There’s no speculation as to whether or not the “broke college student” trope is true. We all know that opulence isn’t supposed to be part of the “best four years” of our lives, so it’s not uncommon to pick up odd jobs for quick cash. However, not every financial venture ends up being truly worth it.
This winter break, I began a job as a personal shopper for an online grocery company. My job was to fulfill online grocery orders, which would then be placed on trucks and delivered to customers’ homes. My aunt put in a good word for me, and the work sounded doable, especially for an hourly wage of almost ten dollars.
I was scheduled to work three days a week from 6 p.m. to midnight and two days from 6 p.m. until 1 a.m., which meant that I would have to kiss all hopes of having a social life goodbye. There would be no nights out with my friends, as the job occupied my evenings, and post-work exhaustion left me close to unconscious for the entirety of most mornings. Yet, the thought of coming back to school with cash to spend outweighed the prospects of a poor sleep schedule.
The job required constant movement, and once you filled one customer’s order, it was time to fill the next. A torturous cycle that went on for hours, it was like being locked in a grocery store without being able to purchase or eat any of the food that you saw. The orders would range from fewer than 20 items to over 150 items, and contained everything from multiple cases of firewood to unnecessarily large crates of oranges — even the occasional pregnancy test.
Still, what really made this job a hassle were the types of orders that I was expected to fill. Not everyone is actively capable of getting to the supermarket and buying their groceries, but it was clear that some people only used this service as an excuse to not buy certain items themselves — the heaviest items at that. I spent the winter filling orders that called for dozens of cases of water and soda, which I had to lift and put into individual boxes for delivery. I once had an order comprised of 30 cases of 12-pack sodas that I was expected to fill with no assistance. As a person who usually finds lifting heavy items to be a small task, I’ll be the first to say that I never want to lift 30 individual cases of soda ever again. I legitimately wanted to cry by the end of it, and I wouldn’t wish this kind of torture on even my gravest foe.
Although I did struggle through long nights and heavy lifting, I realized how much you could learn about a person based on their groceries. It was clear to me that someone planned on having a big party soon when they bought four packs of red Solo cups and 12 individual bottles of Axe body spray. I knew if they were a pet owner from the 30 cans of Friskies Paté cat food they ordered, or if they had young children when they bought cases of diapers and baby food. Whether they ate healthy meals or Hungry Man, I was able to decipher it all.
In retrospect, despite the fact that the work was brutal, I know that this summer when I return home I plan on working there again. When you’re desperate for money, you’re willing to do just about anything to get it. My time there was difficult, but I remember how excited I got when Friday came and I was able to cash my check and have money that I felt like I genuinely earned.