Smokers: step back

MARIA D’ALESSANDRO STAFF WRITER MAD724@CABRINI EDU

Sure, please feel free to blow your stupid Menthol Light cigarette smoke in my face. No problems here. I don’t mind dealing with your weak-minded decision to give yourself one of the most avoidable cancers.

The herd of smokers in front of the residence halls and Founder’s has definitely multiplied since last year. I would think that maybe the recent bout of cold days would keep some kids from lighting up numerous times a day, but apparently not.

As an RAon campus, I enforce the “30-feet from the building” rule in front of residence halls, but how exactly are students getting away with standing 30 centimeters away from Founder’s front doors? Where is the consistency?

Why is it that I am forced to smell like smoke in my journalism class just because I was trying to get into the building that holds my class? I find it absurd that student smokers, ever since my high school years and even my middle school years, think it’s cool to sport a backpack and the infamous purse to hold cigarettes and lighters. The numerous trips to the bathrooms during class, purse in hand, sort of triggered something for us onlookers. Do you really think your teachers are stupid?

I haven’t witnessed this activity yet in college. Maybe it’s because they just smoke right at the front doors now. There’s no need to hide it. We all know you do it now anyway.

Cabrini is taking a great stance to stop smoking. Hang up some posters on the Great American Smokeout that takes place this month, and see how many people sign up. Right. There’s no way all those Founder’s smokers will be cutting up their cigarettes any time soon. Sure, it’s a great goal, but are we kidding ourselves? Absolutely.

I do honestly hope, however, that student, or for that matter, any smoker, would give a second thought to lighting up. There are so many irreversible health effects of cigarette smoking. I urge the smoking readers of this paper or those readers who know smokers to inform their friends to knock it off. We really do care about you. And we would kinda like to see you around in a few decades. So, stop now and save yourself.

KATIE MCNULTY STAFF WRITER KMM725@CABRINI EDU

Being a living, breathing college sophomore, I am all too familiar with the common phrase, I do not have any money. With the holiday season quickly approaching, the search for the perfect job over the Christmas break is in question. Where can I find a job that will hire me temporarily, give me a lot of hours and pay well?

For most people the answer would definitely be the mall. I am completely aware that every store in the mall during the holiday season is hiring like crazy, and for someone who has never worked in retail, it seems like a great opportunity.

However two years ago I worked at Express during the holiday season and found out working in retail is not so glamorous. It is more than just putting on a smile and selling a sweater. It is hard work and you do not get paid enough to do it.

When I applied for the job at Express in early November and got the job I was so excited. I would have to get dressed up for work and wear the clothes in the store. I would receive a 50 percent discount on my first purchase and I would receive a 30 percent discount during my employment at Express and all other stores owned by The Limited, which included Victoria Secret, Bath and Body Works and Express for men. For some- one who loves fashion and trends as much as I do, this job seemed ideal. I would get paid to interact with people, sell products, get paid for it and also get a discount on merchandise from my favorite stores.

Nothing could have been farther from the truth. On my first day, I expected to work the floor and greet people as they walked in the door. Instead I was brought to the back of the store into a little room I never knew existed. It was called the shipment room. The room was filled with boxes of shipment and clothes that needed to be censored before they went out on the floor. My job was to take all of the clothes out of the boxes, take off all of the plastic, lay the clothes out, censor them and put them on a rack to be sent out on the floor. It was a long process and I felt like I slave, but someone had to do it. Occasionally, I would work the floor and greet customers as they walked in the door, but most of the time I was stuck in shipment.

My hours began to dwindle as the managers began to hire more people for the holiday season. I would not have any hours one week, but I would be on-call. To be on call means the manager writes an employee on the schedule as on-call. The employee must then call in at the time they are scheduled for to see if they are needed to come in that day. If I was on call that meant I would have to wait around all day and change my plans if I was needed in the store. I understand the importance of being on call if you are a physician, but a sales associate at Express, come on. I was only getting paid $6.50/hr. and on top of that I had to buy clothes to wear to work. I began to realize that I was not making any money and that the little money I made was going right back into the stores cash register when I bought clothes to wear to work. I continued to work there through January and finally quit.

Last summer I received a letter in the mail saying that Express in Pennsylvania was being sued. I was shocked, but I felt like I was being served with justice. Express was being sued because they were violating minimum wage laws. Express, in requiring employees to wear their clothes and only paying $6.50/hr., brought an employee’s paycheck under minimum wage. I received settlement and received an $80 gift card to Express.

I still shop at Express and I would probably work there again just not as a seasonal worker. I am not discouraging students to work in retail I am just telling my experience. Retail is interesting and requires patience. My personal feeling was because I was new and inexperienced in retail, I was taken advantage of at that store. What I learned is that no job is perfect when you first begin it. You are going to have to start at the bottom and rise to the top. Do not apply for a job because you have certain expectations and you think it might be easy. Find out what your tasks are going to be and what is required of you.

Exposing the real Santa Claus

MATT CAMPBELL SPORTS EDITOR

MCC724@CABRINI EDU

Santa’s coming to town. Christmas is the best time of year to be a kid, a kid still believing in old St. Nick of course. It’s a time of giving and family but I can still remember those nights before Christmas when you wanted to go to sleep so bad just so you could wake up and tear through some presents. The myth of Santa was easily believable as a child.

I was still young when I found out Santa wasn’t real. I was about 5 years-old when I found out the guy in the mall was his helper, and apparently he had helpers wherever we went.

I’m 7 years-old and I am getting ready to go to school when the major crisis of finding socks exploded. This dilemma was not quite what my mom was hoping for on her attempt to get me to school and get to work. “Here, you can open one of your presents early,” she said. What a shock, the all purpose gift of socks for Christmas. As I ripped through the wrapping paper I noticed the tag on the gift. To: Matt, From: Santa. Hmmm could Santa possibly come to our house early like my mom desperately tried to explain? Busted! Santa was a fake and the cookies I left out over the years, all for nothing.

I don’t have any little brothers or sisters so I didn’t become a threat to the family. I did however have some news to all the kids in my elementary school. Despite my efforts to unveil the ghost that was Santa, I was turned into “the naughty kid” who doesn’t believe in Santa. I have to admit, it was a clever move on the side of the parents to keep Santa’s existence a secret.

I still had some belief in Santa but I needed to figure out how parents everywhere had the same explanations for all the imitators. It was universal. “Santa can’t do it all himself so he has helpers,” parents said. The final proof of the secret of Santa came when I exposed the “Santa’s helpers” theory. “What about that guy dressed like Santa just standing around ringing a bell outside the grocery store,” I asked. Sure they tried to give me the traditional excuses but I saw through them and found out the truth.

I wasn’t sure what to feel. I had exposed one of the greatest secrets of every childhood but now Christmas was boring. Don’t get me wrong, presents are wonderful but it’s a bit more fun believing.

I think my only consolation will be if I have children and get to play the part of Santa. I will have them believing in Santa until they are teenagers.