You See, the Problem With Freshman Is...

Lesson of the day: be on the lookout for freshman and their parents.

I work at the school store on campus so I get to deal with lots of students at the beginning of the semester and the Fall semester is terrible because all the freshman are moving in and getting situated. They don't know what they are doing and neither do their parents and sometimes what they need to do is painfully obvious but they are clueless.

I had one mom today come in and ask if she could buy textbooks in our store. She was literally five feet away from the multiple shelves of textbooks that we sell. I could not believe it. Another parent asked if there were any other books that we might be required for her son's class that we were hiding in back. The question that really bothers me is the, "Can my son (or daughter) return this stuff if I buy it on my credit card?" Our answer is no unfortunately because it goes against our PCI credit card compliance. If they really wanted to pay for their student's books they should charge them to the student's student account and pay that off because they can make the returns without the parent present. I hate when the parents think we are trying to offend them by not letting them break our rules.

There are plenty of parents who are very kind though and appreciate what we do for them. So, I guess it's not all bad during the first few busy days of the new school year.

I feel like I had it "together" more when I was a freshman than some of the freshman that I've been running into. "Did I ask stupid questions like that?" or, "I hope I didn't look like I tried that hard." Some of the freshman are going to be just fine on their own but their are some freshman who still need someone to hold their hands every time they walk out of their dorm. It's time to grow up, kids. You aren't going to be living at home anymore and you are going to be out off college before you know it so start learning to do things on your own.

I know that I still needed help with some things but I am slowly taking on more and more things that my aunt used to do for me. For instance, I file my own financial aid paperwork and take care of my own health insurance. There actually isn't much that my aunt did for me that I don't do for myself now...other than my taxes. I still have issues with that.