There’s Asses In The Office

How to shut up and be grateful in 10 easy steps

I tried my best to come up with a witty title for this one, but mostly I’m just filled with feelings over what I just saw on my student portal. Anger, despair, disappointment, a sinking sensation that things aren’t moving in a positive direction fast enough for it to matter…

It’s the start of a new semester. I’m taking the last two courses I need for my associates degree in hospitality and tourism management. It’s a degree I’ve deliberately putzed my way through over 5–7 years, just involved enough to keep my massive student debt from a previous program in deferment, because I can’t afford to pay them $1,000 a month for a BS that has returned nothing but debt and misery. The real life of a working adult is not something the American education system prepares people for.

The big course this term is an externship program, where I essentially set goals for myself at work in a hospitality setting and write a weekly journal entry on how I’m accomplishing them. Simple stuff, honestly. I’m not sure how this exactly constitutes an entire 14-week course needed to complete an associate's program, let alone the course the entire program culminates in. I’ve been doing crap like this since AP classes in high school. Whatever, I’ve decided. This course is really designed for young…