“Be a desk worker, it’s great!”
Yeah, it is great. It’s awesome working in your hall so you know all the faces. It’s great seeing all your friends from different floors and having them keep you company. It’s sweet that you can do homework at the desk if it’s slow. It’s great that it’s laid back.
But here’s what they don’t tell you:
It’s Sunday afternoon and your phone will ring, it’s the RA duty phone and some desperate RA coerces you into taking a 4am-8am shift the next day. You reluctantly take it in order to get them off your back. Your shift starts, you only had two hours of sleep because your dorms AC is broken. You sleep through your whole shift while the occasional resident makes fun of you.
You stay up until 4am each weekend night, and even the weekdays! Because for some god forsaken reason the three people who walk in need to be under the watchful eye of a half asleep desk worker.
Most of you will say, “Well, a job’s a job.” or “You signed up for this.” Yeah, both are true but I am also a full time student who NEEDS sleep. I mean it, I need sleep or else I am the worst person to be around but this is a job that doesn’t care about the well-being of their workers. We’re expected to take naps? HA. Like I can fit that into my schedule. Then if we work until 4am or work from 4a-8a, we’re expected to be smiling and happy. There’s nothing happy about being sleep deprived. One of my first weekends at school I worked from 2-9, I didn’t get any sleep before and none after. In fact I was awake for 42 hours straight thanks to coffee and about 5 “second winds”.
Sleep deprivation from being a desk worker is serious. Students pull all-nighters to work then somehow find themselves in their first class taking an exam they’ll probably fall asleep on. In the past few weeks, I have had a sinus infection, but guess who still worked? This girl. It took three weeks to get rid of sinus infection that the doctor said would take 3 days. 3 days, 3 weeks. Awesome.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some night owls who make the night shifts look like a piece of cake and I commend them on their dedication. I’m a full time student, playing sports, have friends and dealing with work. Sleep is hard to come by so when I have to wake up at 3:45 because someone decided to quit, I get snappy.
Oh my god, do not even get me started on all the people that have quit. I want to quit, I want to more than anything but I can’t. This job is income and I’m suffering through. People who worked four hours a week left because they didn’t get the hours they wanted or because they always had other things to do. LOL excuse me. I watch my friends leave to go out an have a good time while I’m wearing pjs behind the desk do not get me started on having other things to do.
This is pretty much just me complaining about my job but it has been a blessing because I don’t have to walk across campus at 2am and go to work but it sucks. You get to see your friends and grow closer with RA’s in your dorm but sleep is so much better - and so is not getting sick.
Be a desk worker if you’re strong, because I am not.