So, you’ve just settled in to your campus, unpacked your essentials and have caught up with the necessary friends and college hook-ups and you’re all getting ready to go out for an evening of debauchery, you look into your wallet to grab some cash and – surprise – you’re broke.

If you’re tired of asking Mamadukes and Pops for some cash (or if they just plain won’t give ya any), a part-time job is necessary. Some college jobs can be a total buzzkill (hello scrubbing dishes at the dining commons), but others turn out not too shabby. Here’s a few I suggest:

1. Library. Every campus has one and there are TONS of jobs that need filling. It’s convenient, generally in the heart of the campus, AND it beats working for the dining halls. I spent my four years of college working for the Special Collections and Archives Department where I made around $10/hr, which was more than any other on-campus position around. I could work in between classes and I wound up making one of the best friends I have at that job, not to mention some excellent recommendations when real-life job time comes around. Try it, peeps. Head to the Circulation Department of your Library (or the college job website – there is one, if you didn’t know!) and see what departments are hiring.

2. Restaurants/Bars in town. Every campus has a “downtown” or “uptown” – the happening place on a Friday or Saturday night. If you can’t afford to spend money on drinks, get a job where your friends go; you can make loot and enjoy their company. It’s the best of both worlds. Just pop in to your favorite night hot spots and pick up some applications!

3. College Admin Office. Whether it’s the Administrative Office, the Bursar Office or another department in the Academic and Billing section of your campus, you can find a job that is accommodating to your schedule and pays decently. A friend of mine worked at one of the offices in the billing building and for graduation her boss got her a white gold necklace. Score! Read More »

My favourite t-shirt cost a mere £3. I bought it from Primark, a value UK clothing chain who sell every garment imaginable, from fuzzy pajama bottoms to cut price evening dresses. Unsurprisingly, they have been touted as one of the most popular and cheapest fashion stores..

And guess what, they have also been voted as most unethical.

Flicking through the TV guide, I spotted a documentary titled ‘The Devil Wears Primark” showing that very night. I felt it was time to face up to the not-so-pretty side of my bargains. As I fine tuned the aerial and settled down, I was puzzled to discover that in the place of a nitty-gritty documentary was a “in a change to the schedule” apology, followed by a generic film.

It didn’t take much detective work to figure out that a company with such high turnover would have been less than happy too let such a documentary go ahead. However it made me angry to think that the truth was, effectively, being hidden from my eyes. Whatever content was in the showing, Primark obviously did not want us to see. Of course, what chance does a television station have against a multi-million pound company with more lawyers than sense? None at all, so it seems. Read More »

Retail is an interesting business to work in. Though there may be some snotty kids your age trying on the entire store and buying nothing, making you hate your life and your job more than ever, you learn that there are certain things you will always miss about that career path, no matter how hellish it may seem. One of these is the employee discount.

After spending more than a year of my college life in retail, I couldn’t bring myself to purchase clothing that wasn’t on sale. I still can’t. I was used to my standard thirty-plus percent discount. And so, walking back into that same chain which shall remain nameless, I am shocked and appalled to see that the brand’s prices have only inflated, and now there’s a handbag line that costs on average more than a Coach.

Perhaps it’s just me, but chain stores striving to be high-end is a huge pet peeve. Take J. Crew as an example, which has never exactly geared toward the sale shopper, but has always had great basics that last forever. Now this prepster Mecca is home to a pair of sunglasses that sells for $275.00. Do they say anything? Do they have an exclusively J. Crew look? No! They’re AVIATORS that every frat boy on the planet bought for no more than $12 at CVS on their way to the bar last weekend. Read More »

The AP has picked up a news story reporting that authorities seized two display photos from an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Virginia, citing the management on “misdemeanor obscenity” charges.

Looking at the photo on the link as a twentysomething chick, I don’t see much that’s obscene about it, but it does piss me off for other reasons.

Abercrombie & Fitch has been pulling the same shit for years; their entire retail strategy consists of selling clothes through barely-clad models. Excuse me, but if I’m buying a piece of clothing, I don’t want somebody to be taking it off in the ad unless it’s a Victoria’s Secret bra.

Abercrombie, are you selling me a naked man? No? Then change your freaking advertisements. New York & Company was able to run a highly successful ad campaign last year featuring Patrick Dempsey, a known hot man, but there was one key difference: he was actually wearing clothes. Read More »

A story by the girls over at Jezebel about swanky boutique owner and chauvinist pig Luciano Manganella recently observed that working in retail is similar to working in fashion because it subjects women to the worst of the sexual harassment world.

Call me crazy, but I always thought that retail sucked no matter how you strung it together.

It’s an unforgiving industry with crappy pay, pretty much no benefits, and a requirement to stand up for eight hours every day. I mean, that’s enough to make anyone hate shopping.

Let’s not assume, though, that sexual harassment is ubiquitous with working retail. Women can be harassed in in all professions, and looking cute behind the counter of a Juicy Couture boutique isn’t any more likely to get you groped than serving cheesecake at a restaurant or doodling all over your TPS report.

Why then, does it seem to be accepted in the fashion world? Harassment is just part of the deal, the industry seems to be saying with it’s compliance. Just one of the hazards of working retail in a high-end store.

I don’t claim to know why Luciano thinks he can get away with behavior that makes him look about as appealing as a cockroach, but if his stunts are exemplary of an average man in his profession, then maybe the problem isn’t about the connection between sexual harassment and retail jobs, but why so many douchebag guys are working in the industry in the first place.

I am a receptionist. I also like to add “administrative assistant” in there from time to time; but, let’s face it, I graduated college and now I answer phones. I mean I even wear a headset.

It’s slightly embarrassing; yet much more comfortable than the back of my earring jamming into my ear.

It isn’t like this is my first menial job; I’ve been working them since I was thirteen. Retail, Food Service, Nanny, Camp Counselor; I have done it all. And after I graduated college, I expected to go through a bout of menial jobs and laborious internships to get there (there being a real job with salary and benefits). I just never expected it to go on for this long.

I mean, I’m a writer, so I kind of expected this type of unemployment. But with a totally kick-ass resume and some awesome experience to back it up, a girl still can’t get a job. So I landed this, a long term temp reception gig at a pretty chill event production company.

And I actually really like it.

I know I won’t be a receptionist forever. I mean it’s what I do for now, not what I am. But so many times, talking to girls I graduated with or when meeting new people they always ask, “So… What do you do?” It took me a long time to be able to confidently say “I’m a writer and a receptionist.”

Sure, it isn’t glamorous and it sure as hell doesn’t have benefits, but I’ve learned a few things along the way. Read More »

Shopping for me is a pain at best, and traumatizing at worst. Unflattering lighting, three-way mirrors, and those damn stick-figure mannequins that seems to be modeled after the Olsens. It’s one thing to be jealous of impossibly thin celebrities—it’s quite another to envy the figure of a plastic, headless doll.

Well, it seems that I’m not the only one who feels this way, at least about the mannequins. The entire country of Spain agrees. The Health Ministry of Spain and major retailers like Zara and Mango have come to the agreement that the skeletal mannequins must be banned. Read More »