Indeed and LinkedIn, showing up at local businesses, contacting a bunch of HS friends for referrals, even doing a few phone and in-person interviews. The way I eventually got this one was through a referral and the owner pretty much just hired me on the spot.

In terms of how I feel? I mean, it pays the bills, and the pay’s pretty handsome for what I’m doing, like 16-ish. (My previous job was a bit more involved and paid 15.) And yet, it’s pretty boring. Just sit there all day entering in item after item, taking call after call, and hoping the others (most of whom are decades older than me or even my parents) don’t lecture me for screwing up. Among my many duties, I suppose I do some “computer-related” data entry stuff on the job, but I doubt I’m really kidding anybody. It’s a retail job. And yes, I do try to fluff it up on my resume when applying to internships (as we all sort of do), but again, who am I kidding? It’s a retail job! R-E-T-A-I-L. And no amount of sugarcoating is going to change the fact that I’m a CS junior, and I’m working a job that a high-schooler, an old 1st gen immigrant who can barely speak English (which honestly describes much of my colleagues including the owner himself), my mom who hasn’t ever received a paycheck in 20 years, or maybe even a highly trained animal could do… instead of some swanky internship at some swanky company, like the ones I keep seeing my HS classmates land whenever I browse LinkedIn (and not even just those who do CS!).

I’ve contemplated being bold and just dipping, having quit for a while prior to “prep for finals”. The owner was honestly a bit taken aback, but he seemed to understand the situation, and welcomed me back in with open arms. I honestly get mixed messages a lot, like one second it’s “omg why don’t you understand how to apply this basic knowledge???” and another it’s “you’re a really knowledgeable worker and I admire that”. One second it’s “you’re too lazy and I didn’t hire you to doze off”, another it’s “you’re really good on the phone and counter”. One second it’s “your screw-up here made me almost want to fire you!” and the next it’s “wow, you should literally become the owner once it’s my time to go!” I wonder if that’s a sign of workplace toxicity or whatever, but maybe the job’s legit the chillest job ever and all this is a “me” problem, and again, I’m a broke college student strapped for cash (again, we all are).

So how should I feel about all this? Should I just be grateful to even have a job in the first place, and think of all the less fortunate folks who’d die for my current job? Or should I gtfo asap? Remember, this started out a plan where I’d work hard through just the whole summer of 4 or so months to not be broke, then dip and return to my regularly scheduled program in September. But then I guess I just let the job keep going through class time (and let me tell you, even after drastically cutting down my hours, it definitely took away time I could spend on classwork, review, projects, or doing literally anything else with e.g. friends.

20M, junior at T50 state uni, E Asian born in the USA. My winter break is about 1 month in length, mid-December to mid-January, and I’ve been spending it applying to internships, tinkering with projects, prepping for a cert, pre-studying for my spring classes + a program, and… working behind the counter at a shop run by an in-law of a friend of a coach.

It’s not my first paid job. Nor is it a new job; I started working it last summer. During school, I’ve worked it part time, but since I’m on break I’m showing up full-time. It was pretty hard to land ngl and I think I sort of lucked out. I spent the summer beforehand looking for chill temp work, more for the money than actual experience, and I kid you not, the search ended up becoming this wild goose chase that lasted from late April during sophomore spring all the way to early August. Was religiously browsing Indeed and LinkedIn, showing up at local businesses, contacting a bunch of HS friends for referrals, even doing a few phone and in-person interviews. The way I eventually got this one was through a referral and the owner pretty much just hired me on the spot.

In terms of how I feel? I mean, it pays the bills, and the pay’s pretty handsome for what I’m doing, like 16-ish. (My previous job was a bit more involved and paid 15.) And yet, it’s pretty boring. Just sit there all day entering in item after item, taking call after call, and hoping the others (most of whom are decades older than me or even my parents) don’t lecture me for screwing up. Among my many duties, I suppose I do some “computer-related” data entry stuff on the job, but I doubt I’m really kidding anybody. It’s a retail job. And yes, I do try to fluff it up on my resume when applying to internships (as we all sort of do), but again, who am I kidding? It’s a retail job! R-E-T-A-I-L. And no amount of sugarcoating is going to change the fact that I’m a CS junior, and I’m working a job that a high-schooler, an old 1st gen immigrant who can barely speak English (which honestly describes much of my colleagues including the owner himself), my mom who hasn’t ever received a paycheck in 20 years, or maybe even a highly trained animal could do… instead of some swanky internship at some swanky company, like the ones I keep seeing my HS classmates land whenever I browse LinkedIn (and not even just those who do CS!).

I’ve contemplated being bold and just dipping, having quit for a while prior to “prep for finals”. The owner was honestly a bit taken aback, but he seemed to understand the situation, and welcomed me back in with open arms. I honestly get mixed messages a lot, like one second it’s “omg why don’t you understand how to apply this basic knowledge???” and another it’s “you’re a really knowledgeable worker and I admire that”. One second it’s “you’re too lazy and I didn’t hire you to doze off”, another it’s “you’re really good on the phone and counter”. One second it’s “your screw-up here made me almost want to fire you!” and the next it’s “wow, you should literally become the owner once it’s my time to go!” I wonder if that’s a sign of workplace toxicity or whatever, but maybe the job’s legit the chillest job ever and all this is a “me” problem, and again, I’m a broke college student strapped for cash (again, we all are).

So how should I feel about all this? Should I just be grateful to even have a job in the first place, and think of all the less fortunate folks who’d die for my current job? Or should I gtfo asap? Remember, this started out a plan where I’d work hard through just the whole summer of 4 or so months to not be broke, then dip and return to my regularly scheduled program in September. But then I guess I just let the job keep going through class time (and let me tell you, even after drastically cutting down my hours, it definitely took away time I could spend on classwork, review, projects, or doing literally anything else with e.g. friends.