On the job

"Those stairs are killer," Jerry Parker '03 said of his experience working as a waiter at Triumph Brewing Co. on Nassau Street. Several times a week, Parker darts up and down the stairs in Triumph balancing trays of burgers, fries and drinks. He takes pride in contributing to the hip atmosphere at Triumph — and to the town's economy in general.

Despite the proximity to dormitories and the incentives of flexible hours and higher wages offered by on-campus jobs, approximately 600 students choose to work off campus in the Princeton Borough at privately owned, high-end boutiques and restaurants.

In contrast, the University employs 2,800 students to fill jobs on campus each year. Students who work on campus assist in maintaining and managing campus facilities and programs, which include steaming lattes at the Frist cafe, scanning books at Firestone Library, delivering newspapers to dorm rooms and assisting Wilson School professors with their research.

But some students have found job options outside University walls.

When Parker was looking for an on-campus job halfway through last year, all of the positions were filled.

Parker calls his work "refreshing" because he has the opportunity to meet new people — both students from area colleges and a broad range of patrons.

"I really enjoy connecting with the customer," Parker said. "A waiter should be someone a customer can talk to in a friendly manner. Others say that I'm just there to serve, but I say that I'm there to have fun with the customers and show them an enjoyable dining experience."

Parker said the atmosphere at Triumph helps him maintain his sanity.

"I'll continue as long as I have the time," he said. "It's healthy, especially when I'm going to be working on my thesis. It'll prevent me from going into that self-consuming downward spiral."

Parker said that not many University students apply even though University students tend to be "the best servers in the restaurant."

Many students searching for jobs are turned off by the inflexible work schedules in town. Vacations and academic commitments create conflicts.

Lauren McCollum '03, who has worked for a year at the Frist cafe, said she prefers the flexibility of her five-hour-a-week campus job.

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"Students won't get fired since they just sign up. The job is low commitment," she said.

Like Parker, Charlotte Walker '03 shared the desire to connect with Princeton townspeople while making extra money.

Walker, a sales associate at Micawber Books on Nassau Street, said she began working on campus but found the jobs unfulfilling.

"The jobs I had were too boring," she said. "I was answering phones, and I wasn't really helping anyone."

During the summer before her junior year, Walker sought a job that offered more contact with customers in town and allowed her to patronize neighborhood businesses.

"I know the store really intimately, and I'm contributing to a small, community store," she said. "The jobs on campus are very perfunctory and don't involve people."

Micawber managers expect that employees not only have a solid and broad knowledge of the literature but also stay abreast of various bestseller lists from The New York Times, National Public Radio and Oprah's Book Club.

Walker explained that an enjoyable aspect of her job is getting to know graduate students — people she "wouldn't otherwise be able to meet on a personal level" if her life were centered on campus.

She also said she likes seeing professors outside a classroom setting.

"It's funny to know what professors are reading," she said. She highlighted history professor Anthony Grafton recent trip to Micawber, in which he picked up several biographies of other historians and new works about his specialty, Renaissance history.

Micawber manager Logan Fox wishes that more students were able to work in town. "We've always loved having them work here," he said. Micawber has regularly employed one or two University students since the early 1980s.

"We have been able to make longstanding and valuable connections with what is going on [at the University]," he said.

Storeowners love students who work at the local shops, Walker said.

"They want to know what Princeton is all about," she said. "It's like we're bearing down the elite myth."

And just as students add to the town's understanding of the University, Walker said her job off campus has enhanced the education she has received within the gates.

"Working at a bookstore has strengthened my desire to become a writer," she said. "No matter what I do, I want to end up working in a bookstore, at least a few hours a week."

Just as Walker pursued her love of writing by working among books, Emily Robinson '02 pursued her interest in the culinary arts by taking up a hostess position at Lahiere's Restaurant on Witherspoon Street.

Robinson also had a job on campus before looking for work in town. "I walked all around Palmer Square and just left resumes everywhere," she said.

Robinson, like Walker, also said the pay is not the primary incentive for working in town. She said the University jobs pay around $12 hourly, but at Lahiere's she makes "a lot less than that" and as a hostess, she does not receive tips. However, what Robinson values most is the exposure to new people and "getting outside."

An English major, Robinson's career plans are uncertain. "If I can't find a job in print journalism, I'll always have an open job to be a hostess at Lahiere's," she said.