Whether you're working to save up for your first car, trying to pay some bills, or just working to get your parents off of your back, there is a high chance that you're also a full-time student. Working while going to school is very possible and is done by millions of young adults everywhere, but it can also be physically and mentally draining. It all seems easy: Go to class in the morning and work eight-hour shifts later in the day. There's enough time in the day to do it both, right? Well, not exactly.
Here are four things that I've learned from working a full-time job and being a full-time student.
1. Your boss doesn't care that you're a student.
Did you remind your boss 2,500 times not to schedule Monday and Wednesday mornings but they did anyway and won't take you off? Did your manager schedule you eight days in a role with no day off? Probably, because your manager doesn't care that you have an 8 a.m. class. You're still scheduled for closing and expected to show up on time and leave when all of your work is done. You were hired to perform a task and get paid for it. Your boss doesn't care what you have going on outside of work.
2. Say goodbye to your social life.
Your life starts to become a revolving door of routine from going to work, going to class, then going to bed. Even the thought of seeing your friends seems more of a past-life experience more than anything else. The closest thing you have to a social life now is the light conversation you have with customers that come in and out of your work place. Even with a day off, you probably still have class or so much catching up to do in your own personal life that you don't have the time to see your friends. Or if you're like me, the only thing I do on my day off is sleep.
3. Work time = study time.
Are there flashcards in your server's apron? Do you use your coworkers as pupils to unleash all the information you have bottled up in you from the last three chapters you learned? Most likely, yes, because the breakroom becomes your study room for those 30 minutes and everyone knows that you are not to be bothered at that time. A slow day feels like a dream come true for you so that you can sneak away and reread your notes from class. Any spare minute you have is time for you to have your nose in a book.
4. You'll want to give up.
It's true. You're going to want to give up - on school, work, or both. There are various points when the semester and workload will test your limits and you'll really find out how much you can actually handle before you feel like you're suffering mentally and physically. Missing one class for work can get you behind in school, or missing work to get ahead can get you in trouble at work. Going to work and school feels like two necessary evils that should not intermingle, but unfortunately, this is a part of life, and you just have to do what you have to do.
