Post College-getting a menial PT sales/retail job to meet people

[Hollywade]

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My pride is really getting in the way and I keep telling myself that making slightly over minimum wage and working retail after university is pretty embarrassing.

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I am more embarrassed by the fact that I am unemployed than I ever would be for working at J. Crew.

For what it's worth, I believe that thinking you are too good for something is rarely the way to go. Do what makes you happy and don't worry about how other people view you because of it.

[ClassicBob]

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at least starbucks gives good benefits for PT people.

as BaristaBob all about it.

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OH HAY

[NT!]

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I can't totally agree on the construction part only because I know construction jobs have a lot of uneducated dimwitted idiots who can't perform any job that requires thinking.

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yes because you can do hard manual labor all day just with the force of your brain. douche. aside from that, there are a lot of trade skills in the construction industry that take time and aptitude to acquire. it does in fact require thinking as well as being physically challenging. unlike your post.

[surfinillini]

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I can't totally agree on the construction part only because I know construction jobs have a lot of uneducated dimwitted idiots who can't perform any job that requires thinking.

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yes because you can do hard manual labor all day just with the force of your brain. douche. aside from that, there are a lot of trade skills in the construction industry that take time and aptitude to acquire. it does in fact require thinking as well as being physically challenging. unlike your post.

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I just threw it out there b/c I've been largely an academic my life and I'm intrigued with construction, carpentry, metallurgy and all that stuff.

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surf,

i did a lot of different, physically taxing jobs during and directly after my undergrad years... i think it's a good experience and i find it very edifying in a way that white-collar work is not. i have built stone walls, chimneys etc that will probably still be standing two hundred years after i'm dead. that's pretty neat. i can drive around my old town and see things that i made with my own hands, that people i have never met are now using and enjoying.

i think people who look down on laborers or skilled tradesmen really have no idea what goes into good craftsmanship and would certainly not last a day on most work sites.

[thephenom]

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I can't totally agree on the construction part only because I know construction jobs have a lot of uneducated dimwitted idiots who can't perform any job that requires thinking.

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yes because you can do hard manual labor all day just with the force of your brain. douche. aside from that, there are a lot of trade skills in the construction industry that take time and aptitude to acquire. it does in fact require thinking as well as being physically challenging. unlike your post.

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Listen man, I'm not saying all construction workers fit that description I made. Not all of them. Quite a few do. I know construction is mostly men, which is not who the OP had in mind for meeting. I've met enough guys who work in construction to know that my comment was not ignorant.

[surfinillini]

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surf,

i did a lot of different, physically taxing jobs during and directly after my undergrad years... i think it's a good experience and i find it very edifying in a way that white-collar work is not. i have built stone walls, chimneys etc that will probably still be standing two hundred years after i'm dead. that's pretty neat. i can drive around my old town and see things that i made with my own hands, that people i have never met are now using and enjoying.

i think people who look down on laborers or skilled tradesmen really have no idea what goes into good craftsmanship and would certainly not last a day on most work sites.

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thats pretty cool, I've always tried to teach myself some craftsman skills but I think I need to take intensive instruction or something. That part of my brain doesn't work well without being taught. I have some family in the midwest who do construction and own a couple hardware stores so I know i could do that but its definitely not a trade you can teach yourself.

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thephenom,

no, it was pretty ignorant. even construction workers who are not academic / white collar types still have trade skills that you most certainly do not. they are not 'too dumb to do a job that requires any thinking,' they just aren't pushing pencils all day. the fact that you are ignorant about what their job consists of is precisely why your comment is retarded and condescending.

[NT!]

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thats pretty cool, I've always tried to teach myself some craftsman skills but I think I need to take intensive instruction or something. That part of my brain doesn't work well without being taught.

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i don't know what your life / work situation is, but if you meet some guys who are in this type of industry it's not hard to find part time, cash work. my brain is the same way, i really suck at teaching myself skilled tasks and i am horribly impatient, so on-the-job training is really the only way i would ever have learned stuff like that.

as far as part-time, non-specialized work goes it's hard to do better than under the table construction or contracting work.

[RiverFenix]

Thanks for all the responses so far, I appreciate them.

Is barista really better than J. Crew? I'm not totally convinced that it would be. Seems like you'd have less chance to interact with customers from behind a counter and the coworkers are probably younger. J. Crew is 18+ and everyone in there today seemed 20-25 and pretty sociable (plus several cute employees).

I'm only looking to do this job for 4-10 weeks max and no more than 12hours/week. Like I said since I don't like the winter sports available I'm trying to figure out what to do until spring soccer.

Taking a class seems like another great idea, I'll have to start checking out local options.

For people talking about clubs I didn't really think it was applicable to me but maybe I should give it more consideration. I'm not big enough to bounce and I'm guessing bartending jobs are pretty sought after - do I have other options? Is there anything to do with them that don't eat up my Thurs-Sat nights but would still be enjoyable?

My weekends are generally fine. I have a lot of friends from high school and university that live close so I always have options of things to do on the weekends.

Thanks for everything so far, I'm going to go scout out some local restaurant/bars tomorrow and see if I can find anything that sounds good.