The Working Stiffs

I spread myself too thin.

Luckily, I’ve got this whole multi-tasking thing down to an art. This morning at my day job, aside from actual job duties, I managed to: write the conclusion to my Literary Theory essay-edit it-submit it, read the 10 crucial pages I needed most and made notes for our final paper, order ANOTHER book on Amazon for my Juvenile Literature class, read the Derrida essays for tonight’s class, and write this blog.

And while I’m donning an apron 3-4 times a week at my serving job it’s usually packed with at least one book and one small notebook. But yesterday, while huddled under the heat lamp before we opened reading a few chapters I had a thought, or more a touch of self-examination.

I’m killing myself- working 7 days a week- so why?

The utter truth, I could axe one of my jobs and stay afloat easily. Bills paid, fun times had, even my book buying habits satisfied. So what is it that keeps me locked into all these jobs and makes me… well, not the most delightful person to be around. I questioned, am I maintaining this multiple job lifestyle out of sheer fear? Have I had more than one job for so long, that I just can’t fathom my life without a stacked schedule? And so I took it back, way back - all the way to age 15…

First job: grocery store

I was saving for a cell phone, I’ll never forget it. The brick of a phone my dad presented me with at age 14 wasn’t cutting it- even then. I would print blank receipts at work and calculate the amount of hours for that week multiplied by my hourly wage ($5.50 yikes), and then subtract the taxes- which at that moment I knew precisely how to compute…just so I could know exactly what my paycheck would bring, and coincidently how far it would carry me.

My bedroom dresser was flooded with these receipts where I not only gauged paycheck income, but the money my parents gave me each week. All across these tiny slips of crumbled up white paper I had little – marks to show where I was spending my money; balancing the check book at an early age.

At 16, I was now saving for gas and my two-job way of life began. I was working at my neighborhood pool by day, serving tables by night. And the pure amount of money I made serving tables was riveting. So much in fact, at the age of 23 armed with a college degree, I’m still hanging on in the service industry...for dear life.

So now what’s my excuse? I started thinking if at 15 I was saving for a phone, at 16-gas money, at 17- money for college, at 18-rent, at 19-a car, at 20 & 21-the bar tab, and at 22-another car…

What am I saving for at age 23? Or how about you, what are you saving for at this very moment? It is no secret we’ve all got bills, and you work ultimately so you can pay them and live comfortably, but what else? Behind every single one of us is a driving force that keeps us going. For some it may be one particular person, or a dream; some of us are saving for a vacation or a goal- and some may just be saving for a rainy day.

But the thought was so prevalent in my mind, that I thought I’d ask around. So I did, I posed the question:

Everyone works- bills and what not, but what is the one thing you’re saving for right now?

And this is what I got:

My girlfriends… have a few reoccurring themes:

“A whole new summer wardrobe, including a Victoria Secret bathing suit”

“A wedding, and also so I can quit bartending and get pregnant!”

“For our first home together, and for our anniversary next year”

“A house, and a baby:) I’m such an old lady!”

“The first year anniversary of our wedding is coming up; I’m saving for the present”

“A big screen TV”

“India” (I LOVE THIS ONE- I’m so jealous)

“I’m saving money for freedom, independence, and sanity.”

“Saving for our wedding stuff and also my future children”

“Retirement (long term savings) & Vacation (short term savings)

And my siblings… we are so freaking different:

“Honestly at the moment: Thirsty Thursday (maybe we’re not that different) at this week’s tourists game, flowers for the girlfriend’s final game, beach trip, and Mother’s Day”

“My wedding and emergency if my princess (Katie, the cat) needs surgery because she’s so sick”

“Senior week and a tattoo” Mom and Dad will LOVE that

A few others…

"I’d like to put a down payment on a house eventually but I’d just like to get up a little bit, so if something does come up I can take care of it”

“Currently I’m saving for renovations on my house. Starting some demolition tomorrow actually”

“My divorce”

“I’m trying to hire Dr. Kevorkian” Yeah, I live with this guy…

“Preparing to potentially start a business”

“I’m saving to pay off my tuition loans”

“My own house and a new car”

“An engagement ring” (2 guys said this...I’m utterly elated!)

As for me, I’m saving for everything under the sun, but at the moment… A MacBook! I’m ready to say goodbye to the PC.

So in synopsis the driving force for most of us varies. That is, of course, unless you’re one of my girlfriends and your biological clock is ticking away. Which is perfect, I’ll live vicariously through you guys- deal?

Work is the given in life, you work until it pays off- but typically the payoff is ever so sweet. So when I start to get bummed about the work load I’ve taken on I’ll keep in mind all the working stiffs I’ve come to call my friends, all slaving away in their various fields for the greater good. In the words of one wise guy friend of mine:
“I work all week for the weekend, and all year for the vacation.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.