For the past two years, I have been working during college to earn so extra cash for laundry and date nights. I am privledged in the sense that I don’t have to work more than 4 hours a week to pay for these small expenses. I am privledged to have enough financial aid and a stable family that I can handle living.

On one of my first days back at work, I was catching up with one of my co-workers. Before I left for summer, I remember her enthusiastically announcing to the shift that she had just moved out of her parents’ house and living with her girlfriend. She was given a full time job at work. She spoke about it as if it was an upgrade in life.

I thought it would be impressive if I asked her about her move out, showing that even though I left for the summer, I still am a co-worker like everyone else who works 10 times more than I do.

When I asked her how living on her own was going, she responded in a monotone voice that she had been working 60 hour weeks recently. She had to pay for the bills, utilities, and renovations of her new home. She also had to pay for her car payments and her girlfriend’s car payments. She recently came back from being sick. After one of the many 60 hour weeks, she was diagnosed with bronchitis and had to take a week off from work. Now she is making up that week with another round of 60 hours. But she said she was happy; working three jobs never gets boring because you are always doing different things throughout the week.

“Oh” I said, “That sounds great. At least you are getting alot of experience.”

“Yeah,” she said, “but I’m just always tired. But hey, someone has to pay the bills.”

“Does your girlfriend work too?” I asked trying to steer this conversation away but not knowing what else to say in the conversation topic of ‘you work too much because you need to but i work just to have date nights off campus,’

“Yeah,” she said, ” she works too. But she has been off work because she just been sick a lot lately.”

“Yeah, its hard to be sick.” I said. ‘It’s hard to be sick and poor and working’ I said to myself.