Flying Trapeze

So this morning while waiting for the train, there was this group of call center agents who stood behind me in the queue. I overheard them talking about a teammate who was apparently a working student. They were going on and on about the person bringing their team stats down due to being only able to work part-time, and that they should ditch the person from the team. Talk like that was not uncommon, I guess, but they could probably have gone away with the personal attacks and blatant cursing.

Personally, I have nothing bad to say about working students. I could only imagine how crappy it is to have to commit to two things at a time, neither of which they can afford to lose. I am lucky to have never gone through that experience, but I have friends who have.

My thesis partner, for instance, was a working student. He worked part-time during our junior year, then took on a full-time eight-to-five job during our senior year. The catch for our senior year was that we had classes at around six to nine in the evening, on top of a ton of projects and thesis work. It was the life.

This was probably why I am irked by people who diss working students. To some degree, I could relate to how difficult it is to balance both worlds. I've seen how hard it is to stay awake during classes when you've been working the entire morning. I've also seen how difficult it is to deal with all-nighters, especially when you have multiple projects due in a few days' time.

Despite all that, my friend graduated on time, which is an incredible feat in itself. I don't think I have the fortitude for that kind of stunt and for that he has my respect.

So to the folks who were blatantly bashing their team mate, seriously guys, fuck you. You cannot judge the guy without walking in his shoes, and I'd bet very few people could or even have the will to try.