Students break out of job norms

While in Chicago, graduate student Courtney Valerious  was reading posts for jobs in Bloomington on craigslist and came across one that sounded interesting: biking passengers around the city.

Valerious said she called the man who owns both the business and the bikes.
“I left a message being like, ‘I’m your woman, seriously!’” she said.

But Valerious is just one of the students at IU with a somewhat crazy job.

Valerious works through an independent contract so the bikers pay a flat rate for the bike and keep the remaining profits, Valerious said.

Valerious typically takes Saturday night shifts from 12 to 4 a.m. As a student and assistant coach for the IU women’s rowing team, the late shifts are the only times she said she can fit a job in.

“Bar shifts range from Wednesday through Sunday nights,” she said. “I usually take turns swapping back and forth Saturday night with the other guys.”

Valerious said she is the only girl in the business and is often mistaken for a guy. However, the owner told her there was a benefit.

“Chris told me right off the bat that for some reason women always make more,” she said. “People see me sweating, especially guys, and they offer to get out and push. They see you working hard like that and people really appreciate it.”

The job is a challenge, Valerious said. The bike is built for comfort, not speed, she said, and weighs a couple hundred pounds just by itself.

“It looks like a circus on wheels,” she said.

But when Valerious has a good night, she said it’s exciting.

“In one night I was given a can of Spam, a bag of M&M’s and a teddy bear as tips,” she said. “I feel like every night something hysterical happens.”

After nights with IU football games, Valerious said she “turns into a shovel,” going back and forth from the tailgating fields to the bars, and people usually end up fighting over her.

“It’s usually pretty heartbreaking because you can only fit two people in the back,” she said. “I’ve had groups offer to hang and take their friends two at a time. But the busy nights are busy until at least 3 or 3:30 a.m. If you can go that long and stay busy, it’s usually a good night.”

But some students work suppling food before or after others start their night.

When an older member of Acacia asked his brothers if anyone wanted to fill a position as a busboy for Alpha Phi sorority, sophomore Matt Ahlberg said he was glad to take the job.

“I only work two days a week, basically about four hours,” he said. “I figured it’s free food and extra money on the side.”

The sorority hires a staff of seven or eight guys, Ahlberg said.

“Working with the sorority, you get to know those girls,” he said. “And you can eat there whenever you want, basically. Living in a fraternity, you don’t get the best food ever. If Acacia has questionable food, I can walk over to Alpha Phi.”

Ahlberg said he is saving money by not paying for meals some days. Working at the sorority, he makes the right amount of money so as not to dip into money saved up from the summer.

The job is very lenient, Ahlberg said.

“For Halloween formal we all dressed up,” he said. “Otherwise it’s not the most exciting job. ... I’ve never spilled on a girl or anything.”

Junior Audrey Stone said she works the late shift twice a week at Jimmy John’s on Kirkwood. She said she does not get to pick her shifts, but doesn’t have class on Fridays and would stay up until 4 or 5 a.m. anyway.

“It can be fun,” she said. “Tonight this really obnoxious girl was in here. She kept trying to give me a bracelet for day old bread then laughed for 20 minutes.”

During her shift, Stone said people pass out frequently in the restaurant. One night, she said two girls tried to carry a friend  and she wiped out in front of the door, forgot her shoes and lost her wallet.

“The job’s really easy,” Stone said. “I know what I’m doing, and it can be fun.”