College Students and Businesses
– They think you are stupid. They think that your parents have paid for everything you have wanted to date and that as a result you do not understand the value of a dollar. They think that you finally feel freedom from your parents’ oppression and therefore will do whatever you want – while you still have your parents’ credit cardsâÂ?¦ there is just no accounting for how much profit businesses can make off of you.
– College students have yet to establish themselves as someone with skill. You are young and do not have work experience. You have yet to complete college and therefore do not have any deep knowledge into a specific field, i.e businesses don’t have to pay you as much.
– Businesses know that there are lots of college students out there that will do work for a quick buck. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; businesses get someone to do the work that they need getting done, while college students can make some additional income and get some work experience.
– Most importantly, you guys protest. Most other people either do not have the ability to because they are too young or too old. Or they just don’t care enough to start a protest. You have political power as a college student. As a result of your fantastic amount of energy and of your location (college), you can gather up a bunch of other college students and protest anything you feel is wrong in order to support your cause. This scares businesses – they try and anticipate how you will react before making decisions.
You might not like everything I am saying, but those are the facts. The thing is, you can change whatever you feel is wrong. You have the power to take a scissor to your copy of your father’s credit card and get a job. You won’t be able to buy as much, but you will finally understand how hard it is to make each buck and will stop being stupid about spending it. While you’re at it, you can get some work experience and make sure to start off your career on the right foot when you get out of college. Don’t take getting a job as an excuse to drop out of college though.
You still have to graduate. You still have to get your degree. You still have to learn and grow from your college experience. Sure you might be able to support yourself just fine getting a $14,000 a year job without college. But think of the benefits you would be missing out on – think of your opportunity cost (you Econ majors understand).
– You won’t be able to take classes anymore or continue getting an education. If you have any interests, you can explore them and enjoy learning about them by staying in school.
– College is the most social environment you will ever be in. You make friends in college that will last you the rest of your life. You never know, you might miss out on finding your soul mate by dropping out of school.
– Don’t forget what happens after you graduate. Businesses hire people with degrees and fire the one’s they find out don’t have degrees. Your pathetic $14,000/year job jumps to $40,000/year and that is just to start. If you feel like lying about it, then consider this. The CEO of Radio Shack was forced to resign after it was found out that he didn’t have a college degree even though profits were up. But no, drop out, forget about getting the dream car you have been wishing for your entire life – you can take public transportation if you would like. That goes for all other luxuries as well. Do you really want to give them up?
– And think of all the hot hook ups you would be missing out on without getting into college parties. God knows people have their fantasies; He created college so you would have the opportunity to fulfill them.
There is another great evil that comes out of businesses targeting college students. Like I said before, they think you are stupid. Businesses, for the most part, show great disrespect to their college student employees. They take them for granted and sometimes commit illegal acts knowing full well that college students, being inexperienced as they are, will not know how to react. If you find that a business may possibly be doing this to you, do not hesitate to call the labor department @ (518) 457-2238 and tell them of your problem.
Let me tell you of an experience I have had working for a business as a college student:
I was hired at the age of 17 to work for a dining hall on campus that employs a great deal of college students. I was patient for the first couple of weeks, but then I decided to ask about the arrangements for how and when I was to get paid. I was told that paychecks are usually picked up on Thursdays, but that the papers I filled out prior to employment have yet to have been looked over and that I could not get paid until that was done. I found that to be unprofessional, but that I wouldn’t give my boss a hard time about it because no one wants to get on their boss’ bad side. So I waited a bit longer.
Another couple of weeks passed by. My boss tells me that because I am 17, I need to furnish working papers in order to continue working or take a sabatical of a week so that I would turn 18. I decided that it would be easier to take the week off. As long as I was talking to my boss, I decide to ask about payment arrangements again since I still have yet to get paid. Then the first big lie came: “Well, I am not sure if I can pay you because you are not 18 yet.” Thursday of the first week I am 18, I try and get a pay check, guess what happenned? … Surprize, surprize, no pay check. It only got worse from there.
Here is how I got the money I deserved: “Hey boss, I am not taking this shit anymore! I want my money and I want it now. I want you to take me to a computer right now and show me step by step exactly what is being done for me to get my money. If you fail to comply, I will be forced to call the labor department.” A week later I get a $10 pay check, instead of a $180 pay check. I take out my cell phone to call the labor department and as I do so I am promised that I would get the money in cash the next day, which is exactly what happened.
What I did wrong: I didn’t call the labor department immediately. Don’t bother dealing with these people. I spent way too much time trying to get the money I already worked for. I am also not the first student that this dining hall has tried to screw over. In fact, I know people that just didn’t care too work hard enough to get the money they deserved. In that way the dining hall won. However, they knew that if I really called the labor department, then they could get shut down with the amount of people testifying against them. When you feel like your boss is screwing you over, call the labor department!
